nazi policies towards the youth learning intentions: 1.we will be able to explain how the nazi party...

Nazi Policies Towards the YouthLearning Intentions:

1. We will be able to explain how the Nazi Party attempted to control the lives of the German youth

2. We will be able to explain how German children were indoctrinated with Nazi party ideas through their education

3. We will be able to evaluate the success of Nazi Party policies in winning the hearts and minds of the German youth

“In my great educative work I am beginning with the young. We older ones are used up…We are cowardly and sentimental…I intend to have an athletic youth…In this way I shall eradicate the thousands of years of human domestication. Then I shall have in front of me the pure and noble natural material. With this I can create the new order.” - Hitler

Hitler & the YouthLI: We will be able to explain how the Nazi Party attempted to control the lives of the German youth

• Hitler pretended that he loved children;

• Children were, after all, the future of the nation;

• In reality they were simply another took to ensure his long-term support in Germany.

• All young people were supposed to join a Nazi Youth Movement.

• Other youth movements such as the Scouts and Girl Guides, were banned.

Nazi Youth GroupsLI: We will be able to explain how the Nazi Party attempted to control the lives of the German youth

• Nazi Youth Groups were organised to ensure a new generation of committed Nazis

• Founded in 1922 and grew to about 100,000 members in 1932

• In 1936 the groups were made compulsory and grew to 9 million members by 1939

• The Nazi Youth movement was highly structured and was made up of different stages depending on age

“When an opponent says to me: ‘I will not come over to your side’ I calmly say ‘Your child belongs to us already’ -

Hitler

Hitler’s YouthLI: We will be able to explain how the Nazi Party attempted to control the lives of the German youth

1932 1933 1935 1936 19390

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Boys in Hitler YouthGirls in the League of German Maidens

Hitler’s Youth for Girls

LI: We will be able to explain how the Nazi Party attempted to control the lives of the German youth

• The Bund Deutscher Mädel (BMD or League of German Maidens) taught young girls of their future roles in society: to mother more Germans;

• They emphasised values of obedience, self-control, and discipline.

• They taught women how to be ‘good Nazi wives and mothers and how to raise children that will also embody these ideals.

Youth OrganisationsLI: We will be able to explain how the Nazi Party attempted to control the lives of the German youth

Age

BoysLed by Baldur von Schirach“He who serves our Fuhrer,

Adolf Hitler, serves Germany and he who

serves Germany serves God”

GirlsLed by Gertrud Scholz-

Klink“Through our weapon be but a wooden spoon, it

must become as powerful as other weapons”

Over 18 Joing the Labour Front for 6 months’ compulsory work

Could join Faith and Beauty to prepare them for their role as

wives and mothers

14 – 18 Hitler YouthThe Hitlerjugend (HJ)

The League of German Maidens

(Bund Deutscher Mädchen – BDM)

10 – 14 German Young Folk(Deutsches Jungvolk – DJ)

Young Girls(The Jungmädel – JM)

6 – 10 Little Fellows(Pimpfen)

Successes and Failures of Hitler’s Youth

LI: We will be able to explain how the Nazi Party attempted to control the lives of the German youth

General Reasons Boys Girls

Popular Features

• Sharp new uniform

• Free badges, gifts

• Chance to socialise

• War games• Camping trips• Mountain

climbing• Shooting

practice

• Sports• Aerobics• Cookery classes

Unpopular

Features

• Attendance became compulsory when war broke out in 1939

• Annoying for those with other outside interests

• Too much stress on creating soldiers: 12 miles marches were common

• Only 25% of boys joined up voluntarily before 1939

• Too much stress on making good mothers.

• Some people said that BDM stood for Bund Deutsche Mikkühe (League of German Milk Cows!

LebensbornLI: We will be able to explain how the Nazi Party attempted to control the lives of the German youth

• Translates to ‘wellspring life’ or ‘fountain of life’

• The purpose was to offer young girls who were deemed ‘racially pure’ the possibility to give birth to a child in secret

• Aiming to create a super-race

• In order to participate you had to pass a ‘racial purity’ test

• Blonde hair and blue eyes were preferred, and family lineage had to be traced back at least three generations

Were children indoctrinated at school?

LI: We will be able to explain how German children were indoctrinated with Nazi party ideas through their education

The Nazi Minister of Education was Bernhard Rust. He focused on controlling the education of Germany’s young people through three key areas: control of the curriculum, control of teachers, and establishing specialist schools. In 1938, Bernhard Rust stated that “The whole function of education is to create Nazis”.

“Fuehrer, my Fuerhrer given me by God, Protect and preserve my life long. You rescued Germany

from its deepest need. I thank you for my daily bread. Stay for a long

time with me, leave me not. Fuerhrer, my Fuehrer, my faith, my

light. Hail my Fuehrer.’

Nazification of Schools


• Teachers were the largest singles professional group within Nazi party (32%)

• Teachers had to join the National Socialist Teachers Alliance or be sacked

• The alliance indoctrinated teachers in Nazi ideology

• All Jewish teachers lost their jobs

• Jewish children were not allowed to attend schools after 1938

• By 1939, church-controlled (or denominational) schools had been abolished

• National Political Training institutes were elite military academies

Nazification of Schools


• Adolf Hitler schools were highly selective schools that taught racial and political studies

• Castles of Order were set up to train the next generation of Nazi leaders

• German universities had to change their focus towards science and technology

• All university students had to attend physical and ideological training sessions at least twice a week

• However, by 1940 some leaders realised that this approach was causing Germany to fall behind in scientific and technological research



“The Aryans (Nordic people) were tall, light-

skinned, light-eyed, blonde people…

Everywhere Nordic creative power has built up might empires with

noble ideas”

Nazi Curriculum

1. Biology

2. Religious Education

3. Geography

4. History

5. Maths

6. Physical Education



Nazi Curriculum

1. Biology


3. Geography

4. History

5. Maths


“The Jews are aliens in Germany. In 1933 there

were 6,606,000 inhabitants of the

German Reich of whom 499,862 were Jews. What

is the percentage of aliens in Germany?”



Nazi Curriculum

1. Biology


3. Geography

4. History

5. Maths


“Sport exists to make a person strong, agile and bold…a young German

must be swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as

Krupps steel to help create the Master Race”



Nazi Curriculum

1. Biology


3. Geography

4. History

5. Maths


“On the day of National Socialist victory, the

Communists…attempted to organise armed resistance by subhumans in Germany. The burning of the Reichstag was supposed to be the torch that

brought forth bloody insurrection…they failed”



Nazi Curriculum

1. Biology


3. Geography

4. History

5. Maths


“Despite the great decrease in birth rate, the German people,

with a population density of 133.5 for square kilometre,

remain a crowded people…we need lebensraum if we do not again want to see large amounts of German blood

emigrating to other nations”

What was school life like for children?


Education was controlled by the NazisChildren were taught about the greatness of Hitler e.g. on his birthday they had to place flowers behind the pictures of Hitler at home and at school.

Primary Schools• Children were taught fairy stories of Nazi knights who saved maidens

from bad Russian gnomes. In maths the young child had to count the number of SS guards.

• From birth children were told that the Germans were the master race.

Secondary School• Teachers had to be Nazi members• The secondary curriculum included biology, which emphasised the

supremacy of the German race. In History Germans were taught how the Treaty of Versailles was unfair. In Maths questions included the area of a swastika.

What was school life like for girls?


A visit to a Nazi girls’ school, recorded in ‘Education for Death’ by Gregor Ziemer in 1942.

‘The school bell called the girls…before I visited the classes I spoke to the head teacher. She told me that every class in the school was built around a course called ‘Activities of

Women’. This course was divided into handwork, domestic science, cooking, house and garden work – and the most

section – breeding and hygiene. This section dealt with sex education, birth, childcare…?

What does this source tell us about the lessons taken by girls?

What was school life like for girls?


A typical timetable followed at a girls’ school

Period Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat

1 German German German German German German

2 Geog History Singing Geog Hist Singing

3 Race Study Race Study Race Study Race Study Race Study Race Study

4 Break – Sports with Special Announcements

5 Domestic Science with Mathematics

6 Eugenics, Health Biology and Sport

What was school life like for boys?


An official statement on the purpose of education for boys

‘German Language, History, Geography, Chemistry and Mathematics must concentrate on military subjects – the

glorification of military service and of German heroes…15% of time was given to Physical Education and boxing was

compulsory”

Why do you think that the Nazis wished to influence the boys curriculum in this way?

Teaching in Nazi Germany


• Many teachers were pro Nazi as they had been poorly paid during the Weimar period.

• The Nazi’s were nevertheless keen to keep control of the teaching profession

• Membership of the Nazi Teachers’ Association became compulsory after 1933. This made the process of indoctrination much easier for the Nazi Party, with teacher’s being only too willing to pass on Nazi ideas within the classroom.

• Those teacher’s who were thought to be lacking in loyalty and not willing to ‘defend without reservation the National-Socialist state’ were sacked.

Hitler’s control of the Youth


Using three or four points, explain the methods used by Hitler to develop a youth that would be devoted to

the Nazi Party? (10 marks)

nazi policies towards the youth learning intentions: 1.we will be able to explain how the nazi party...

Documents

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