Figure 1.--This is a scene in the library of an eliete NAZI school. These children would have had to have done very well in the Hitler Youth or have important parents to gain admission. |
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After the NAZIs seized power in 1933, totalitarian principles were applied to all aspects of education. Private
schools were taken over or closed. Great emphasis was attached on racial "science" 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. It is difficult to
assess the relative importance of the two groups. It is known that many teachers were fired or replaced with political
hacks during 1933-35, but HBC has no details on the numbers. Some of the best educators fled abroad. The quality of
German education, once the leading system in Europe, declined. Again, however, it is difficult to assess this in
quantitative terms.
The basis German school system continued unchanged by the NAZIs. The NAZIs did make substantial changes in the
Education system, but the basic school system inherited from Imperial Germany and Wiemar was left unchanged. Children
began school t about age 6-7 in a primary school which was called a Volksschule (peoples' school). All children
attended the Volksschule for the first four years. classes were separated by gender, except in small village schools
which were not large enough to have separate classes. Many students whose parents who could not afford to support their children or who were not interested in education attended primary school for 8 years. They then would find a position as an apprentice to learn a trade or work as laborers. Students with more affluent parents or some academic talent could take a test in the fourth year of Volksschule. This varied somewhat by gender. Girls took a test to earn entrance to the middle / secondary school (6-year program). There was also a "school for higher daughters" which required a tuition fee. Boys took tests to earn a place at a secondary school, similar to a British grammar school. These schools were called Gymnasium and it was an 8-year program. With the advent of the War, boys could leave school a year early to join the military and were awarded a Notabitur. After the War, German universities did not recognize these diplomas. [Mostowski]
The school day began in the classroom with a "Heil Hitler" salute. Which was expected at the beginning of each
lesson in secondary school. When the teacher entered the classroom, the students all stood up and saluted. Children
encountering their teacher on the street were expected to give this salute. With the War many male teachers were
drafted, first the younger ones and then the middle-aged ones as the War continued. A shortage of teachers meant that
more women were brought in as well as older men. Class sizes got increasingly large. By 1944 classes of 50 or more
children were not uncommon. The average was in the 40s. Children did not normally wear their HJ and BDM uniforms, but
wearing uniforms was expected on special days like Hitler's birthday (April 20) and the commemoration of the Beer Hall
Putsch (November 9). classrooms were very basic, even stark. Many had benches rather than desks and were often crammed full of children. Every classroom had a portrait of the Führer at the front, Many classes had a large map which was used to mark the progress of the War. The children would mark the front lines with pins. This was a first exciting for the children, but became frightening when in 1943 the War turned against Germany. Many children living in cities with war industries had their schooling disrupted by the Allied bombing which by 1943 had become severe. Even if their homes and schools were not hit by the bombing, children who spent the night in cellars or shelters arrived at school only half awake. Schools would allow children to arrive an hour late if there had been night raids, but of course this did not make a lot of difference. As the War went against Germany and food became hard to get, school children were given vitamin lozenges. [Mostowski]
German schools during the Third Reich (NAZI era) did not normally require boys to wear school uniforms. Boys were
allowed to wear the clothes parents selected for them. Despite the considerable interest of Germans in uniforms, there
does not seem to have been a great interest in adopting a school uniform. Boys did on certain days wear their Hitler
Youth uniforms. The NAZI also had some special Party schools where the boys wore their Hitler Youth uniforms. We have
noted images where some boys are wearing their Hitler Youth uniforms to school, but are not entirely sure about how common thus was or the the circumstances involved. We wonder if wearing the uniform told us anything about the boys or
their families.
The German attitudes toward school uniforms did not change during the NAZI era. While it is understandable why there
was no interest in school uniforms during the post-War Wiemar period, it is less understandable why the NAZIs did not
institute uniforms for school children. In the Nazi Germany there were uniforms for almost everybody and anyone without
some kind of swastika emblazoned uniform must have felt left out. So it is curious that uniforms were not instituted
for school children. Of course all the Aryan children had their Hitler Youth uniforms and on occasion wore them to
school. It is likely that the NAZI leadership understood that the German people as a whole did not want another war and
that instituting school uniforms would not have proved popular.But this is just speculation on my part and would be
interested in any actual historical insights visitors to this web site might have.
After the NAZIs seized power in 1933, totalitarian principles were applied to all aspects of education. Private
schools were taken over or closed. Great emphasis was attached on 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. It is difficult to assess the relative importance of the two groups. It is known that many teachers were fired
or replaced with political hacks during 1933-35, but HBC has no details on the numbers. Some of the best educators fled
abroad. The quality of German education, once the leading system in Europe, declined. Again, however, it is difficult to
assess this in quantatative tterms.
The NAZIs did not significantly change the structure of German education during their 12-years of power in Germany.
The educational system remained basically unchanged from that of Imperial Germany and the Wiemar Republic. There were
of course changes. The NAZIs expelled Jewish children from pubic schools (1935). The staff of the schools was changed.
Jewish Teachers were immediately dismissed. Teachers critical of the NAZIs were replaced with NAZI supporters.
Political reliability rather than competency became important. This of course affected educational standards. But these are changes that do not show up in period photographs. The photographs do show the changing fashion trends during the period, both at the primary and secondary level. Only during World War II, especially the later part of the War do we begin to see some major changes because city children were being evacuated as a result of the Allied bombing. There were no school uniforms at most German schools. The boys wore their own clothes. I believe that boys mostly wore short
pants and knee socks. The younger boys may have worn long stockings. Older boys wore shorts, knickers, and long pants. Many parents let the boys wear long pants during the winter. We see some children wearing their HJ uniforms at some
schools.
Within only a few months after the NAZI seizure of power, Franz von Papen and Hermann Göring went to Rome and met
with Pope Pius XI (April 1933). The NAZIs negotiated a Concordat with the papacy (summer 1933). Papal official Eugenio
Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII was a major factor in the negotiations). Cardinal Faulhaber
congratulated Hitler after the signing of the Reich Concordat. The Catholic Center Party fell in with other parties to
support the regime and was then along with other political parties disbanded. Pacelli and other papal officials hoped
that the Concordat would serve as a shield for the church. This was of course based on the assumption that Hitler would
adhere to agreements he signed. As one historian writes, "the agreement lent Hitler international credibility,
criminalized Catholic political activity, and demoralized bishops and priests who opposed Nazi rule." [Loconte] The
Reich Concordat conceded to Pacelli the right to impose the new Code of Canon Law on German Catholics and promised
several actions to safeguard Catholic education, including possible new schools. Pacelli and the papacy in return
assented to the withdrawal of Catholics from political and social activity. [Cornwell] The NAZIs subsequently launched
the Currency and Immorality trials which reached a highpoint in 1935 and 1936 led to the fining and imprisonment of
hundreds of clergy. The NAZIs desired to de-Chritianize Germany, but did not want to openly attack churches. They began
by attacking the reputation of Catholic clerics, especially those working in primary and secondary schools. The NAZIs by
the onset of World War II had managed to closed down or take over confessional schools as well as private schools, both
day schools and boarding schools. This essentially ended the diversity in education that had existed before the NAZI
take over.
The NAZI Party created special secondary-level schools to train party cadres. I believe the boys at special party
schools, like the Adolf Hitler schools wore basic Hitler Youth uniforms. I do not know of special school uniforms, but I
could be wrong about this. Some images show the boys in more elaborate uniforms than normally worn by Hitler Youth
boys. These schools are a topic HBC has not yet been able to acquire much information about.
A German reader tells us that in 1933 the Nazis tried to establish a
uniform Schultüte. I am not sure what official and at what level this
effort was made. We notice one boy in 1933 with a Hakenkreuzschultüten--a gift cone with a swastika. This would have
been done in September 1933. The NAZIs at that time had been in power only a few months. The idea apparently was not
very popular. Almost all the cones we note have animals and characters on them that apparently were more appealing to 6
-year old children. Notice all the various different designs on the gift cones archived in HBC. The NAZIs seem to have
dropped the idea as even when the Party was in firm control of Germany we do not
notice Hakenkreuzschultüten. A German reader tells us they remained a rare choice for these gift cones. We rarely see
such photographs. Some care, however, needs to be take in assessing popularity by the modern number of surviving images.
We believe that following the German surrender in World War II (May 1945)
that many German families destroyed photographs and artifacts that had the swastika on them.
HBC has little information about school life during the NAZI era and what classrooms look like. One HBC reader
tells us, "I am looking for some pictures of German students during World War II or the pre-War Nazi era. I'm looking
for pictures of them doing their equivalent to our pledge of allegiance. A picture of them saluting a flag or something
like that. do you have any or know a good place where I can find one." In fact, HBC
knows of no German school sites. Wile the HBU site has considerable information on Hitler
Youth, we have only limited information and few images of school life.
Mostowski, Marianne. "The school system", Bund Deutscher Mädel, internet site accessed May 30, 2006.
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