Education as Taught by the Nazis

I have already done a post about Hitler Youth and how children were put into groups that essentially taught children all they could about how to be the perfect Aryan and how to be the perfect Nazi for the party. We made me of course think about what kids were taught in school, which made me very excited to see a section about education in Nazi Germany in this week’s reading. I kind of figured that to a certain extent teachers in Nazi Germany had to go along with the Nazi party ideals, but seeing that there was an entire association of teachers for the Nazi Party, the National Socialist Teachers’ Association, I don’t know if I was necessarily surprised about seeing that this was established. Physical education was of course an important part of the school day, because of course the Nazi regime wanted the strongest Aryans and strict discipline. But what really got me were the three subjects that were completely transformed: German, history and biology (Spielvogel).

German was taught in racial terms, which stressed the terms of Aryan blood. History focused on the Nazis, and Hitler’s important role in the Nazi Party. Lastly, biology was of course important because it solidified the Nazi ideology of hereditary and racial purity (Spielvogel). What I really got out of this portion about education was that children in Nazi Germany were essentially taught about their superiority over other races, and were brought up being explicitly racist. It’s really hard to step into that mindset of being brainwashed for the benefit of a political party, and it’s even hard to imagine that essential lack of education that the children were exposed to.

Sources:

Spielvogel, Jackson J. Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History. Boston: Pearson, 2014.

“Dancing and Gymnastics in the KdF.” Wikipedia. Created in 1933. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_Through_Joy#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1974-121-28A,_KdF-Betriebssport.jpg.