Life in Nazi Germany

• In Nazi Germany, opposition from young people took the form of mid 1930s gangs who played their own music, beat up members of Hitler Youth, and let boys and girls be together.
• In 1938, a decree for the 'struggles against a gypsy plague' was issued.
• All gypsies had to register with authorities.
• The Edelweiss Pirates listened to forbidden swing music, wrote anti-Nazi graffiti, and wore Flower or skull and crossbones badges.
• The Ministry for Science, Education and National Culture was established when the Nazis came to power.
• Mandatory schooling in Nazi Germany was from 6-14, with boys and girls separated.
• The Nazis set up their own schools for future leaders.
• Boys aged 10-18 were mostly sent to the armed forces.
• Adolf Hitler schools were established for the elite of the Hitler Youth.
• Hitler Youth was a compulsory organisation for boys and girls, with Baldur von Schirach as the head.
• All other youth organisations were banned, and from 1936, membership of Hitler Youth was compulsory.
• In 1939, 7 million members were in the Hitler Youth.
• Boys in the Hitler Youth were involved in sports, hiking, camping, military preparation.
• Girls in the Hitler Youth were involved in sports, camping, lessons in preparation for motherhood, year of working on land, domestic science, parades and marches, training for marriage, classes on clothes making and cooking.
• Textbooks in Nazi Germany were written to fit Nazi views of history and racial purity, with Mein Kampf being a key text.
• Lessons in Nazi schools began and ended with ‘Heil Hitler’, and Nazi themes were present in every subject.
• Teachers in Nazi Germany swore an oath of loyalty and joined the Nazi Teacher’s League.
• In 1937, 97% of teachers in Nazi Germany were members of the NSDAP.
• Curriculum in Nazi schools devoted 15% of time to Physical Education, and students were taught that Aryans were superior.
• Girls in Nazi Germany took needlework and home crafts, cookery, and race studies was introduced.
• Kids in Nazi Germany were taught how to measure skulls to deem racial type.
• Religion was optional in Nazi Germany, and views on women were changing.
• In the 1920s, women in Nazi Germany could vote, work in civil service, law, medicine and teaching, and in 1933, 100,000 female teachers and 3,000 doctors were employed.
• Women in Nazi Germany were encouraged to be housewives, brought up children, and not interested in politics.
• In 1934, Gertrude Scholtz-Klink was appointed National Women’s Leader in Nazi Germany.
• Only Jews were allowed abortions in Nazi Germany, and the birth rate dropped to under 1 million in 1933 and rose to 1.4 million in 1939.
• A massive propaganda campaign was launched in Nazi Germany to promote motherhood and large families.
• In 1933, a Law for the Encouragement of Marriage was introduced in Nazi Germany to raise the falling birth rate.
• Loans were given to young couples in Nazi Germany to help marry, providing the woman left her job, and they could keep ¼ of the loan for every child they had.
• Hitler’s mother’s birthday was celebrated in Nazi Germany, and medals were awarded to women with large families.
• The army grew from 100,000 in 1933 to 1,400,000 in 1939.
• Workers in the Reich Labour Service lived in camps, wore uniforms, received low pay and carried out military drills.
• The KdF organisation was set up by the German Labour Front.
• Conscription was re-introduced in 1935.
• The Reich Labour Service was a scheme to provide young men with manual labour jobs.
• The KdF organisation aimed to improve working conditions, providing canteens, pools, sports facilities, improved lighting and noise level.
• Coal, chemicals, oil, iron and steel all doubled between 1933-39.
• Unmarried men over 25 were pushed into National Labour Schemes.
• 1935 May: Jews no longer drafted in army
• Hitler determined to build armed forces in the event of war.