To what extent did the Nazi regime overturn the Weimar education system?

In Weimar Germany, most teachers’ would have been a member of a trade union so that they could voice their opinions and organise strikes. Soon after Hitler came to power in1933 he banned all trade unions and the National Socialist Teachers League (NSLB) was set up as the sole union of all teachers. If any teacher did not join this then they would be fired and possibly banned from teaching again. Once teachers were pressured into becoming Nazis by fear of losing their jobs, they were then given strict instructions on what to teach and what not to. Schools were purged of any ‘undesirable’ staff, for example, Jews or socialists and schools who had purely Nazi staff were given credit. The effects on teachers would have had a massive impact on education and definitely overturned the more liberal teaching methods of the Weimar period.

One of the most drastic changes that the Nazis made to the education system in order to indoctrinate children was the issue of new, censored textbooks used to reinforce Nazi messages and promote certain attitudes in children, as well as loyalty to Hitler. All subjects imcluding German language, History, Geography, Chemistry and Mathematics

concentrated on military subjects, the glorification of military service and of German heroes and leaders and the strength of a rebuilt Germany. Chemistry developed knowledge of chemical warfare, explosives, etc., while Mathematics will help the young to understand artillery, calculations, ballistics. Textbooks were also used to promote negative attitudes about Jews, mentally and physically ill people and other ‘undesirables. One question from a Nazi textbook said ‘to keep a mentally ill person costs approximately 4 marks a day. There are 300,000 mentally ill people in care. How many marriage loans of 1000 could be granted with this money?’                                                                                                     Story books for even small children stereotyped Jews as scary and perverted. Anti-Semitism would have been natural to children who had been brought up looking at these types of books. So rather than the sole purpose of textbooks being to teach the children, the Nazis created books full of propaganda in order to brainwash.

An aim of Weimar Germany was to have more mixed secular schools. Although this was not achieved and by 1931 the majority of schools were catholic. Opposing to this, the Nazis preferred separate schools for boys and girls and banned Jews from attending in 1938. This was so that they could influence boys to want to become soldiers who would die for their country and girls so that they would become perfect mothers and wives.

Whereas the Weimar views on gender were quite forward thinking, many more women worked and had the vote, the Nazis aimed to teach children their ideal gender roles. A large 15% of the weekly timetable for children was physical education. For boys this was to prepare them for fighting and military service to Germany, Hitler said that he wanted ‘boys who could suffer pain’. For girls this was to ensure that they were healthy enough for child bearing. Whilst boys were taught about mechanics and weaponry, girls had domestic science lessons. Children were also taught eugenics and the importance of keeping the Aryan race pure. Older girls were told how to pick out a perfect spouse by his features.

Finally something which overturned a child’s education in the Nazi period as it would not have done in the Weimar period was the Hitler Youth. A child would have had less time for school education because of the sessions they had to attend with the Hitler Youth. There was less time to do homework because they had to go to rallies and marches, it was prioritised. On top of this the leaders of the Hitler youth encouraged children to report if they heard their teachers saying anything which went against Nazi beliefs.

In conclusion the Nazi regime almost completely overturned the Weimar education system. The idea of education changed to serve the purpose of brainwashing the young into becoming loyal Nazis. Textbooks were replaced with propaganda, teachers were unable to express opinions and the curriculum followed strict rules of censorship, glorification of Hitler and dedication to Germany.