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He did not change massively school system, even though programms were modified: history, geography, german and biology were use to convey Hitler's ideology (in history youth studied how Jews had 'cheated ' them, in biology they studied the differences between an Aryan and a Jew...). Sport became very important as Hitler wanted the German youth to be 'athletic:
But Hitler needed an organisation that would
be seperate from schools and therefore more attractive and effective.
The Hitler youth had therefore the task of indoctrinating young
people. Actually it existed long before Hitler was even chancellor:
the first nazi youth league appeared in 1920, but at first it
had no success and it grew in popularity over the years. Belonging
to it was voluntary until, in december 1936, it was made compulsory.
The Hitler Youth was divided into different groups depending
on the age and gender: -the 'jungmädel' for girls from 10 to
14 The activities were mainly sporting and 'political': young people went camping, hiking, marched in uniform, sang Hitler youth songs, made things from their hands... no 'intellectual' activity. Youngsters were meant to learn to endure anything, to do always the best: records were kept of what they did, competitions were held all the time and on anything to see which group was the best... But in fact discipline and requirements depended entirely on the part of Germany you lived in and the leaders you had. Even when attending became compulsory all groups did not check that every child enrolled came regularly.
Some children were also sent on 'evacuation' camps: Berliners for example were sent away several times on camps were, instead of having school they were cared for by Hitler youth leaders. |
