Nazi Impact on Education and Youth Essay Example

Despite all this most of the youth enjoyed the activities they did and the pride of representing their nation.

Before the age of the Nazi’s, there was already a strong youth movement in Germany.It started in the 1890’s and was known as the Wandervogel, it was a male-only movement that featured a back to nature theme. Wandervogel had an idealistic notion of the past, desiring for the simpler days when people lived off the scruff of the land. They found strict German schooling oppressive and they rebelled against parental authority.

They saw hypocrisy in politics and the social class of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany based entirely on birth and heritage. Instead, they longed for a Jugendkultur, a culture of youth led by youth, in which they would be truly valued. They wanted something greater to believe in than the values of their parents.This youth movement grew rapidly from 1900 to 1914, attracting the attention and grudging admiration of the mainstream political and religious establishment in Germany, which soon created its own competing youth groups, borrowing the back-to-nature theme and other ideas from the Wandervogel.

“They were the chosen ones. They were the future of the German Reich. Their commitment was to be complete. They would be formed into a German in his totality.

They would be moulded in a physical and intellectual direction as well as cultivated spiritually. The German people would become great in the eyes of the whole world through their achievements.Germans of the future, as they grow up as little boys and Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) or as young girls and members of the German Girls' League would be educated to recognize German

cultural values. They would learn their duties to uphold those values and make Germany great. They would represent the new German order.

These were the ideals of the Hitler Youth. ”[2] The Hitler Youth Law{1} Hitler wanted to turn young people into loyal Nazis. The three greatest influences on young Germans were their families, their schools and youth movements, so the Nazis decided to control all three.The Nazis formed the Jugendbund or Hitler Youth in 1922 with Adolf Lenk as its Reichsjugendfuhrer, but it was banned along with the Nazi party after the Munich Putsch. Lenk made two attempts to resurrect the Jugendbund but both attempts failed and resulted in his arrest.

The Jugendbund was finally officially reinstated in 1926. In 1931 Baldur von Schirach was appointed Reichsjugendfuhrer. The Hitler Youth program stressed physical conditioning, skills training, especially military or para-military training, and ideological preparation.Von Schirach wrote, "I am responsible to the Reich that the entire youth of Germany will be educated physically, morally and spiritually in the spirit of the National Socialist Idea of the State.

" Jugendbund activities were centred on achieving these objectives. There was a heavy emphasis on outdoor activities, especially hiking, camping and military training, they also did religious activities and fund raising. After the Nazis gained power young people were encouraged to join the Jugendbund and most other political youth organizations were closed down. By 1936 it was almost impossible not to join the Jugendbund.Following the outbreak of war a large number of Jugendbund members volunteered to do the work of men that now were at the front, however as the war progressed the volunteers were not enough and

almost all youth were forced to take part. von Schirach was replaced by Artur Axmann who had fought in Poland and France as well as being the head of the Jugendbund Social Office.

The role of the Jugendbund in the war was not only doing the civilian work of the men of the front, but soon they also began serving as flak-helpers before being sent to the front during the final part of the war.During this time, the girls groups still remained widely overlooked. It was not until 1930 that the organization now known as the League of German Girls was founded and only in 1932 did it become a part of the overall Hitler Youth. Although the group was now official and offered a lot of activities that attracted teenage girls, membership was much lower than in the male organization, and throughout its existence, the League of German Girls would never reach the same number of members as the male Hitler Youth.

On the other hand, however, the group also did not enforce membership as stringently as their male counterparts did.The League of German Girls was the female part of the overall national-socialist youth movement known as the Hitler Youth. Its proper title was The League of German Girls in the Hitler Youth. An important part of life in the League of German Girls was to help the girls build character, and to prepare them for what were supposed to be their future tasks within the Nazi Volksgemeinschaft, or people's community, by getting them involved in programs that were for the "good of the people", such as collecting for the Winter Relief, helping with

the harvest or collecting medicinal herbs in the fields.But to the girls, many of the League of German Girls' activities looked like lots of fun and like something they really wanted to participate in along with their friends.

Many of the activities were not unlike what youth organizations offer today: BDM members could see movies or plays at reduced rates, go on field trips, or go away to camp during their school holidays. They were also able to compete against one another locally, regionally, and nationally in sports and other competitions. "German youth must no longer..

. e confronted with the choice of whether it wishes to grow up in a spirit of materialism or idealism, of racism or internationalism, of religious or godlessness, but it must be consciously shaped according to principles which are recognized as correct... according to the principles of the ideology of National Socialism. "[3] The Nazis gave particular attention to education and control of the German educational system.

They were determined to mould the new generation to accept Nazi principles. As the leader of the Nazi Teacher's League, Hans Schemm, put it: "Those who have the youth on their side control the future. As a result, after the Nazi’s seized power in 1933, they quickly began applying totalitarian principles to all aspects of the German education system. Great emphasis was attached to racial "science", often termed "racial hygiene", in Nazi education and this was quickly introduced into the curriculum. Nazi ideology and physical-military training became other important aspects of the school program. Many teachers embraced the new Germany, but others were fired or left teaching.

Subjects underwent a major change in

schools. Some of those most affected were History and Biology.History was based on the glory of Germany - a nationalistic approach was compulsory. The German defeat in 1918 was explained as the work of Jewish and Marxist spies who had weakened the system from within.

Biology became a study of the different races to 'prove' that the Nazi belief in racial superiority was a sound belief. Geography taught pupils about the land Germany had taken away from her in 1919 and the need for Germany to have living space - lebensraum. Science had a military-slant to it. The curriculum required that the principles of shooting be studied; military aviation science; bridge building and the impact of poisonous gasses.Girls had a different curriculum in some regards as they studied domestic science and eugenics - both of which were to prepare young girls to be the perfect mother and wife. In Eugenics, girls were taught about the characteristics to look out for in a perfect husband and father.

In conclusion, although the German youth under Hitler’s reign were forced to do many things the previous generation didn’t, they were brainwashed and trained hard, but they did it willingly after they became involved and many enjoyed it greatly - so much so that the organisation became like their new family.The Nazi’s made sure that it was enjoyable so people learned easily and remembered more readily because they enjoyed it. In addition, the whole education was corrupted to deliver only the Nazi version of each subject students would learn. So it was easier for the Nazi’s to brainwash the young.

Hitler manipulated the youth and made them his loyal

followers with an efficiency never known before, through organization and propaganda. This was much to the chagrin of the allies; as highlighted by Winston Churchill commenting on Adolf Hitler, in the same way that Shakespeare had said of Bacon, “Why didn’t I think of that?! . Footnotes [1]http://www. historyplace.

com/ [2http://www. militaryhistoryonline. com/ [3] Noakes, J. and G. Pridham, ed. Nazism: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts, 1919-1945, (Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Exeter, 1983).

Appendix {1} The Hitler Youth Law The future of the German people depends on its youth. Therefore, all of the German youth must be prepared for its future duties. The nation's government has therefore decreed the following: 1. All German youths within the borders of the German nation will be incorporated into the Hitler Youth. .

All German youths are to be educated in the Hitler Youth, as well as in their parents' homes and in their schools, physically and morally, in the spirit of national-socialism, to the service for people and community. 3. The task of raising the German youth in the Hitler Youth will be given to the National leader of the NSDAP. He is therefore the Youth Leader of the German Nation. He holds the position of a high government office with location in Berlin, and he is directly under the command of the Leader and Nation's Chancellor.

4.The laws and general administrative regulations necessary to the implementation and correction of this law are governed by the Leader and the Nation's Chancellor. Berlin, 1 December 1936 The Leader and Nation's Chancellor Adolf Hitler http://www. bdmhistory. com/ Annotated Bibliography Source 1: Book Lacey,

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