School Curriculum in Nazi Germany

• Traditional subjects, such as Maths, had questions changed to be vehicles for Nazi ideas such as promoting the military, racial purity or hatred of minority groups.
• New subjects were introduced, such as Race Studies, where the differences between races were emphasised and how Aryans were superior to groups such as the Jews.
• There was a big focus on physical health so the amount of physical education was doubled, with one sixth of the timetable being sport related by 1939.
• Girls’ curriculum included domestic science, with cookery and needlework to help prepare for motherhood.
• From 1935, all school textbooks had to be approved by the Nazis. Mein Kampf became a compulsory text and History books focused on the Treaty of Versailles being a ‘stab in the back’ by socialists and Jews.
• Elite boarding schools, called Napolas, were set up to train future army, SS and police officers. They were selected for their intelligence, physical fitness and ‘racial purity’. They were taught by SA and SS members, not teacher.
• There were 16 Napolas by 1939.