Education under the Nazis Flashcards
What was the main aim of education under the Nazis?
To indoctrinate (brainwash) young people into supporting the Nazis.
If you were 16 in 1939, it was very likely you would have loved Hitler after learning about his greatness every day for 6 years.
What might you learn about in history lessons?
- How Germany was once great
- How the German army was ‘stabbed in the back’ by weak politicians at the Treaty of Versailles
What might you learn in biology?
That the Aryan race was superior in intelligence and strength to the Untermenschen (“inferior people” e.g. Jews, the Slavs of eastern Europe)
What might you learn in maths?
You might get a question that further indoctrinated you e.g. a question requiring you to work out the financial burden of the physically disabled on the state
Complete the Hitler quote from 1939.
“Look at these young men and boys…with them I can ________ __ _________ ________”
“Look at these young men and boys…with them I can make a new world.”
What lesson would you have every day?
Race Studies and Ideology (a lesson to highlight Aryan superiority)
What were schools controlled by?
The Ministry of Education in Berlin
What did teachers have to join?
The Nazi Teachers’ League
What happened to Jewish teachers?
They were sacked
As well as join the Nazi Teachers’ League, what were all teachers required to do?
Swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler
What lesson was scrapped?
Religious Education
What lesson got far greater emphasis?
Sport and physical education - Germans needed to be fit
How did all lessons begin and end?
With students saluting and saying ‘Heil Hitler’
What lessons would girls have?
Lessons in needlework and home crafts, especially cookery - to make them good housewives and mothers
What percentage of the week was devoted to sport/physical activity?
15%
