1. Schooling "no boy or girl should leave school without complete knowledge of the necessity and meaning of blood purity.” -Hitler
The above slide was already projecting against the wall in the darkened classroom as the pupils came in. I had undergone 5 minutes of ‘ham’ acting whilst the students waited in the corridor. At one point, a very flustered Miss J. walked to the door to pull the curtain over the glass. The nosier members hurried along the corridor to peer through a second window at me and I could hear comments such as, “What’s going on?” and “She looks worried” from the corridor outside,
My aim here was to alert them, make them think that something was wrong and to change their mentalities before they entered the classroom. This appeared to work as they entered not talking about last nights Eastenders, but keen to know exactly, “what’re doing today Miss”.
The first thing that I did was to apologise that this announcement was 2mins late telling them that the precise time had past as I had not been able to operate the Light Pro properly. I asked if the could please not mention my mistake to anyone. The result of this was a picture, a sea of confused faces.

2. The chief purpose of the school is to train human beings to realize that the state is more important than the individual-
Bernhard Rust- Nazi education minister

3. Introduction: All schools came under Nazi control
All school books were rewritten and included Nazi ideas about the Jews and the war.
Boys and girls went to different schools.
It was mandatory for teachers to join the Nazi-Teacher’s League.
School in Nazi Germany was very important due to the fact that it was the main area where Nazis had complete influence over young minds.
Many teachers were very nationalistic and accepted the fact that the children should be taught Nazi ideas.

4. Teachers
The teachers who refused to teach Nazi ideas were usually fired. Most teachers attended teachers’ camps where they learnt about indoctrination and physical training. Ninety-seven per cent of teachers joined the Nazi-teacher association.
I did not spend a long time on this slide. I just used it to explain that the changes to the National Curriculum were to be far reaching and would have an enormous impact on everyone in the room, “This is properly the most important announcement that you will every listen to in your whole life”.

5. Curriculum GIRLS: BOYS:
German girls had a different curriculum from German boys. They mainly studied domestic science and eugenics (which meant they learnt how to create perfect offspring by selecting the ideal qualities in the parents). They were forbidden to study science and only learnt the mathematics necessary to be a housewife.
BOYS:
Most subjects concentrated upon German history and nationalism. Boys had many more subjects than the girls, they studied basically everything we do now.

6. The Nazi curriculum Time table for girls: 8:00 German (every day)
8:50 History, Geography or singing (alternate days)
9:40 Race studies and Ideology (every day)
10:25 Recess, sports and special announcements (every day)
11:00 Domestic science or Maths (alternate days)
12:10 Eugenics or Health biology
1:00-6:00 Sports
Evenings: Sex Education, Ideology or domestic science (one evening each)
Lots of groans from this slide. I kept emphasising that this was the same for ALL students in England & Wales.
A few laughed at the girls for having to do Music and Movement but on the whole not as much laughter as I expected with either class.

7. Nazi School Subjects
HISTORY: Mainly concentrated on the rise of the Nazi party, injustice of the treaty of Versailles and the evils of communism and the Jews. It 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; the Treaty of Versailles was the work of nations jealous of Germany's might and power; the hyperinflation of 1923 was the work of Jewish saboteurs;
BIOLOGY: Taught Nazi ideas on race and population control. Students were taught to measure their skulls and to classify racial types and that the Aryans were the superior race and should not marry inferior races. Biology became a study of the different races to 'prove' that the Nazi belief in racial superiority was a sound belief. "Racial Instruction" started as the age of 6. Hitler himself had decreed that "no boy or girl should leave school without complete knowledge of the necessity and meaning of blood purity." Pupils were taught about the problems of heredity. Older pupils were taught about the importance of selecting the right "mate" when marrying and producing children. The problems of inter-racial marriage were taught with an explanation that such marriages could only lead to a decline in racial purity.
When the farm bullet flew across it was warmly welcomed until I added that the farm that their school was looking to buy was 5 miles out of town and no transport would be provided as it was felt that it would be good for them to jog back to school, after all there is not much traffic on the road before 7.30am, is there?
The last bullet was greeted contemptuously by a few of the girls but again there was no where near the amount of reaction that one might of expected. Perhaps they expect us to be Nazis.

8. Changes in curriculum (cont…)
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.
GERMAN: Taught pupils to be conscious of their national identity and read about their national heroes from the first world war and the Hitler Youth.
GEOGRAPHY: taught pupils about the land Germany had taken away from her in 1919 and the need for Germany to have living space - lebensraum.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES: Lost all importance by 1937 where students could drop the subject.

9. PHYSICAL EDUCATION:
PE became a very important part of the curriculum. Hitler had stated that he wanted boys who could suffer pain "a young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel."
PE took up 15% of a school's weekly timetable. Boxing became compulsory for boys. Those who failed fitness tests could be expelled from their schools - and face humiliation from those who had passed such tests.

10. At every opportunity the teachers tried to criticise the Jews, even exam questions contained anti-semitic ideas:
“A bomber aircraft on take-off carries 12 dozen bombs, each weighing 10 kilos. The aircraft takes off for Warsaw the international centre for Jewry. It bombs the town. On take-off with all bombs on board and a fuel tank containing 100 kilos of fuel, the aircraft weighed about 8 tons. When it returns from the crusade, there are still 230 kilos left. What is the weight of the aircraft when empty ?“
"To keep a mentally ill person costs approximately 4 marks a day. There are 300,000 mentally ill people in care. How much do these people cost to keep in total? How many marriage loans of 1000 marks could be granted with this money?"

11. ‘Adolf Hitler’ Schools
For boys considered special, different school were created. Those who were physically fitter and stronger than the rest went to Adolf Hitler Schools where they were taught to be the future leaders of Germany.
Napola schools (11-18) also took the best students
Six years of tough physical training took place and when the pupils from these schools left aged 18, they went to the army or to university.
The very best pupils went to Order Castles. These were schools which took pupils to the limits of physical endurance. War games used live ammunition and pupils were killed at these schools.
Those who graduated from the Order Castles could expect to attain a high position in the army or the SS.

12. Jews
From 1935 on, after the Nuremburg Laws, Jewish school children were not allowed to attend schools. The Nazi government claimed that a German pupil sitting next to a Jew could become contaminated by the experience.
The sole purpose of this educational structure was to create a future generation that was blindly loyal to Hitler and the Nazis.

13. Conclusion
Education played a very important part in Nazi Germany in trying to cultivate a loyal following for Hitler and the Nazis. The Nazis were aware that education would create loyal Nazis by the time they reached adulthood. The Hitler Youth had been created for post-school activities and schools were to play a critical part in developing a loyal following for Hitler - indoctrination and the use of propaganda were to be a common practice in Nazi schools and the education system.