Education in the Reich

Despite there already being a number of religion-based and secular regional teachers’ unions and associations in Germany, Hitler, even before taking power, authorized his own national group on April 21, 1929. The “Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund” (NSLB — Nazi Teachers’ League) was headed by Hans Schemm, then the “Gauleiter” (regional NSDAP leader) of Bayreuth. Bayreuth would remain the headquarters for the NSLB until the group’s dissolution in 1943, administrating the organization from an imposing high columned building constructed in a grandiose scale, characteristic of the Third Reich. The purpose of the NSLB was to instill the concepts of Nazi dogma in each student, project Hitler as the savior of a country which should only be populated by a homogenous people, and  de-emphasize intellectual development during classroom sessions. This change in the learning culture would lead students to stop thinking for themselves or asking questions contradicting the regim; instead simply becoming National Socialist automatons in the German “Volksgemeinschaft” (People’s community).

Three types of Nazi-mandated schools were developed to educate the youth in newly structured programs. The “Adolf Hitler Schulen” (Adolf Hitler Schools) instructed 14- to 18-year-old adolescents who were members of the Hitler Youth. Schools were separated by gender, with nine schools built for boys and three for girls, each jointly run by the Hitler Youth and the “Deutsche Arbeitsfront” (DAF – German Workers Organization). Though candidates were required to exhibit above average intelligence when being selected, the emphasis in the curriculum was geared toward competitive physical activities, preparation for military service and political indoctrination, rather than academic courses.

The “Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten” (NPEA – National Political Institutes of Education, also called the “Napola” – “Nationalpolitische Lehranstaff” – National Political Teaching Institute) was developed for youth destined to be future political, military and police leaders. The schools were at first ran by the Reich Ministry of Education, but later came under the control of the “Schutzstaffel” (SS). By 1942, there were 33 Napola schools (three for girls and 30 for boys) educating 10 to 18-year-olds on the science of hereditary and racial theories, leadership qualities, sports, German history and personal responsibility to the nation (sacrifice for the common good). After an eight-day entrance exam and thorough physical evaluation, students who were accepted began their sessions. The military discipline and exercises of the Napola schools that followed proved brutal. Twenty percent of the students washed out due to physical injuries suffered during the strenuous sport and military competitions. Despite these hardships, 13 percent of the graduates entered the SS as fanatical combatants, with late war graduates often dying, unprepared and ill-equipped, in Germany’s final days. 

The adult children of the German upper classes and the highest-ranking Nazis were chosen to attend one of the four “NS-Ordensburgen” (National Socialist Order Castles). Candidates needed to be between 25 and 30 old, have graduated from an Adolf Hitler school, served in the “Reichs Arbeits Dienst” (National labor corps) for six months, spent two years in the army, and had chosen their future careers. In addition, candidates had to have been a member of the Nazi Party, the Hitler Youth, the “Sturmabteilung” (SA brown shirts) or the SS. They were to be healthy, and have traceable “Aryan” blood with no physical defects.

In all of these schools, students were inundated with the same Nazi doctrines on racial awareness, military preparation and community allegiance, all in the “Spirit of National Socialism”. That catch phrase became a vague “go to” to justify any of the policies taught, leaving no room for questions asked by either teachers or students.  

In addition to the new schools, updated textbooks were compiled that specialized in the Nazi teachings, including hereditary and racial programs, “Lebensraum” (expansion of the German community), adoration of Nazi leaders and the need for self-sufficiency in the German nation. By 1938, physical fitness had surpassed all other aspects of education with up to five hours of each school day devoted to sports and exercise, making sure that the young students would be ready for combat as Hitler outwardly advocated peace, but secretly planned for war. 

Along with new institutions, teaching materials and regulations, an important part of the evolving Nazi educational system centered around who would be “worthy” to teach the youth in Hitler’s State. In April, 1933, the “Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums” (Restoration of the Professional Civil Service act) required that all Jewish, communist and other public workers deemed unfit by the regime be released from their positions. Teachers were required to join the Nazi Party or one of its affiliates, and 97 percent (300,000, more than any other profession) of them did so by 1936. Once the few “undesirable” teachers were weeded out from the profession, those remaining, both male and female, fell into line quickly and became members of the Hitler cult, willing advocates of the Fuhrer’s new Reich, either doing so for self-preservation or by being true believers in the National Socialist ideas.   

The makeup of student bodies began to change as many “unacceptable” children were removed from their classes. A legal quota was at first decreed, limiting the number of Jewish students who could attend schools, followed by orders later in 1938 that all Jews were required to permanently leave. As many of the remaining students were members of the Hitler Youth, or other Nazi organizations, pupils often kept watch on their teachers, preventing them from showing empathy for the students being removed. Inversely, since most of the teachers were willing members of Nazi party organizations, professional colleagues’ warnings also added to their willingness concentrate on the other students in their classes.

Despite lengthy and costly preparations, conflicting and overlapping administrators and concepts made coordinating the entire country’s school systems almost impossible, thwarting Hitler’s “Gleichschaltung” (coordination for Totalitarian control). By the end of the war, the Nazi administration had still not fully been able to standardize all of the districts and control the educational system as Hitler had foreseen in his plan for a greater Germany. 

By the spring of 1945, much of the Third Reich lay in ruins, with many schools abandoned, and both students and teachers forced into the last-ditch efforts of the German armed forces, or the civilian “Volksturm” (people’s army of old men and children). With the death of Adolf Hitler and the final surrender of Germany, the NSDAP and its member organizations ceased to exist. As the survivors slowly tried to regain their normal, pre-war lives, educators turned away from the teachings of the Nazi regime, and replaced them with basic instructive fundamentals that helped lead Germany to rise like a true Phoenix from the ashes of Hitler’s Third Reich.  

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