First Name:
Brindley
Last Name:
Polk
Major Department:
History
Thesis Director:
Rennie Brantz
Date of Thesis:
Dec 2013
The Nazi Party gained control of Germany in 1933, and used the education system as a way to disseminate Nazi ideology and indoctrinate a new generation of Germans into National Socialism. Several specific tactics were used in the Nazi pursuit of shaping a generation. Textbooks were rewritten to emphasize German accomplishments and devalue other groups, such as Jews, Bolsheviks, and Slavs. Each subject in the curriculum was reworked to include lessons in racial superiority, responsibility to the state, and the need for expansion. To mentor future leaders of the Reich, elite Nazi schools were established. Another tactic in indoctrinating youth to the party was the formation of Hitler Youth, and its corresponding youth group The League for German Girls. These groups dominated German youth’s lives professing service to their country, questioning authority, and indoctrinating anti-Semitic ideas and racial superiority. In the end the educational system was worse after the Nazi regime; classic education promoting intellectual and critical thought were for the most part eliminated in the education, leaving youth unprepared for university studies. A generation of Germans had been taught a way of life that not only came to an end but was criminal in nature and condemned by the rest of the world