Figure 1.--I think these boys are new students at the NAZI Party Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt (NPEA or NAPOLA) boarding school. One of the students recalls looking back, "We even had to sleep by the numbers ...." The boys here look to be wearing the standard Hitler Youth Winter uniform. |
The Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt (NPEA or NAPOLA--National Political Educational Establishment) were an early creation of the Third Reich. The NAPOLA program was initaiated in 1933, the year the NAZIs seized power, under the leadership of the Joachim Haupt. The NAPOLAs were based on the Imperial Germany Kadettanstalten. The schools were higly selective. Only 20 percent of applicants were accepted. Selection criteria included racial origins, physical fitness, and membership of the Hitler Youth. I'm not sure what the academic qualifications were. The program was very demanding. Only about one-third of the students who entered the NAPOLAs actually finished the program and graduated. The NAZIs planned to train a new generation of German leaders at these schools. The schools adopted the regular secondary school curriculum, but placed a greater concentration on physical education and racial and political studies. The schools were single gender schools, primarily for boys. There were, however, also four schools for girls as well. The first three NAPOLAs were opened May 3, 1933. Another 18 NAPOLAs were opened before World War II began in September 1939 and about 20 more after the War began. The NAPOLAs were organised on a militarybasis. The "jungmannen" (students) were divided into Hunderschaften (100 students), Züge (platoons) and Gruppen (squads). There were student non-commissioned officers leading each of these units. The NAPOLAs were associated with the Hitler Youth. After the first year (beginning October 1934), NAPOLA students had to be Hitler Youth members. They were, however, funded and supported by the Minister of Education. It was the SchutzStaffel (SS) that would from an early point establish the domonate influence at the schools. SS-Gruppenführer August Heissmeyer was appointed to head the NAPOLA Program in 1936. RFSS Himmler himself assumed leadership of the schools in 1944. This actually led to the founding of the Adolf Hitler Schulen that competed with the NAPOLA schools.
Nizkor Project, "Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression Individual Responsibility Of Defendants:
Baldur Von Schirach (2653-PS).
Overy, Richard. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich (Penguin Group: London 1996).
Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
(Simon and Schuster: New York, 1960).
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