Youth and Education.
Nazis wanted to control young people and sure their support for the future. They did this by changing what children learnt in school and creating ‘out of school’ youth movements.
EDUCATION
The German Minister of Education (Bernhard Rust) said “The whole purpose of education is to create Nazis.” To do this the Nazis changed the school curriculum to contain what they saw as the main needs, military skills for boys and domestic skills for the girls.
The Nazis placed great emphasis on the learning of:
• History – to show the greatness of the Nazis.
• Biology – to teach ‘race science’ which highlighted the superiority of the Aryans.
• PE – to get boys fit for the Army and girls fit to be mothers.
To ensure that the German youth were taught corrected, all teachers had to swear loyalty to Hitler and join the Nazis Teachers League.
YOUTH MOVEMENTS
Membership to Nazi Youth Movements was made compulsory. These were for young people of a variety of ages. There were separate groups for boys and girls, these groups put an emphasis on different aspects of life and they were taught different things depending upon which group they were involved in. Boys, equipped with their outdoor clothing, went on outdoor activities such as hiking and camping., and then later were taught more about ideology and military training. Girls were taught how to care for their health and prepare for motherhood.
Boys:
Pimpf (Boys aged 6-10)
Deutschejungvolk (German Young People, boys aged 10-14)
Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth, boys aged 14-18)
Girls:
Jungmadel (Young Maidens, girls to the ages of 14)
Bund Deutscher Madel (League of German Maidens, girls ages 14-21)
Activities of these groups were shown in Propaganda films as being very popular. The numbers in the movements gradually increased but the attitudes of the members of the groups were sometimes different to those of the Nazis.
Although the Nazis killed off many other official youth groups which had been attached to other political parties. But during the war several other groups developed in Germany which the Nazis saw as rebellious and a threat because they didn’t behave as the Nazis wanted them to.
Germany 1919 – 1945 Links
The Second Reich
Unification of Germany – Political systems within the Second Reich – German Society during the Second Reich – Collapse of the Second Reich
Weimar Republic
Interim Government – Founding of the Weimar Republic – Impact of the First World War on Germany – The Treaty of Versailles and its impact on Germany – Weimar Constitution – 1919-1923: Years of Crisis? – Spartacist Uprising – Kapp Putsch – Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold – Reparations – Hyperinflation in Germany, 1923 – 1924-1928: A Golden Era? – 1925 Presidential Election – Gustav Stresemann – German Foreign Relations 1919-1932 – Germany in the Great Depression – Failings of the Weimar Republic – Dada Movement
Rise of the Nazi Party
The Munich Putsch – Did the Economic Crisis of 1923 help the Nazi’s? – Origins of the Nazi Party – Rise of the Nazi Party
Nazi Germany
Totalitarian Regime in Nazi Germany – How did Hitler consolidate power? – Mein Kampf – Nazi methods of control – Opposition to the Nazi Regime – Organisation of the Nazi Party – Fuhrerprinzip – Kristallnacht – Youth and Education – Goering and the 2nd 4 Year Plan – Anti-Jewish Boycott, 1933 – Nazi Anti-Semitism – DAF (The German Labour Front) – Propaganda in Germany 1919-39 – Economic Policy of the Nazi Party – Kreisau Circle – The Confessing Church – Catholic Church – Edelweiss Pirates
Biographies
Ludwig Beck – Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Bishop Clemens von Galen – Carl Goerdeler – Robert Ley – Helmuth von Moltke – Martin Niemoller – Erwin Rommel – Hjalmar Schacht – Sophie Scholl – Albert Speer – Claus von Stauffenberg – Fritz Todt