As the National Socialist Party of Germany came to power at the end of the Weimar Republic, many changes were made to German society which would later define this period of totalitarianism. Education was a highly important aspect of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 as it enabled a great deal of power over the youth of Germany, transforming them into completely obedient national socialists, thereby contributing immensely to the Nazis idea of a Volksgemeinschaft, a new social order. Through means of indoctrination of the young and insertion of propaganda into the curriculum, the Nazis were highly successful in creating the ideal citizens of the third reich.
German education saw major changes during and after the transition from Weimar to Nazism. The education system during the German Weimar Republic was well structured with primary and secondary schools offering a broad variety of subjects including drawing, singing, physical training and manual work. The Weimar constitution preserved religious freedom, no student could be forced to learn religion and no teacher could be forced to teach it (source). Secondary education at this time was conservative, maintaining the division of Gymnasium, Realgymnasium and Oberrealschule (three comparable schools for girls existed). In these schools, physical, academic and cultural elements were continued on from the primary curriculum. There was also the Aufbanschule, a six year course following completion of the seventh year of elementary, and the Deutsche Oberschule, a nine year course requiring two modern foreign languages and stressed German culture. These schools had a more academic focus. However, when the Weimar Republic collapsed and Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, Germany’s social structure was reformed, and education was completely revised. All German educational institutions were infused with National Socialist ideology.
The Nazis moved swiftly to erase the republican democratic features of Weimar, replacing all significant institutions with those which complied with Party policy and beliefs. The German education system was a particularly important aspect of society which had to be controlled in order for the Nazi’s idea of a Volksgemeinschaft to become reality. Even before the Nazi Party came to power, Adolf Hitler understood the importance of education and had planned his control over the education system, stating in his book ‘Mein Kampf’ “…education and training have to eliminate quite a series of evils about which one hardly cares at all today.” Hitler’s ideas of a perfect Germany required the full allegiance of the German people and he strongly believed this would only be done by taking charge of the education system and indoctrinating the youth with Nazi ideals from childhood. The aims of the reformation of German education were to indoctrinate and control the German youth for the benefit of the Nazi Party. Only by infiltrating the minds of the youth and implanting Nazi beliefs could the party create the perfect population for their Volksgemeinschaft. Hitler had a high opinion of physical education and training and believed it should be the most important part of an education system. In Mein Kampf (cited in Reynal, A Hitchcock, 1941, pg. 253) he stated “With our education one has entirely forgotten that in the long run a healthy mind is able to dwell only in a healthy body”. It was Hitler’s strong belief that physical education should be the most important aspect of the curriculum for all ages. This belief most likely comes from Hitler’s faith in the German (Aryan) physique and how it is perfect above all others and should be regarded as such. Next to physical education, a strong understanding and appreciation of German culture was to become a significant part of education in Nazi Germany, more so than it had been during the Weimar years. The Nazi’s goal for educating the youth was to fill the young people with national pride and love for the leadership of Germany, creating the ideal fanatics Hitler would need in order to follow through with his plans for German expansion and perfection of the social system, the Volksgemeinschaft. The Hitler Youth which was established in 1926, was seen as the more important form of youth training in Nazi Germany. The aims of this program were to create obedient, perfect soldiers out of young boys and ideal, motherly figures out of young girls. Hitler thought this organisation was far more important to the Third Reich than the actual education system, so making it a compulsory program for boys. As outlined in many passages of Mein Kampf, Hitler stresses the importance of physical fitness and capability over academics. It was the Nazis intention to use the Hitler Youth program to create Aryan supermen infused with nationalist socialist anti-semitic beliefs of German/Aryan supremacy. The Nazi Party had a definite plan of action as to how they would quickly transform the education system. The Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, controlled by Joseph Goebbels, was in charge of influencing every aspect of public expression including news articles, radio programmes, cinema, churches and of course, schools which are all media through which people gain education. Joseph Goebbels, the master of propaganda knew how to control the German youth and was experienced in evoking extreme emotional reaction to his many posters and articles of Nazi greatness. Control over schools began in 1933 when the decree was made “German culture must be treated thoroughly” (History Place online, 2011), so beginning the Nazification of the education system. The methods of heavily influencing the minds of the students were extreme and designed with little fault to meet the expectations Hitler had for the future of Germany. Many changes were made to the curriculum and subject selection, including the transformation of Biology into ‘Racial Science’ which was intended to educate the students of the inferiority of the Third Reich’s enemies, namely the Jews. Physical education became much more important as did Health education, tying in with Hitler’s belief on the importance of physical fitness in Mein Kampf. Geography became geopolitics, the study of the fatherland being fundamental. Other than these, the curriculum was not so dramatically changed, although general questions in subjects such as mathematics would include such problems as “The Jews are aliens in Germany Germany
With the extreme methods used in education, the effects were to be just as Hitler expected. A German boy who had completed his education during war time would be the ideal Nazi German citizen and would almost surely be a member of the Hitler Youth, aspiring to a high position in the army or police. After years of physical training, he would be the epitome of physical fitness, prepared for whatever war campaign he would be sent to. A true Nazi warrior, he would be fanatically loyal almost to the point of viewing Adolf Hitler as a god and willing to die for the fuhrer and the Third Reich. This is evident due to the fact that at the end of the war when Berlin was under siege, the young men who had held strong for Nazism fought to the end and were eventually the main German fighting force in Berlin (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012). Girls, after their thorough instructions in learning to cook, clean and raise children as was expected of them as German Aryan mothers would take secretary positions in the offices of the army or police and pair themselves with perfect men to father their children as was expected of them. Teachers, scholars, lecturers etc. by the mid 1930’s had become elements of propaganda themselves and had been forced to abandon all their former political beliefs for what was then deemed to by the only acceptable way of thinking. These teachers would take the opportunity to assemble their students and were essentially thralls to Hitler, who more or less spoke through them. An example of this is the quote from Gottingen historian Ulrich Kahrstedt in 1934: “We renounce international science, we renounce the international republic of scholars, we renounce research for the sake of research. Sieg Heil!” (cited in Bracher, 1969 pg 342).
As the world looked on to the rise of Nazism and the huge effect it was having on the society, many people of western style democracies felt genuine concern for the future of the German people and nation. Nazism was something the people of countries such as Britain and the US were unprepared to face and did not fully understand what its effects would be. Foreign correspondents visiting Germany in the 1930’s, especially after the reformation of institutions like the education system, reported the concerning situation where young German students were being heavily influenced with the views of the Fuhrer in every aspect of their lives and the propaganda occurring in German schools was transforming the youth into completely obedient, indoctrinated servants of their government. Throughout the war, the knowledge of the Nazi system was used in the Allies war propaganda, to show the extent of Hitler’s ruthless control of the minds of young Germans. In 1943, Walt Disney produced a short animated film entitled ‘Education for Death’ which illustrates the raising of a young boy from birth to the day he becomes a merciless soldier (Disney, 1943). It was images such as these which showed the British and American citizens the ruthless control Hitler had over the innocent young, giving them more reason to believe he and his regime must be stopped at all cost to liberate the indoctrinated youth from their mental prison.
In evaluating the effectiveness of the education system during Nazi Germany, from 1933 to 1945, it can be seen that the Nazis were highly successful in transforming the German youth into mindless, obedient servants of the Third Reich. The lack of public protest in the younger people of Germany during this time is evident of the sheer possession the Nazis had over them. This was of great use to Hitler and the Nazis who were able to utilise the people’s support to do their bidding. After full Nazi beliefs had been instilled into the minds of the youth through their education, they became pawns to whatever the Nazis would want of them which ultimately contributed to the Volksgemeinschaft, where the people had full faith in their government. Some historians such as David Shoenbaum have been critical of the extent to which this was achieved, yet there is clear evidence of how the Nazis controlled the people to such an extent. There is a strong argument that by the mid 1930’s, Hitler and his party had won the respect and trust of the people for saving Germany from economic crisis and instigating schemes such as the Winterhilfe and Eintopf schemes where citizens were asked to make sacrifices for their less fortunate fellow Germans (Hite, J. and Hinton, C. 2000). With the trust and admiration Hitler had gained from the people, the Nazis were able to swiftly take control over all aspects of society and influence them as they wished. The Third Reich could be equipped with an army of supreme strength and conviction. In influencing every aspect of the education system, from the re-printing of textbook resources, the control over teachers and the reformation of curriculum, the chance of any opposition to the Nazis from within the youth of Germany was reduced to nonexistence.
The control over education during Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a highly significant contribution to the idea of a Volksgemeinschaft, a new social order. This would not require complete change in the structure of German society, but required changes in the people’s consciousness so that they would appreciate and support the new state entirely (Hite, J. and Hinton, C. 2000). This change in society cannot be called a social revolution, as Kershaw explains in his book ‘Nazi Dictatorship’ “It seems clear, then, that Nazism did not produce a `social revolution' in Germany during the period of the Third Reich... Nazism's intentions were directed towards a transformation of value and belief systems - a psychological `revolution' rather than one of substance” (Kershaw I, 1993). Therefore, Volksgemeinschaft was not a ‘social revolution’ but Hitler’s idea of a new united German nation (Hite, J. and Hinton, C. 2000) with strong Nazi views of glory for the fatherland. A change in the minds of the youth was certainly experienced during this time as a direct result of the education they were receiving. Due to the complete indoctrination of Germany’s young people, who held Nazi ideals and were made to serve the Third Reich with obedience, the changes made to education by the Nazis were a major contribution to the creation of a Volksgemeinschaft.
In conclusion, it can be said that throughout the period of Nazi control in Germany, the insertion of propaganda, increase in physical education and adjustment to the curriculum transformed the youth into the ideal citizens of Nazi Germany. These changes made to education contributed greatly to the Nazi concept of Volksgemeinschaft, which was achieved through strategies such as the education reform and enabled the extreme level of power acquired by the Nazis at their height.
