School Subjects in Nazi Germany

No one likes school, but just be thankful you weren’t taught by the Nazis

The National Flag of the Third Reich (Wikimedia Commons)

After the Enabling Act was passed in March 1933, the Nazis took control of their country. German culture changed dramatically over the next twelve years and every aspect of society underwent Nazification.

The education system was no exception. Changes were implemented in the name of ‘modernisation’, but in reality, German schools were essentially indoctrination centres. By the late 1930s, new teaching guidelines and textbooks riddled with Nazi ideology had become mainstream.

And whilst teachers still had some freedom, deviating too far from the powers that be could lead to imprisonment. Very few schools, therefore, escaped the influence of the Third Reich.

Biology

Due to their belief in racial superiority, the Nazis completely reinvented Biology.

Racial breeding, racial purity, and the laws of biological inheritance were paramount. And in contrast to the mighty Aryans, Jews, gipsies, and the mentally ill were portrayed as inferior.

Children were forced to examine their skulls and note down the colour of their eyes and hair. They would then measure their findings against a chart of Nordic and Aryan archetypes and…