Social Policies Flashcards
How did Nazis exercise their control of teachers?
Under the Law for Re-establishment of a Professional Civil Service (1933), a number of teachers were dismissed on the guards of political unreliability or because they were Jewish.
Teachers were pressured into joining the Nationalist Socialist Teachers’ League (NSLB) but most teachers were willing to comply with the regime’s demands. The historian Joachin Fest has claimed that the ‘teaching profession was one of the most politically reliable sections of the population’.
Vetting of textbooks was undertaken by local Nazi committees after 1933. From 1935, central directives were issued by the Ministry of Education covering what could be taught and, by 1938, these rules covered every school year and most subjects.
What did Nazis do generally regarding education and the curriculum?
- No independent organisation between youth and regime.
- Stereotypical gender roles
- “Healthy German” “New human being”.
- Men would be imbued with a fighting spirit and women would be willing to place their bodies at the service of the State by producing large numbers of children.
What did the Nazis do to control the curriculum?
Political indoctrination permeated every area of the school curriculum:
- The Nazis’ aim to promote ‘racial health’ led to an increasing emphasis on physical education. Military-style drills became a feature of PE lessons.
- Aimed to instil a ‘consciousness of being 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 the concepts of Lebensraum (‘living space’), ‘blood and soil’ and German racial superiority. Atlases implicitly supported the concept of ‘one people, one reich’.
How did Nazis change universities?
With the importance placed on 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. Selection was made on the basis of political reliability. Women were restricted to 10% of the available university places, while Jews were restricted to 1.5%, their proportion within the population as a whole.
What Nazi policies changed universities?
- Under the Law for Re-establishment of a Professional Civil Service, about 1200 university staff were dismissed on racial or political grounds. Amounted to around 15% of the total.
- 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% managed to avoid doing this.
- Students were also forced to do four months’ labour service and 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.
Why were universities so compliant?
Even in the Weimar period, the universities had been dominated by nationalist and anti-democratic attitudes and traditional student ‘fraternities’ were a breeding ground for reactionary politics. The Nazis were, therefore, able to tap into pre-existing culture of extreme nationalism and infuse it with Nazi ideology. This was helped by the students’ knowledge that their prospects of employment after graduating depended on showing outward support for the regime.
What organisations were there for boys?
- Pimfen (6-9)
- Jungvolk (10-13)
- The Hitler Youth (14-18)
What were Nazi aims for organisations targeted towards young boys?
These organisations aimed to reinforce messages taught in schools. (E.g. Pamphlets were issued which condemned the ToV, and explained racial purity and the importance of having strong healthy babies). Members of the Hitler Youth were expected to report on anything their teachers (or family) did which went against Nazi values.
From the age of 10, they were taught the motto ‘Live faithfully, fight bravely and die laughing’. The emphasis in youth activities was on competition, struggle, heroism and leadership, as boys were prepared for their future role as warriors.
What were the policies concerning youth movements and Nazi organisations?
All other youth movements were abolished. In 1936, the Hitler Youth had 4 million members, and it became compulsory in 1939 to join the Hitler Youth.
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.
How was the Hitler Youth attractive and why did enthusiasm begin to wane in the late 1930s?
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, their growing up was 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 were not Nazi sympathisers and had grown up in a different era. For these boys, the Hitler Youth offered an outlet for their teenage rebelliousness. By the late 1930s however, as 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 imposed for minor infringements of the rules.
What organisations were there for girls?
- Jungmadel (10-13)
- Bund Deutsches Mädel (BDM) or League of German Girls (14-16)
- “Faith and Beauty” (17-20)
What were the aims for these organisations for girls?
These organisations aimed to reinforce messages taught in schools. (E.g. Pamphlets were issued which condemned the ToV, and explained racial purity and the importance of having strong, healthy babies).
‘Be faithful, be pure, be German’ - was part of a process of preparing girls for their future role as housewives and mothers in the Volksgemeinschaft.
Raising fitness and developing comradeship.
At weekly ‘home evenings’, girls were taught handicrafts, sewing and cooking. Also sessions for political education and racial awareness. Flag-waving and saluting.
In Faith and Beauty groups, young women were instructed in baby care and social skills such as ballroom dancing.
What policies were there concerning organisations for girls?
The BDM became compulsory in 1939.
Why was the BDM successful?
Many girls found their experiences in the BDM liberating, as they were doing things their mothers had not been allowed to do, and they could escape from the constraints of home.
How were organisations towards girls unsuccessful?
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 very unpopular with girls in cities and many tried to avoid it. In 1939, this scheme was made compulsory. All young woman up to the age of 25 had to do a years unpaid work with the Reich Labour Service before they could get paid employment. This was the female equivalent to compulsory military service for the boys as part of the growing ‘coordination’ of all levels of German society under Nazi rule.
