HOW TO RAISE A NAZI. REPORTAGE ON FANATICAL EDUCATION
REVIEW OF THE POLISH EDITION
OF GREGOR ZIEMER'S BOOK
Gregor Ziemer, an American educator, writer and correspondent, lived in Germany from 1928 to 1939, where he served as principal of an American school in Berlin. The children of American diplomats, among others, attended the school. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, he devoted himself to observing and researching the education system introduced by the Nazis. The result of his observations was a book he wrote, Education for Death, published upon his return to the United States in 1941, in which he detailed his observations. The book was published in Polish in 2021 and constitutes a frightening description of what politicised and doctrinally driven education can do to a young person's mind.
The impetus for examining the Third Reich's education system was an event that Ziemer writes about in the prologue to the book. On one winter's day, he witnessed a German secondary school pupil assault an American school pupil. When Ziemer decided to intervene and reported the situation to the principal of the assailants' school, he was met with incomprehension and astonishment, or in fact, approval of the violence that had taken place that afternoon. "Since 1933, I have wondered what goes on in Nazi schools and educational centres. I knew that they were the real cradles and incubators of Nazi ideology. But I wondered what is actually being taught in these schools - whether the old German system of education with its diligence, discipline and emphasis on law has been replaced by a fanatical new type of pedagogy. I was very curious to know what methods are used and what spirit prevails there" (p. 24) - Ziemer wrote in the prologue.
Gaining insight into the methods, assumptions and operation of Nazi Germany's educational institutions was not easy for a foreigner, especially an American, and particularly, a school principal. With the help of bribes, Ziemer gained the trust of the education officer, who submitted a report on the matter to the Ministry of Education. Ziemer then wrote to the Minister of National Education, Bernhard Rust, requesting he visit German schools to "understand the new Nazi methods and their successful implementation by his ministry" (p. 29). Shortly after, he was invited to meet the minister. During the conversation, which he quotes in detail in the book, he explained his interest in education in Nazi Germany, which was extraordinary in the Minister's opinion. He then received from Minister Rust the official textbook for teachers "Education and Teaching - official publication of the Reich and Prussian Ministry for Science,Training and Education of the People" (Erziehung und Unterricht - Amtliche Ausgabe des Reichs und Preussischen Ministeriums für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbuildung). According to Ziemer, the main theses of the textbook included an emphasis on strength and physical fitness in students, unconditional obedience and therefore acceptance of a priori knowledge, and ignoring the needs of particular individuals: "Pupils who cannot achieve the desired results [...] or who show any weakness should not be admitted to secondary schools" (p. 35). According to Rust, it is essential to divide education by gender: "The system outlines a stark difference between girls - inherently weak - and boys - inherently bearers of strength. Boys and girls have nothing in common. Their goals and purpose in life are fundamentally different. Boys will become soldiers; girls will give birth" (p. 35). Accordingly, in terms of long-term goals, boys were to pursue physical development, develop knowledge of the German language, biology, mathematics and history, while girls were to primarily study eugenics (to ensure the purity of their children's race) and housekeeping. However, it is worth mentioning that party obligations were paramount. For these reasons, the timetable may have changed to suit the needs of the Party. Each school was to have a so-called Arbeitsgemeinschaft, or "a military-community group in the school, rejecting grades, credits or formal teaching" (p. 36). Its student members formed a kind of National Socialist ideological community that was meant to inspire and influence the other students.
Rust was openly critical of democratic principles, contrasting them with principles based on force: "Before we can introduce a new education of Strength and properly discuss a new system of culture, a new order must prevail; a new regime inspired by the Will of Strength and Force.... The new socialist union of our people, which is the realisation of our Führer's vision, came about as a result of a brutal, sharp conflict conducted by the militant units of our Party" (p. 38). The following pages of Rust's textbook are striking in their disgust at the intellectual development of children and young people and their emphasis on unification and homogenisation of the needs of the masses, instead of the development of diverse individuals: "The principal aim of the schools is to educate human beings to understand that the State is more important than the individual and that individuals must be willing and ready to sacrifice themselves for the Nation and the Führer. [...] The ideology of National Socialism is a sacred, inviolable foundation. It must not be degraded by detailed explanations or discussions. It is a sanctified unity that must be received by the disciples as a sanctified unity" (p. 40). Doubtful discussions, the search for answers to questions that troubled pupils - were foredoomed to failure, and the assumptions of Nazi ideology were to be present in every subject: from biology through history to physical education. All for the Führer.
Ziemer received a ministerial permit in the spring of 1939 to visit the educational institutions of the Third Reich and soon began his tour of the educational and formative institutions that implemented Nazi ideology from the moment a child is born until the end of their life, preferably dedicated to the service of the Führer.
The Third Reich and thousands of bureaucrats in its service oversaw the lives of its citizens before their arrival into the world. As a totalitarian state, not only was female reproduction controlled, but reproductive rights were permanently denied to women whose offspring could in any way deviate from the model German citizen through their mass sterilisation. It is astonishing that the entire procedure, from the decision on permanent infertility to its physical execution, proceeded legally under the law of the time, i.e., in accordance with the law on the prevention of the birth of hereditarily encumbered offspring (Erbgesundheitsgesetz): "The undesirable, the retarded, those suffering from incurable diseases, even those of a rebellious disposition [!] will no longer have children [...]. It was the Führer's wish, and the young Germans carried out his orders. [...] I asked what type of women were subject to such discipline and was informed that they were mentally ill women, women with low immunity, women who had proven during other births that their offspring were not strong. They were women with defects" (pp. 49-50).
In caring for 'racial purity', the Nazi system tried hard to support German families: a couple that wanted to get married could do so after providing evidence of racial purity. As a wedding present, they received a copy of Mein Kampf from the party, and the party supported the young family financially by giving them a loan. If four children were born within the new family unit over four years, the loan was remitted.
Unmarried but racially healthy and pure women, i.e., those who, according to the Party, could become mothers and give birth to Hitler's future soldiers, were guaranteed state support through the network of existing Maternal and Child Welfare Departments (Hilfswerk Mutter und Kind). The unmarried mothers-to-be stayed there at the expense of the state until they gave birth. During their stay, pregnant women who were insufficiently committed to supporting Nazism were given appropriate literature or even a course in Nazi ideology: "The whole concept of conceiving and bearing children was taken to a completely different level by the Third Reich. Copulating was a biological problem. Training offered in homes helped mothers and girls understand how essential frequent intimate embraces with men were to their health [...] A few weeks away from their men, daily lectures on sexual issues, stimulating literature [...] all help increase fertility rates. And that is our ambition: to increase fertility rates" (p. 58).
The Mother and Child Welfare Houses opened up a further, lasting relationship: after giving birth and returning home, the state, through officials from the welfare service (Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt - NSV), monitored how young mothers coped with raising its youngest citizens into dedicated Nazis. An NSV employee periodically visited the homes where the children lived and interviewed the mother and child to ensure that the young citizen was adequately introduced to Nazi ideology from an early age.
The first stage in the institutional implementation of Nazism was already the nurseries(Kindertagesstätte), which could be attended by German toddlers of working parents, of course of Aryan origin. When handing children over to the care of the nurses, parents signed a "consent that while in the nursery the children would be under the Party's jurisdiction. The party could deal with them as it saw fit" (p. 73). Children's minds were inculcated with the model of obedience, serving them only the right truths in life: "[...] children were brought up in absolute discipline and obedience [...]. They learned to venerate the Führer and look upon him as the saviour of Germany. Their minds were too immature to comprehend all his great achievements, but no child left the institution without learning that Hitler was a superhuman. [...] the minds of little boys were imbued with the first great desire to become Hitler's soldiers, while the first maternal instincts were developed in girls". (p. 74). It is worth mentioning that co-educational groups were allowed in the first stage of education. In subsequent years, however, the education of German boys and girls was conducted separately, in a profiled manner.
Six-year-old boys were thus becoming Pimpfs. They were helped in their schooling by the textbook Pimpf im Dienst [Pimpf on duty], where they learned about military operations, manoeuvres, shooting, gymnastics or map-drawing. Daily marches of at least a dozen kilometres were an integral part of their training. During his visits and conversations with teachers, Ziemer did not learn of any problems related to child psychology, pedagogy, motivation or the teaching of critical thinking. The teachers were focused on something entirely different: "They were driven solely by one idea: to make the boy think, feel and act like a real Nazi" (p. 90). This was to be achieved by inculcating ideological content into as many school subjects as possible: from nature through geography and especially history. The idea of leadership, continuous struggle, expanding living space or maintaining racial purity could be discussed through the example of a poem, an observation of the life of ants or criticism of the democratic system in the United States.
The party ensured that the little citizen had little time for any reflection - after school, every boy had responsibilities to the party: "For a Pimpf, the school day does not end at one o'clock. [...] He meets other Pimpfs at the local headquarters. There, tasks imposed by the NSV or the Party await him; [...] he performs hundreds of useful jobs - for free, of course" (p. 99). Filling the children's time also had another additional objective: to reduce the importance of the family structure and replace it with a peer group with carefully directed and only rightly accepted behaviour.
When a boy reached the age of 14, he could join the Hitlerjugend, where he continued to acquire knowledge until the age of 18. During this period, he continued his schooling, focusing on developing his physical vigour and acquiring knowledge in Party history, military geography, botany, zoology or chemistry (p. 200). The territory of the Third Reich had a system of numerous Hitlerjugend centres, including sea, air and motorised centres. According to Ziemer, about six million boys participate in various sporting events organised every year by the Hitlerjugend.
After completing their education, boys did a year's work service and then joined the army. If they wished to study, they had the opportunity to do so, but to a limited extent - the favoured courses were those that served the development of the state and its high social role: medical, legal, teaching or military. Minister Rust clearly outlined the social roles of future graduates in his instruction "Education and Teaching..."(Erziehung und Unterricht): "The men and women charged with the health and prosperity of the nation's political ideology and culture must feel part of the people, must live with the people and think like the people" (p. 221).
Young women were also allowed to study, but as Ziemer states, female students made up about 10% (p. 220) of the total number of students, which had to do with the very different approach to education for girls.
Although children's education in the early years was co-educational, at the age of six, boys and girls were separated, and their education proceeded separately from then on. The aim was to profile children for the gender-specific roles that the party envisaged for them. The role of men was to fight, that of women to bear children. As Ziemer wrote: "Before girls in Nazi Germany turn fourteen, they are classified as Jungmädel, young girls. During this time, they receive the basics of education the Party deems important. Most importantly, however, they are made aware of their mission in the Third Reich - to be the parents of healthy children. Therefore, the topic of sexuality is introduced early and realistically [...] The state is primarily interested in their physical health. The Jungmädel are supposed to have a healthy body, a balanced mind and an unshakable conviction that the saviour of Germany is Adolf Hitler" (p. 113). It is worth adding that Ziemer did not elaborate on what happened to children who were unwilling to fulfil the strict roles assigned to them by the party. Shockingly, his observations showed that the familiarisation of German girls with their future role of motherhood occurred before they were physically or mentally capable of performing it: "[...] Jungmädel, received education sufficient for them to know how to read, write, and do a little bit of calculation. Most of their education concerned housekeeping and preparation for childbearing [...] Is this not their mission? [...] Is there anything more important for girls than getting married and having children? [...]' (p. 114). Young girls had a severely limited curriculum, which focused solely on learning skills valuable to a future mother and housewife: "The bulk of the day was devoted to housekeeping, eugenics and physical education. [...] These lessons provided solid knowledge of every stage of housework, cooking and caring for children and the sick. Their programme also included detailed lectures on gender issues. Rassenkunde, racial science, revealed the defects of non-Aryan races [...]. Weekends are devoted to semi-military walking tours, which often begin at noon on Saturday and continue until Sunday evening" (p. 115). It was evident that care was taken to constantly stimulate young minds with the only right and acceptable vision of their future, in complete isolation from the family environment.
One can conclude that every aspect of children's lives was strictly regulated and programmed by the Party, including the choice of literature: "German schools did not have the kind of libraries we know. Girls, in particular, are not permitted to buy random books. Any literature that mentions politics in any way can only be bought at Brauner Laden, the brown shop" (p. 124).
At the age of fourteen, girls joined the Association of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel), where they consolidated the knowledge required to fulfil their only legitimate roles as mothers and wives. At the association, they continued to take lectures on housekeeping and eugenics. Ziemer reported that each year, about 500,000 Jungmädel were admitted to BDM schools (p. 179). "Every girl [...] had to learn the duties of a mother before she reached the age of sixteen so that she could bear children. Why should girls bother themselves with higher mathematics, art, drama or literature? They can bear children without such knowledge" (p. 170). Characteristically, Ziemer also cited statistics: in Mein Kampf, there are 30 pages devoted to boys' education and seven lines (!) dedicated to girls' education.
It is worth noting the fact that it creates a certain alternative reality that does not recognise current pedagogical, psychological or medical knowledge. Ziemer's interviews reveal the megalomaniacal confidence with which the Nazi teachers promoted what they considered to be modern methods of working with children: "[...] foreigners are finally coming to grips with the fact that we have positioned ourselves at the forefront of world education and have something to offer that the world should begin to emulate if it recognises what is good for it". (p. 142).
Fortunately, the world moved in a different direction, but Ziemer's book is undeniably a timeless warning to those responsible for children and young people's education and mental health. It is a loud warning against politically controlled, ideologically profiled education, against the liquidation of free and unrestricted culture and science, against the attempt to build a society - a homogenous and xenophobic monolith - which considers otherness to be evil and a threat. It is a clash of two forms of approach to a young person: respect, acceptance and tolerance of diversity as opposed to xenophobia, an attempt to unify gender and social roles.
"When reading this book, we are confronted with very contemporary and painful-sounding questions: In the process of education, do those responsible for the young person's value system emphasise openness towards the diversity of the world or vice versa: do they discourage that which is Different?"
(from the foreword by Prof. Bogdan de Barbaro)
Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka