Nazi Youth Policies and Education Assessment

Using the green book, complete the focus task on page 204 (Nos. 1 & 2) that involves an assessment of Nazi Youth policies and education.

1. Hitler wanted to build a 1,000 year Reich, and to do this he needed children. The Nazis knew that children would be most easy to influence, so they tried to indoctrinate them at school. They knew that adults would be too hard to influence.
The Nazis did this using a number of methods. They changed the educational system so all the teachers were Nazis, and so that every subject in school was infused with Nazi ideology. For example, source 29 shows how the Nazis even put in propaganda into math text books. The Hitler youth also helped win over young people. Young people were encouraged to turn in their own parents for being anti-Nazi. As source 28 shows, the Nazis’ goal was to have control of people from their birth, until their death.
There were many reasons to be attracted to the youth movements (such as the Hitler Youth, and the League of German Maidens). According to source 36, there was a great sense of belonging, and being part of a great nation.
2. However, even though many young people loved the Nazis, some did not. Some young people resented and resisted being controlled by the Nazis. Some of these groups were the Edelweiss Pirates, and the “Swing” movement.