Education in Nazi Germany

Question 1

In 1933, at what age did school attendance become voluntary?

Answer 1

14

Question 2

Who did Hitler make Education Minister in 1934?

Answer 2

Bernhard Rust

Question 3

What did Education Minister Bernhard Rust famously say about education?

Answer 3

“The whole purpose of education is to create Nazis”

Question 4

What new schools were created by Bernhard Rust for boys aged 10-18?

Answer 4

NAPOLAs (National Political Institutions of Education)

Question 5

Who ran the NAPOLAs from 1935?

Answer 5

The SS

Question 6

How many NAPOLAs were there by 1939?

Answer 6

16

Question 7

What education did the NAPOLAs provide?

Answer 7

A military-style boarding education - classes were called ‘platoons’

Question 8

Where did young Germans progress after graduating from the NAPOLAs?

Answer 8

Castles of Order (Ordensburgen)

Question 9

What was the purpose of the Castles of Order?

Answer 9

Provided training for future political and military leaders

Question 10

What percentage of teachers had voluntarily joined the Nazi Party by 1936?

Answer 10

Over 30%

Question 11

What law did the Nazis pass affecting teachers in April 1933?

Answer 11

The power to sack teachers and headteachers they didn’t approve of

Question 12

How many secondary headteachers were sacked in Prussia?

Answer 12

180

Question 13

What organisation did 97% of teachers join by 1937?

Answer 13

The Nazi Teachers’ League

Question 14

What did the Nazi Teachers’ League provide for teachers?

Answer 14

One-month political education courses for teachers, setting out the ideas which teachers should support

Question 15

How many teachers had attended a Nazi Teachers’ League course by 1939?

Answer 15

Over 200,000

Question 16

Give THREE ways teachers were expected to behave like Nazis in their classrooms

Answer 16

1) Taught students to do the Nazi salute
2) Started and ended each lesson with the children saying “Heil Hitler”
3) Decorated their classrooms with Nazi posters and flags

Question 17

Give ONE subject that the Nazis added to the school curriculum

Answer 17

Eugenics (race studies)

Question 18

What were children taught in Eugenics lessons?

Answer 18

The Aryan race was superior; they should not marry inferior races like Jewish people

Question 19

Give an example of how mathematics became a vehicle for Nazi ideas

Answer 19

A question asked students to calculate the weight of an aircraft bombing Jewish settlements

Question 20

What happened to the amount of time in schools for PE and sport under the Nazis?

Answer 20

It doubled - one-sixth of lesson time by 1939

Question 21

What subject was made compulsory for girls at school and why?

Answer 21

Domestic science (cookery and needlework)

To make them better wives and mothers

Question 22

From what year did the Nazis have to approve all new textbooks?

Answer 22

1935

Question 23

What did Nazi history books used in schools explain about the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 23

It was a ‘stab in the back’ (Dolchstoss) planned by the Socialists