The German Schools

Naziism had a huge impact on German youth during Hitler’s reign of power over the state. The life of a German child changed dramatically during the 1920’s and 30’s, especially for

Education was deemed as an important factor in creating a strong, powerful Germany. The Nazi party modified the schooling system and used it as a tool to indoctrinate the youth with Nazi ideology. According to Bernhard Rust, Reich Minister of Education, “the whole function of education is to create Nazis”. In 1933, the Nazi policy passed the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service which permitted civil servants of Jewish background and socialist or liberal views to be

Thesis: The relationship made with people in life helps one stay in reality and keeps one grounded in morals. If one completely blocks out society and get lost in their imagination it can progress into an unhealthy alternate reality. Without the support of friends and family one can dwell in an irrational state of mind.

At the end of WWI, Germany was directly blamed for causing the great conflict. Many Germans could not accept this blame, and believed designed by the Jewish people as part of a greater conspiracy. Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. The Nazi rise to power ended the Weimar Republic, the German democracy that was established after World War I. The Nazi state, also called The Third Reich, quickly became a regime in which citizens had no guaranteed basic rights. Hitler’s first objective was to eliminate political opposition. The assault against the Jews began with a boycott of Jewish businesses. A week later the Nazis dismissed Jews from civil service, and by the end of the month the participation of Jews in German schools was restricted. In May 1933, thousands of Nazi students and professors stormed university libraries and bookstores in cities throughout Germany to

The education of the children was key in perpetuating the beliefs of the Nazis and the Party. In Nazi Germany, children were taught to relish bloodshed and violence and to hate Jews ("Modern World History: Nazi Germany"), and the Party used this technique as well (Orwell 23). If children were taught to delight in bloodshed, they would be more accepting of violence aimed at a particular group; the children would not protest against this violence because of their morals or values. Instead, they would go beyond accepting the violence to cheering on the violence and enjoying it immensely.

Schools were riddled with propaganda like a disease, it controlled people instead of just influencing them. “The youth organizations, particularly the Hitler Youth, have been accorded powers of control which enable every boy and girl to exercise authority backed up by threats.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) Even as the kids were being controlled, adults who worked in certain areas that refused to respect the Nazi Party ultimately became fired. “Teachers who did not support the Nazi Party were sacked.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) Most of all, almost everyone became submissive and obeyed the Nazis. “Gradually, the old teachers were replaced with younger ones, those with Nazi orientations.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) As so, the new teachers that had been radicalized conformed with and embraced the new curriculum. This new school curriculum was not very overwhelming but, most of the commands shaped the German children. The Holocaust Explained argues that, “Hitler and the Nazis wanted all young Aryans to be physically fit and perfectly obedient.”(The Holocaust Explained, n.d.) As more people and children submitted to the Nazis, commands that were made out of the bounds of an average school’s limits were enforced. Children were bribed out of their freedoms for money, unknowingly and

Within Germany, a country torn between the rise of a totalitarian party that determined a superior race, Nazism, and the survival of the oppressed, young Germans face a test between a sense of self and society. Individuality would be suppressed within this new type of society, and being different would be the deadliest obstruction to life. The violations of the rights to life, religion, and speech are relived through the stories of the German youth that lived through this haunting time, whose name would be tarnished in their struggle to survive. In their fight, their morals would be challenged and influenced until the Nazi regime ended, and the violation of human dignity would leave them wondering if life was worth living after all. The Nazi Party grew under its leader, Adolf Hitler, which struggled not to use violence against those that disagreed with their views, starting with armed groups known as the Strum Abteilung, who pledged to be ready to sacrifice their life in the aims of the Nazi Party and absolute loyalty to their leader. Their cruel intolerance began by their strong nationalism and their hatred of democracy and communism, and they gained power through the economic depressions around the world, controlling the media by instilling fear and propaganda that influenced a strong belief in their leaders. This belief in the leaders would soon seem to override Church influence when the official body of the Church failed to do anything significant

At the end of WWI in 1918, Germany’s economy was in ruins. There were very few jobs, and bitterness began to take over the country. According to the text, “Hitler, a rising politician, offered Germany a scapegoat: Jewish people. Hitler said that Jewish people were to blame for Germany’s problems. He believed that Jews did not deserve to live.” (7) This was the birth of Antisemitism--prejudice against Jewish people. Europe’s Jewish people have always been persecuted due to their “different customs and beliefs that many viewed with suspicion.”(7) Hitler simply reignited the flames, and a violent hatred was born.

A proper education consisted of burning racial sense into the instincts of the youth. History classes focused on the triumphs of Germany. Math classes calculated the expenses for the disabled and were used to show why it was necessary to kill those asylum patients. Students with disabilities were screened and disappeared if found inadequate. Students that didn’t agree were beaten by the teachers. He circulated Mein Kampf in schools and created songs for the children to sing. One of the main concepts of bother was his desire to expand east of Germany. “We stop the endless German movement to the south and west, and turn our gaze toward the land in the east” (33). He wanted to reeducate those of German blood trapped there due to the Treaty of

In Nazi Germany, conformity was extended to schools and universities as education meant indoctrination. Hitler used the schools to promote Nazi ideas and to educate the themes of racial hygiene and the glories of Germany’s past. By 1937, non-Nazi teachers were sacked under Hitler’s wishes and universities were purged of all Jews. The school curriculum was dominated by subjects that served Nazi’s purpose. The German History was rewritten to glorify the fatherland’s past and students were being taught Anti-Semitic ideas in school and every subject was given special emphasis on the Nazi themes. Thus, it is evident that Hitler has effectively initiated changes in schools and universities in order to indoctrinate the young with Nazi ideology and hence mould a future generation of loyal supporters of the Nazi state.

Beginning in the early 1930’s, the Nazi party found ways to hurt Jewish people, economically, emotionally, and physically. Official laws and decrees were made to ensure the economic and legal downfall of Jewish people. Jews were exempted and expelled from their professions and practices, stripped of education, revoked from their citizenship, and much more. Jews were also physically harmed; Nazis brutally and inhumanely attacked and molested Jews of all ages and genders. Being physically and legislatively attacked took a toll on the Jewish people. The emotional trauma and scars would be permanent. Growing up being taught that you are inferior or deserved to be beaten and stoned is horrendous for oneself. The Nazis were purposely abusive to

In 1933 the Jews made up only a small percent of the German population. Nazis later began taking over Jewish businesses and depriving them of their jobs. There were characteristics that classified you as a Jew. If you had three or more grandparents that were Jew, you yourself were one. In 1938 tragedy stroke the Jewish fate. The night of the broken glass which resulted in the burning of the German synagogues and the shops of Jewish shops were destroyed.

During this time Jews were being arrested simply because they were Jewish. This lead me to think of just how time hasn't changed and how we have not learned from the past, because right after September 11 happened Arab, Muslim or any Middle Eastern people were being arrested being they were thought of as terrorists. During our survival panel lecture I remember hearing Betty talk about how the teachers and students used to harass her and her younger brother. I really could not believe that even the teachers, who were educated, I thought they would be a lot smarter that to follow the ideology of Hitler. I understand they could not really stand up against him but they could have not encouraged it in school.

Education for the HJ changed drastically during the years after Hitler became power, leading into the war. No longer were math, science and literature the focus in grammar school. It changed focus to Nazi racial principles, German history and leadership training. Teachers could not teach their normal lecture plans, and the German history they taught their students was

In the Hitler Youth movement, created in 1922, each child born had to join an extremely tough military training in preparation for any kind of war. Many children did not know why they were training in that way. Yet for them just the feeling in being proud and brave was enough to continue in their tasks. They enjoyed being the center of attention and the object of the adult desires. We can say that the Nazis system in