chapter sixteen Flashcards
The Nazi regime established control over the school system in two main ways
Control over teachers and control over the curriculum
Under the law for the reestablishment of a professional civil service 1933 a number of teachers were
Dismissed on the grounds of political unreliability or because they were Jewish
Teachers were pressurised into joining the national socialist teachers league NSLB, but most teachers were willing to comply with the regimes demands the historian
Joachim fest has claimed that the teaching profession was one of the most politically reliable sections of the population
vetting or textbooks was undertaken by local Nazi committees after 1933 from 1935 central directives were issued by the ministry of education covering what was taught by 1938
These rules covered every school year and most subjects
Political indoctrination permeated every area of the school curriculum the Nazis aim to promote racial health lead to an increasing emphasis on
Physical education military style drills became a feature of pe lessons
In German lessons, the aim was to instill a consciousness of being in German through the study of
Nordic sagas and other traditional stories
In biology, there was a stress on race and hereditary. There was also a strong emphasis on.
Evolution and the survival of the fittest
Geography was used to develop awareness of the concepts of lebensraum living space Blood and soil and German racial superiority atlasses implicit supported
The concept of one people one Reich
With their stress and physical education and political indoctrination the Nazis downgraded the importance of academic education and the number of students attending university decreased between
1933 and 1939
Access to high education with strictly ration and selection was made on the basis of
Political reliability
Woman were restricted to 10% of the available university places while Jews were restricted to
1.5% , their proportion within the population as a whole
Coordination of universities followed much the same same pattern as school
Under the law for the reestablishment of professional civil service about 1200 university staff were dismissed on
Racial or political grounds, this amounted to around 15% of the total staff
In November 1933 all university teachers were made to sign a
Declaration in support of Hitler and the national socialist state
Students had to join the German students league DS although some
25% of students managed to avoid this
Students were also forced to do four months labour service and two months in an SA camp , labour service would give students experience of real life considered by the Nazis to be
More important than academic learning
The Nazis encountered very little resistance to their policies of bringing the universities under their control indeed coordination was made easier by the
Voluntary self coordination of many faculties
Even in the warmup period the universities have been dominated by nationalist and anti-democratic attitudes and traditional student fraternities were breeding ground for
Reactionary politics
The Nazis were therefore able to tap into a pre-existing culture of extreme nationalism and infuse it with Nazi ideology this was held by the students knowledge that their prospects of employment after graduating depended on
Showing outward support for the regime
The Hitler youth was created in 1926 and then it’s early years it was relatively unsuccessful when the Nazis came to power in 1933 all other organisations except those link to the Catholic Church were either
Band or taken over by Hitler youth ,only then did the Nazis own youth movement begin to flourish
In 1936 a law for the incorporation of German youth gave the Hitler youth the status of
An official education movement equal in status to schools and the home
At the same time, Catholic youth organisations were banned and the Hitler youth became the only
Officially permitted youth organisation
Also by 1936 the Hitler youth had been granted a monopoly over all sports facilities and competitions for children under the age of 14 , membership of the Hitler youth was
Made compulsory in 1939
In the Hitler youth there was a constant diet of political indoctrination and physical activity boys from the age of 10 we told the motto
Live safely fight bravely and die laughing
The emphasis in activities and competition struggle heroism and leadership as boys were prepared for their future role as warriors
Hitler youth members had to swear a personal oath of allegiant to the Fuhrer and there was a set syllabus of political induction which
All members had to follow and had a heavy emphasis on military drill
Boys were taught to sing Nazi songs and encouraged to read Nazi political pamphlets. They were also taken on hikes and on camping trips ritual ceremonies and singing songs reinforced
The induction into the Nazi ideology
The opportunity to participate in sports and camping trips away from home made the organisation attractive to millions of German boys many of whom
Grew up in the 1930s with no experience of any other system
For these boys, they’re growing up shaped by the Hitler youth and the Nazi emphasis on struggle sacrifice loyalty and discipline became accepted as the norm
Many children joined against the wishes of parents who are not Nazi sympathises and had grown-up
In a different era
For these boys Hitler youth offered an outlet for their teenage rebellious however by the late 1930s the organisation became more
Bureaucratic and rigid, there were signs that enthusiasm was beginning to wane
There were reports of poor attendance at weekly parades boys resented the harsh punishments impose for minor infringements of the rules
The BDM or league of German girls was the female equivalent of the Hitler youth it’s motto was
be faithful be pure be German
It was a part of a process of preparing girls for their feature roles , housewives and mothers in the volksgemeinschaft
Membership to the BDM became compulsory in
1939
In the BDM girls are taught that they had a duty to be healthy since their bodies belong to the nation and they needed to be fit for their future role as
Childbearers
They were also instructed in matters of
hygiene cleanliness and health eating
Formation dancing and group gymnastics serve the dual purpose of raising fitness and
Developing comradeship
A weekly home evenings girls were taught
Handicrafts sewing and cooking
There were also sessions for political education and
Racial awareness
Annual summer camps were highly structured every minute being taken up with sports physical exercise and route marches as well as
Indoctrination flag waving and saluting
In the faith and beauty groups, young woman when instructed in
Baby care and social skills such as ballroom dancing
Many girls found their experiences in the BDM liberating they were doing things their mother had not been allowed to do and they could
Escape from the constraints of the home they also developed a sense of comradeship
Although strictly run on the leadership principle the BDM groups were relatively classless, bringing together
Girls from a wide range of backgrounds
This was part of the strategy for capturing the minds of German youth and moulding them to
The purposes of the Nazi regime
Racial awareness was an important element in the induction nation, Jutta Rüdiger the leader of the BDM instructed girls on their
Future partners in marriage
Only the best German soldier suitable for you for it is your responsibility to keep the blood of the nation pure German girl your honour lies in being faithful to the blood of your race
After 1934 girls were expected to do a years work on the land or in domestic service the aim was to put girls
In touch with their peasant roots and give them practical experience in childcare it also developed their sense of serving the community
This was unpopular with girls from the cities many tried to avoid it
However in 1939 this scheme was made compulsory all young women up to the age of 25 had to do
Unpaid work with the Labour service before they could get paid employment
This was the female equivalent to compulsory military service for the boys and was part of the growing coordination of all levels of German society under Nazi rule
The Nazis were successful in bringing schools and universities under their control
The Hitler youth by 1939 become the only youth movement allowed in Germany in membership of both the Hitler youth and BDM had to grow
We can conclude the Nazis were successful in the youth policies
The Nazis oppose the trend towards greater emancipation for women that had been evident in the Weimar period they viewed the declining birth rate in the 1920s with
Alarm as it threatened to undermine the aim to expand Germans territory and settle Germans in the newly acquired land to the east
The main priority for Nazi policies towards women after 1933 therefore was to
Raise the birth rate
This was closely linked to attempts to restrict the employment of married woman outside the family home
Marriage loans were introduced for women who left work and married and Arian man for each child born the amount of the
Loan that had to be prepaid was reduced by a quarter
The Nazis awarded medals tournament for donating a baby to the fruhrer. Those were four or five children received.
A bronze medal, six or seven children qualified for silver and eight children for gold
Birth control was discouraged and abortion was
Severely restricted
Women were encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise and
No smoking or drinking
The Nazis also sought to promote their values through a number of organisations for women
The German war league the DFW was set up in 1933 to coordinate all women’s groups under control. It had a domestic science department which gave
Advice on cooking and healthy eating
By 1939, the DFW had over
6 million members of which 70% were not members of the Nazi party
The National socialist women’s organisations NS-F Was an elite organisation to promote the nations love life marriage the family blood and race, it was primarily an organisation for
Propaganda and indoctrination among woman to promote the Nazi ideology that woman should be child rearers and homemakers
The Reich mother service RMD was a branch of the DFW for training physically and mentally able mothers to make them convinced of important duties of motherhood, experienced in the care and education of their children and competent to carry out their domestic tasks by March 1939
1.7 million woman had attended motherhood training service
the degree of success of nazis policies towards women
the nazis campaign to raise birth rate had some success , however if this was due to policy is debatable since the improved economic situation could’ve encouraged more couples to have more children.
moreover despite the nazis ideological objection to the paid employment of married women , as the number of women in the workforce increased between 1933 and 1939 as ideology had to give way to economic realties.
after 1936 , there was a growing labour shortage in Germany as the pace of rearmament increased , so the regime began to encourage women to take up employment
nazi policies towards workers
over view
nazi volksgemeinschaft would be a society in which class differences , religious loyalties as well as regional , age and gender differences would be put aside and replaced by national unity , given heir traditional ties to trade unions and non nazi political parties , industrial workers presented the greatest challenge to the process of gleichschaltung.
nazis could not ignore the working class nor could they rely solely on repression to achieve their objective go ‘ co ordinating ‘ this very important part of German society.
the first step of enforcing gleichschaltung , was to
ban the existing trade unions , which was done on 2nd may 1933
following the ban of the trade unions the next step was to coordinate workers into a
nazi run organisation , the DAF (German labour front)
the German Labour front was established on
6th may 1933
the DAF was under the leadership of
Robert ley
the DAF’s aim was to
co-ordinate workers into the nationalist socialist regime
the DAF took over the assets of banned trade unions and became the largest
organisation in the third reich
although membership to the DAF was not compulsory , its membership grew rapidly since it was
the only officially recognised organisation representing workers
the DAF had two main aims :
to win workers over to the volsgemeinschaft and to encourage workers to increase production
the DAF was a symbol of the volksgemeinschaft and as such it included
employers as well as workers
the DAF replaced the trade unions but was not a trade union itself , it had no role in
bargaining over wages
little influence over the regimes social and economic policies
however the DAF did have its own propaganda department to spread the
nazi ideology among working class Germans
the DAF also established a subsidiary organisation called
strength through joy , KDF
to organise workers leisure tie
in 1936 the DAF started to provide vocation courses training to
improve workers skills
the DAF also built up a large business empire of its own , this included
banks
housing associations
construction companies
Volkswagen car plant
own travel company
by 1939 the DAF had x amount of paid employees
44,500
the nazi system of labour relations was heavily weighted in favour of the
employer and the state
workers in the third reich had to work harder and accept
a squeeze of wages and living standards
nazi propaganda tried to promote the message that reward for working was not material gain but
the knowledge that they were serving the community
nevertheless , the nazis were well aware that they could not take workers for granted , improved
leisure facilities and opportunities provided by strength through joy were a key part of this strategy
the KDF was set up by
Robert ley to organise workers leisure time
the basic idea behind the scheme was that workers would
’ gain strength for their work by experiencing joy in their leisure ‘
- workers who were refreshed by holidays , sports and cultural activities would be more efficient when they returned to work
KDF aims
- to submerge the indvidual in the mass and encourage workers to see themselves as apart of the volsgemeinschaft. with leisure time as well as work time regulated by the regime , there would be no time or space for workers to develop
their private lives , KDF was a propagandist organisation , which used its activities to indoctrinate workers and their families into nazi ideology.
KDF aims
- to encourage a spirt of social equality , the KDF activities were organised on a
one class basis with no distinction between rich and poor
KDF aims
- to bring germans from the different regions of the country together and to
break down regional and religious differences
KDF aims
- to encourage participation in sport to improve the physical and mental health of the nation , every youth in employment was obliged to
undertake two hours each week of PE at their workplace.
KDF aims
- to encourage competition and ambition , a KDF national trades competition was
organised for apprentices to improve skills and standards of work.
through the KDF workers were offered subsidised holidays in Germany and abroad also sporting activities and hikes as well as theatre and cinema visits at reduced prices furthermore
at lunch breaks classical music concerts were put on in factories
there were KDF wardens in every factory and workplace employing more than
20 people
by 1939 there were over
7000 paid employees of KDF
membership of the KDF came automatically with membership of the DAF so that by 1936 x amount of people belonged to it
35 million
despite the gap between myth and reality in the KDF it was one of
the regimes most popular organisations
by offering opportunities that were not available to ordinary germans before 1933 , the KDF was
valued by workers and this helped to reconcile people and even former opponents to the regime
an example of the KDF’s propagandist nature was shown by the cruise ships that appeared to be available to everyone in the volksgemeinschaft however in reality
the cruise ships actually contradicted the ideologic assumptions of the KDF
rickets for these cruise ships were too expensive for ordinary workers and passengers were mainly drawn from the middle class
only 10% of the passengers on one cruise to Norway were from the working class
the degree of success of nazi policies towards workers
The evidence from the sopade and Gestapo reports shows that workers reactions to Nazi schemes to win their support. With next many workers of course, have been influenced by socialist and communist ideas before 1933, with therefore have been resistant to Nazi ideology according to these reports strength through joy was popular, not because people shared its Nazi ideological ames, but because it offered work as a means of escape, and the boredom and pressure of their working lives on the other hand, trade unions have been abolished and workers had no independent means by which they could voice their grievances.
nazi policies towards the churches
Coordinating the churches into the volksgemeinschaft posed serious challenges for the Nazi regime since the Germans were divided by faith although the majority of Germans were protestant a significant minority with Roman Catholic. Secondly religious loyalties are deep rooted in some communities and were an obstacle to the game of making the flora the focus of loyalty for . Hitler realise that he would have to proceed cautiously at first with his initial of objective being to gain control over the churches before late trans weak and their influence the Nazis did not have a coherent view towards religion and the churches. Hitler himself has been raised a catholic and Austria and he talked about a view of positive Christianity yeah other times Hitler stated that he wanted to eradicate Christianity from Germany. Hitler was hostile to the Christian faith but especially in the early months of his regime he was careful not to alienate the churches and so try to reassure leaders that Nazis post no threat to their faith, of Nazis notably atheist who wanted to replace the Christian churches with a new Nazi faith this lack of coherence in the Nazi religious policy is evident in their dealings with the different churches.
membership of the protestant (German Evangelical Church)
40 million
58% of the population
membership of the Roman Catholic Church
22 million
32% of the population
geographical spread of the protestant (German Evangelical Church)
north and east
geographical spread of the Roman Catholic Church
south (bavaria) and west (rhineland)
social influence of the protestant (German Evangelical Church)
youth organisations
0.7 million
social influence of the Roman Catholic church
youth organisations - 1.5 million members
schools and charities
political influence of the protestant (German Evangelical Church)
connected to DNVP and DVP
political influence of the Roman Catholic church
close links to centre party
The main protestant church in Germany was the German evangelical church which many Nazi saw as
A potential nucleus for single national church
Evans were politically very conservative and staunch nationalist regarding Germany as a protestant state within the German of evangelical church there was a strong tradition of respectful and cooperation with
The state
Therefore, there were many points of convergence between Nazi ideology and the views of the German protestants and it was no coincidence that before 1933 the strongest of Nazi support were
In the protestant north and east of Germany
In the early months of the Nazi regime, some Nazi leaning and protestant pastors, staged mass weddings of SA brown shirts and their brides. for their part the Nazis in 1933 turned
The 450th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther into a major national celebration
Martin Luther was a German Catholic monk who challenged the authority of the papacy in 1517
In the spring and summer of 1933, the Nazi regime began to coordinate the evangelical (reich) church into a single
Centralised reich church under control
In the church elections of July 19 33 the German Christians with the support of Gobbles propaganda ministry won a sweeping victory and we’re now in a position to
nazify the church
Ludwig Muller a Nazi nominee was appointed as a reich bishop and took over the administrative headquarters of the evanglical church with the help of
the SA
Muller abolish abolished all elected bodies within the church and re-organised it on
The leadership principle
In November 1933 the German Christians celebrated their triumph of taking over the reich church by holding
A mass rally at the sports Palace in Berlin
At the sports Palace in Berlin they demanded that those pastors who had not declared their allegiance to the new regime should be
Dismissed along with all non-Aryans
As a state institution the reich church was forced to adopt this so-called ‘ Aryan Paragraph’
And 18 pastors mostly men who had converted to Christianity from Judaism were dismissed
By the end of 1933, it appeared that the reich church had successfully been coordinated into the Volksgemeinschaft
Not all protestant pastors or their congregations were willing to support these developments within the church In September 1933 a group of dissident pastors led by Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer established a pastors emergency league , this evolved into
A breakaway church known as the professional church with the support of about 5000 pastors the new church was established to resist state interference
The new confessional church, re established a theology that was based
Purely on the Bible
The confessional church was this in opposition to the official
Reich church
Some rural congregations went over to the confessional church because as the gestapo reported on the pot stamp district
‘farming people seem to want to celebrate their church festivals in the traditional form’
The very fact that the confessional church was established in defiance of the Nazi policy of gleichschaltung shows that the regimes attempts to
Coordinate the protestant church were a failure
In 1935 a new ministry for church affairs was created and reich bishop Muller was
Marginalised
The regime then switched to policy of trying to weaken the confessional church through oppression while at the same time
Trying to exploit the divisions that were beginning to appear within it
Also attempted to marginalise Christianity by trying to reduce the influence of
The churches young people through the abolition of church schools in the late 1930s and pressure on young people to join the Hitler youth
The regime also launched a church secession campaign to persuade
Party members to announce their church membership
The campaign had some success
By 1939 5% of the population were listed as God believers or people who retain some faith that had renounce formal membership of the Christian churches
Party members were not allowed to hold any office in Protestant or Catholic churches
Storm troopers were forbidden to wear uniforms at church services
Priests and pastors were forbidden from playing any part in the Nazi party
Pressure to announce their faith was also put on those who who employment depended on the regime i.e. teachers and civil servants
The Roman Catholic Church presented a far greater obstacle than the protestants to the Nazi policy of
gleichshaltung
Catholics in Germany were part of an international church and took their lead in religious matters from
The Pope
The Roman Catholic Church therefore was less susceptible to ideology than the
wholly German evangelical church
The Nazis regarded the fact that the Roman Catholic Church demanded obedience to the pope from German Catholics as undermining
Germans unity as a nation
In the early 1930s Catholic voters were among the least likely people to vote for
The Nazi party
On the other hand, Catholics as a group keen to be seen and accepted as part of the German nation and after Hitler came to power the Catholic Church was prepared to
Compromise
There were some points of convergence between Catholics and Nazism for example
The Catholic Church communism as a far greater evil than Nazism and there were many within the church who shared the Nazis anti-Semitism
after hitler came to power in 1933 the Roman Catholic Church opted for cooperation and compromise with the new regime in the belief that this would preserve its autonomy. When the free trade unions were taken over by the German labour in May 1933 Catholic trade unions voluntary disbanded .
Then in July 1933 the regime and the Vatican reached an agreement called
Concordat
The Concordat was an agreement that stated that
The Vatican recognised the Nazi regime and promised that the Catholic Church would not interfere in politics
The region promised that it would not interfere in the Catholic Church and that the church will keep control of schools organisations and lay groups
It was not long before the rage was breaking the terms of the agreement. In the summer of 1933 the Nazis began to
Seize the property of Catholic organisations and force them to close
Catholic newspapers were ordered to drop the word Catholic from their names. Furthermore the gestapo and SS put
Catholic priests under surveillance
In the night of the long knives in June 1934 number of leading Catholics were executed by the SS among them was
Fritz Gerlich the editor of a catholic journal and known critique of the regime
In the face of this mountain repression and blatant illegality the catholic hierarchy made no protest believing instead that
Continued declarations of support for the regime would be the best way to protect the Catholic Church from the Nazis
Catholic priest did begin in 1935-36 to speak out from their pulpits about the dangers of
Nazi religious ideas
leading this criticism was Clemens von Galen the archbishop of Munster
In response, the regime increase the pressure on the Catholic Church
Permission to hold public meetings were severely restricted
Catholic newspapers and magazines were heavily censored and many publications have Nazi editors and imposed upon them
Gobbels launched the propaganda campaign against financial corruption in Catholic lay organisations. Many had their funds seized and their offices closed by the SA
Membership of the Hitler was made compulsory for all young people. Although Catholic youth organisations were still tolerated, they experienced increasing difficulty in holding onto their members.
In 1937, Pope Pius XI issued and encyclical entitled “with burning grief” . In response the regime again increased the pressure.
gestapo and SS agents were placed inside Catholic Church organisations
There was a tightening of restrictions on the Catholic press. Pilgrimages and processions were restricted and Catholic youth groups were closed down.
Many monasteries were closed down and assets seized
Propaganda ministry publicised sex scandals involving Catholic priests attempting to portray the church as corrupt around 200 priests were arrested and tried on sex charges
Finally, the Nazi campaign to close church schools , by the summer of 1939 all church schools had been converted into community schools
By the summer of 1939, the power and influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany had been
Severely weakened
The Concordat had not been formally reputed by the regime but the Nazis had ceased
To honour the agreement
The regime paid particular attention to young people of Catholic parents denying them the opportunity to
Attend church schools or belong to separate Catholic youth organisations
- this was a part of a long-term strategy to weaken the influence of the church
Many older Catholics however, were torn between their faith and the wish wish to be seen as ‘good Germans ‘ with the church under attack older Catholics particularly in rural areas reaffirmed their
Strong support for it by continuing to attend services
- although many had complaints about their treatment of the church at the hands of the Nazis, they were careful not to place themselves at outright opposition
For Catholics, as for other Germans, the Hitler myth cast a powerful spell over them. Although individual Catholics did oppose many of the regimes policies the church as a whole did not
Mount any organised resistance to the third reich
the degree of success of nazi policy towards the churches
The regimes religious policy was confused and inconsistent as leading Nazi differed in the attitude towards Christianity. The Nazis had failed to establish a single unifying protestant church based on the German Christian movement by 1939 the concordat they had with the Catholic Church is affectively dead Hitler held back from formally announcing the agreement. He could still see some value from a tactical point of view of keeping the facade of cooperation , aswel as at the same time pursuing policies designed to weaken it’s hold it is clear that the Nazis has failed to coordinate the churches into the policy of volksgemeinschaft and that organised religion remained a powerful force within German society.
