Young people

• How did the Nazis change the lives of young people?

  • Hitler was determined to make sure that young people were loyal to him and the Nazi Party
  • He tried to control all aspects of a young person's life in school and outside of it
  • He believed that if young people were brought up to believe in Nazi ideas, then they would grow up to be good Nazis who would never rebel against the regime
• The Nazi German school system

  • Hitler hoped to use the German school system to brainwash young Germans into loving him and the Nazi Party
  • He believed that children who learned to idolise him when they were young would continue to admire him for the rest of their lives
  • He realised that in future he may have to call on these people to put up with hardships, to fight and perhaps even die for him
  • To ensure their loyalty, Hitler used every subject in school to put forward Nazi propaganda and beliefs
• The Nazi school curriculum

  • A young German schoolchild would have studied many subjects, including History, Geography, PE, Science and Maths
  • But the topics the students did and the way they were taught meant that they were indoctrinated to think in a certain way and believe a particular set of ideas
  • There were very few opportunities for students to think for themselves
  • For example, in History, students would learn mainly about key German military victories and how badly Germany was treated at the end of the First World War
  • Geography lessons outlined areas in the world that Germany would soon conquer
  • Science lessons concentrated on weapon-making and chemical warfare, while Maths lessons asked students to calculate how much money Germany would save if there were no disabled people
  • The amount of time given over to PE trebled in the 1930s and a new subject, Race Studies, 'Eugenics', appeared on the timetable
• The Nazi school curriculum - Race Studies


  • This subject, later discredited as unscientific and racist, taught students that the mental and physical characteristics of the human race could be 'improved' by choosing who could become parents
  • They were taught about the Nazi belief in the inferiority of black people, eastern Europeans and, in particular, Jews
  • This meant that a whole generation of young people grew up believing that they were better than other races - and this could help explain why so many Germans failed to speak out against the way the Nazis persecuted other races in the years to come
• Nazi teachers

  • Textbooks were rewritten so that Nazi beliefs were taught as accepted facts, and teachers were made to put across Nazi ideas in their lessons
  • All teachers had to join an organisation called the German Teachers League, and any who refused to teach the way that the Nazis wanted were sacked
  • Students who were identified by their teachers as potential future Nazi leaders were sent to special academies known as 'Napolas'
  • The Hitler Youth Organisation set up schools too, called 'Adolf Hitler Schools'
  • After intensive training, including many academic examinations and tough physical exercise, the youngsters who attended these places graduated as 'ideal Nazis' - clever, tough and fiercely loyal to Hitler
• The Nazis and universities

  • Many university lecturers suffered the same fate as schoolteachers
  • Between 1933 and 1934, 15 percent of university lecturers or professors were replaced, a third for racial reasons and half for political reasons
  • By 1939, over 3,000 had been dismissed
  • Many leading academics left the country too, including world-famous physicist Albert Einstein
  • Universities had to change their courses to reflect Nazi beliefs, including their antisemitism - for example, physics courses did not include Einstein's Theory of Relativity because he was Jewish
  • All students had to train as a soldier for a year, and the top university professors were hand-picked by the Nazis
  • However, the Nazis did not regard a university education as particularly important, and fewer Germans attended university during the Nazi era
• Controlling young people outside school

  • In 1922, Hitler set up the Hitler Youth Organisation
  • There were many youth clubs all over Germany at this time but the Hitler Youth clubs met after school to talk about Nazi beliefs and ideas and learn the importance of loyalty to Hitler
  • The boys learned military skills while the girls were taught how to be good wives and mothers
  • When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hitler banned all other youth groups
  • As a result, lots more young people joined the Hitler Youth
  • In 1936, a Law for the Incorporation of German Youth gave the Hitler Youth 'equal status' to school and home
  • In other words, the Hitler Youth was legally just as important as a child's school and his home life
  • The organisation also controlled all sports facilities and youth competitions for children under 14
  • Membership of the Hitler Youth was made compulsory in 1939
• German boys

  • Typically, a boy would join a club called the 'Little Fellows' from age six to age ten
  • Then he joined the 'Young Folk' from 10 to 14
  • Finally, he would become a fully-fledged member of the 'Hitler Youth' at 14 until he reached adulthood at age 18
  • Boys would go to Hitler Youth meetings several times a week after school, and to special weekend camps every month
  • At Hitler Youth meetings, boys learned how to march, fight with knives, fire a gun, and keep themselves fit
  • The emphasis on all these activities was on competition, struggle, heroism and leadership
  • The Nazis wanted to prepare the boys for their future role as soldiers
• German girls

  • Girls normally joined a club called the 'Young Girls' between 10 and 14, and the 'League of German Girls' from 14 to 17
  • Girls still went on tough marches and attended weekend camps, but they would mainly learn how to keep fit, cook good meals and look after babies, to prepare for motherhood
  • Both boys and girls were encouraged to report their parents or teachers if they criticised Hitler or told jokes about the Nazis
• Did all young people support the Hitler Youth organisations?

  • Not all young Germans liked what they saw of the Nazi way of life
  • Some youngsters who refused to join the Hitler Youth went to parties, listened to American jazz music (which was banned by the Nazis because of its black origins), and had Jewish friends
  • They were known as the Swing Youth
  • Other youngsters formed gangs which went camping and sang songs making fun of Hitler
  • They even physically attacked Hitler Youth groups
  • These gangs included boys and girls, including Jews