The main purpose of the Nazi curriculum is to
prepare boys to be soldier
Before Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he did not have as much
interest in education, although there were still established youth wings of the Nazi
party. Children could not vote, and were too young to join the SA; therefore the focus
was placed on adults. Once Hitler had managed to secure power and, ultimately,
elections were abolished, he had realised tha t further generations must support Nazi
ideology, so his vision of a one thou sand year Reich could be maintained. When the
World War had broken out , Hitler also needed more soldiers. In this answer, I am going
to discuss wh ether the main purpose of the Nazi curriculum was preparation of boys to
b e soldiers. I am also going to discuss some other factors in the Nazi curricul um, such
as the heavy influence on education of Nazi ideals, and the preparation of women to be
mothers and housewives. In my initial answer to the statement, I disagree that this was
the main purpose.
There are many ways in which this statement can be considered incorrect because, in
English lessons, children were taught to analyse the speeches of Hitler, and texts about
the Hitler Myth. Children began to develop Nazi ideals, such as that the 'Fuhrer' (Adolf
Hitler) is always right (The Hitler Myth), and began to analyse speeches from Hitler which
would have chastised Judaism, homosexuality and non-Aryan races. Further evidence to
support this is that girls had a different curriculum to boys, and w ere taught different
subjects, such as eugenics. There were no co-educational classes during the Third Reich.
Eugenics taught girls selective breeding, and taught girls to only marry Aryans. This was
so Hitler could develop his idea of an ideal human, with blonde hair and blue eyes. It was
also extremely discouraged and eventually forbidden to marry Jews and other nonAryan races, so as to create racially pure Aryan Germans. Another example to suggest
the statement is correct is that students were taught Biology and Racial Sciences. Biology
explained Nazi ideals onn race and population control. In the curriculum, students were
taught how to measure their skulls and identify different races. In Racial Studies,
students were also told not to marry inferior races, and that Aryans were superior.
However, there are ways in which the statement can be considered correct because
Physical Education was given 15% of the school timetable. This was a subject which was
compulsory of all students, and was around four hours long. This was mainly to ensure
that boys would be healthy enough to join the ar med forces. All students had to take a
physical examination. If they failed th is examination, they may be expelled.
The threat of expulsion reduced the amount of students who would give mi nimal effort
to the subject. Further evidence to support this is that, in Histor y lessons, Germany's
history was glorified. History textbooks documented German victories and the Nazi Party
itself. It made war seem exciting and f un; with many rewards to acheive, with the
hopeful goal of encouraging children to join the armed for ces, and give to the war
effort as the outbreak of World War Two began. An other example to suggest that this
statement is correct is that Mathematics textbooks subliminally encouraged children to
believe that war is fun, which consecutively encourages them to join the Armed Forces.
Questions would sometimes be about German aircraft, or long- range missile devices.
They subliminally led children to believe that these a ircraft and other devices made you
immortal, and the threat of death was q uickly replaced with the promise of excitement.
Therefore, in answer to the question of whether the main purpose of the N azi
curriculum was to prepare boys to be soldiers, it would seem that the st atement is
mostly incorrect. This is because children were heavily educated , both subliminally and
obviously, in Nazi ideology. This was among the curriculum, in most subjects. For example,
an English essay could be to analyze one of Hitler's speeches. History textbooks had
glorified past victories of Germany, and had indoctrinated students with the idea that the
only reason Germany had lost World War One was because the Jews had set them up,
which further increased the amount of propaganda against Judaism. The Nazi curriculum
also included Biology and Racial Sciences, which taught students that Aryans were
superior and not to marry other 'inferior' races. Girls were also taught Eugenics, which
taught selective breeding with other Aryans.