I wish to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities, The American Philosophical Society and the Rutgers University Research Council for fellowships that supported this research.Google Scholar

1. For the traditional ideologically oriented view of National Socialist education, see Kandel, I.L., The Making of Nazis (New York, 1935); Kneller, George Frederick, The Educational Philosophy of National Socialism (New Haven, 1941); Ziemer, George, Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi (London, 1941). For a contemporary view, see Bracher, Karl D., The German Dictatorship (New York, 1970) 247–272.Google Scholar

Standard works extolling the new Nazi ideology and calling for appropriate educational changes are Bäumler, Ernst, Politik und Erziehung (Berlin, 1937) and Krieck, Ernst, Nationalpolitische Erziehung (Osterwieck, 1933).Google Scholar

Recent studies that still lend a measure of support to the traditional interpretation in some respect are Lingelbach, Karl Christoph, Erziehung und Erziehungstheorien im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland (Weinheim, 1970); Gamm, Hans-Jochen, Führung und Verführung. Pädagogik des Nationalsozialismus (Munich, 1964); Eilers, Rolf, Die nationalsozialistische Schulpolitik. Eine Studie zur Funktion der Erziehung im totalitären Staat (Cologne and Opladen, 1963). More realistic about conditions in the schools in Mann, Erika, School for Barbarians (New York, 1938) and especially important for conceptualization, Lange, Max Gustav, Totalitäre Erziehung. Das Erziehungssystem der Sovjetzone Deutschlands (Frankfort am Main, 1954).Google Scholar

2. For a discussion of the youth revolution, see Schoenbaum, David, Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany 1933–1939 (New York, 1966) 18f., 30, 39 and 44; Loewenberg, Peter, “The Psychohistorical Origins of the Nazi Youth Cohort” American Historical Review LXXVI:5, (December 1971), 1457–1502, especially 1468–1473 and 1499–1502; Grunberger, Richard, The 12-Year Reich: A Social History of Nazi Germany 1933–1945 (New York, 1971).Google Scholar

For valuable suggestions for understanding the actual functioning of an educational system through an examination of the views and attitudes of students, see the excellent methodological essay by Talbott, John E., “Education in Intellectual and Social History,” in Gilbert, Felix and Graubard, Stephen R. (eds.), Historical Studies Today (New York, 1972), 193–210, especially 199–205.Google Scholar

3. Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf, translated by Mannheim, Ralph, (Boston, 1943) 254, 415ff., 418f., and Trevor-Roper, H. R. (ed.), Hitler's Secret Conversations 1941–1944 (New York, 1961) 647f., 405ff., 491f., and 625ff.Google Scholar

4. For a characterization of the early HJ leadership, see Brandenburg, Hans Christian, Die Geschichte der HJ (Cologne, 1968); Klose, Werner, Generation im Gleichschritt (Oldenburg, 1964); and Stachura, Peter D., Nazi Youth in the Weimar Republic (Santa Barbara, 1975).Google Scholar

5. On Hitler's choice of von Schirach as leader of Nazi youth, see Aufzeichnungen des General Majors, a. D. Otto Wagener, Notebook 31, on deposit at the Institute für Zeitgeschichte Munich. Hereafter cited as IFZG. See also Möller, Albrecht, Wir werden das Volk. Wesen und Forderungen der Hitler Jugend (Breslau, 1935) 26f.Google Scholar

Of course, Nazi Germany had no monopoly over anti-intellectualism. For an extremely provocative analysis of this phenomenon in American life as a product of populist democracy and the revolt against modernism, see Hofstadter, Richard, Anti-intellectualism in American Life (New York, 1962) chapters 5 and 8.Google Scholar

6. See the NSS essay by Kl “Der Schüler im deutschem Staat,” Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Microfilm Collection, NSDAP Hauptarchiv, Reel 18, Folder 344. Hereafter cited: HI, HA/NSDAP 18/344.Google Scholar

7. Ibid., “Führerbriefe des N.S.S.,” February 15, 1933. For a good description of a typical and traditional rejection of the school by Nazi youngsters as a hostile and irrelevant institution, see the impressive study of Merkl, Peter H., Political Violence Under the Swastika (Princeton, 1975) 305–310.Google Scholar

8. See Grunberger, , 267; Richter, Werner, Re-Educating Germany, transl. by Lehman, Paul (Chicago, 1945) 164. For a description of process of de-authorization, see Feuer, Lewis S., The Conflict of Generations: The Character and Significance of Student Movements (New York, London, 1969).Google Scholar

9. See United States, Office of the Chief Counsel for Prosecution of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, 10 vols., (Washington, 1946–1948), V, 198, 2455PS. Also cited in Walker, Lawrence D., Hitler Youth and Catholic Youth, (Washington, 1970) 64.Google Scholar

10. Eilers, , 122.Google Scholar

11. Verordnungsblatt des Reichsjugendführers II/2, June 15, 1934 in Vorschriftenhandbuch der Hitlerjugend II, 641ff. Hereafter cited as VSHB/HJ. See also Stellrecht, Helmut, “Die Ertüchtigungs-und Schulungsarbeit der Hitlerjugend,” in Wille und Macht, III: 1, (Jan. 1935) 7.Google Scholar

12. For the relationship of the HJ to the Wandervogel movement in this respect, see Gillis, John R., Youth and History: Tradition and Change in European Age Relations 1770–Present (New York, 1974) 151ff.Google Scholar

13. For a general description of the typology of this rebelliousness and its relationship to delinquency, see Matza, David, “Subterranean Traditions of Youth” in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. CCCXXXVIII, (November 1961) 102–118, esp. 106–110.Google Scholar

14. Use McKee, , Tomorrow the World (London, 1960) 7–9.Google Scholar

It must be noted in this connection that there seems to have been much less unrest and rebelliousness among the female members of the BDM. Among the possible reasons for this is that opportunities in higher education were much more restricted for girls than they were for boys. Moreover, the BDM had never developed a tradition of rowdyness that pervaded the HJ. Finally, mention must also be made of the fact that documentation for the BDM and its activities is not available in the same quantity as it is for the HJ.Google Scholar

15. See Kluger, A., Die Deutsche Volksschule im Grossdeutschen Reich, Handbuch der Gesetze, Verordnungen und Richtlinien für Erziehung and Unterricht in Volksschulen nebst den einschlägigen Bestimmungen über Hitler Jugend and Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten (Breslau, 1940) 338f. and 145f. An original copy of these statements may be found in a circular by Reich Interior Minister Frick to Landesregierungen, Dec. 18 1933, under the heading Rust, , “Leitgedanken zur Schulordung,” Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv München, Allgemeines Staatsarchiv, MInn. 71, 799, hereafter cited as BHStAr, Abt. I.Google Scholar

For Schirach's order of August 25, 1933, instructing his followers to fulfill their “responsibilities toward the school”, see his Anordung Nr. 10 in HI, HA/NSDAP 18/339.Google Scholar

16. Stellrecht, Helmut, Neue Erziehung (Berlin, 1943) 80f, 78, 145ff.Google Scholar

17. For the persistence of these traditional views and the conflict they engendered, see Lange, 29–31; Eilers, , 126.Google Scholar

18. See Blumentritt, A., “Monatsbericht des Referat für Jugendorganisation and Jugendherbergen im NSLB Sachsen” February 1934, HI, HA/NSDAP 13/245.Google Scholar

19. See “Tätigkeitsbericht des NSLB Sachsen für den Monat April 1934,” and Monatsberichte of NSLB Kreise Oschatz and Bautzen for February and November 1934, Ibid., 13/249 and 13/245. For a similar report about the undermining of respect for teachers in the Rhineland, see Regierungspräsident Aachen on August 9, 1934 in Vollmer, Bernhard (ed.), Volksopposition im Polizeistaat. Gestapo-und Regierungsberichte 1934–1936 (Stuttgart, 1957) 77.Google Scholar

20. See Grunberger, , 292, 279; Eilers, , 122–126. The purpose of this campaign, however, did not concern formal education so much as it did training the HJ, especially its leadership corps. This was enunciated by Schirach when he labeled the year 1934 the “Jahr der Schulung.” Google Scholar

21. Grunberger, , 267, 286; Schoenbaum, , 274.Google Scholar

22. Schirach, , Die Hitler-Jugend, Idee und Gestalt (Berlin, 1934) 174f. For a similar expression of this sentiment by HJ Organization Leader Franz Schnaedter, see his “Kerle and Könner,” in Wille und Macht, II: 3 (July 1934), 5–8.Google Scholar

23. Schirach, , Die Hitler-Jugend, 169–173.Google Scholar

24. See his “An Deutschlands Jugend?” Wille und Macht, II: 1/2 (January/February 1934) 3f.Google Scholar

25. Schirach, , Die Revolution der Erziehung. Reden aus den Jahren des Aufbaus, Third ed., (Munich 1942), speech of December 1, 1936, 58. For virtually identical statements of these views by the first head of the NSLB and Bavarian Education Minister, Hans Schemm, see Kahl-Furthmann, Gertrud (ed.), Hans Schemm spricht. Seine Reden und sein Werk, 12th ed., (Bayreuth, 1942) 237, 245, 279.Google Scholar

26. Wächtler to directors of Higher Schools in Thuringia and to SA, SS, HJ and BDM leaders, January 31 and February 7, 1934, HI, HA/NSDAP 18/333 and 18/339.Google Scholar

27. “Rede des Gauamtsleiters Pg. Göpfert zur Jugendkundgebung am 1.Mai” in Mitteilungsblatt des NSLB Sachsen, Nr. 9 (May 15, 1935) 214f. Hereafter cited as Mitteilungsblatt. Google Scholar

28. Hermann to Ministerialabteilung fur die Höheren Schulen (Württenberg), June 8, 1934. Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, E202, Bündel 581.Google Scholar

29. Well over sixty percent of the students of these institutions came from the middle class while workers' children supplied at most four percent. Children of white collar workers and of professionals were in the ascendant, rising from approximately seven to eleven percent. Generally, these upwardly mobile youngsters were the most dedicated Nazis, but it is impossible to establish a positive correlation between their rising numbers and the disruption of the schools. For these statistics, see Grunberger, , 302, 322; Schoenbaum, , 275.Google Scholar

30. A study of the HJ leadership corps in 1935 for the town of Würzburg indicates that sixty-two percent of all leadership positions were occupied by middle class students. See for this Horn, Daniel, “Youth Resistance in the Third Reich: A Social Portrait,” Journal of Social History, VII: 1 (Fall 1973) 26–50, especially 30.Google Scholar

31. Zentralblatt des Reichsministers für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung, (1934) 242; Eilers, , 122f.Google Scholar

32. See Rust's speech in Mitteilungsblatt, Nr. 11, (December 1934) 9.Google Scholar

33. Ibid., Nrs. 9 and 12 (May and July 1935,) 215 and 298.Google Scholar

34. For Rust's objections and Schirach's negative reply, see Rust to Dr. Lammers, April 18, 1936 and Schirach to Lammers, April 23, 1936, Bundesarchiv Koblenz R 43II/525. Hereafter cited as BA.Google Scholar

35. See Rust to Dr. Ley, January 21 and 25, 1937, Ibid., 43II/956a. For the creation of the Adolf-Hitler Schools and the kind of education they administered, consult Orlow, Dietrich, “Die Adolf-Hitler-Schulen” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, XIII: 3, (July 1965) 272–284.Google Scholar

36. Schirach's speech of December 7, 1937 in Die Revolution der Erziehung, 39.Google Scholar

37. Principal of Leopoldoberrealschule to Bavarian Ministry of Education, October 20, 1936, BHStAr, Abt. I, MK14, 858.Google Scholar

38. See Gefolgschaftsführer Seybold to Oberstudiendirektor Berger and Berger to Seybold, December 16, 1936. For the denunciation, see Deputy Jugendführer Emil Klein to Bavarian Ministry of Education, February 23, 1937; for the reprimand, Bavarian Minister of Education Wagner to Berger, March 19 and April 24, 1937, BHStAr, Abt. I, MK 14, 858.Google Scholar

39. Ibid., Dr. Ebert to Vavarian Ministry of Education, November 12, 1937.Google Scholar

40. See “Bestellung von Schuljugendwaltern” [in Bavaria] and “Verkehr zwischen Schule und Hitler-Jugend” [HJ-Vertrauensmann in Braunschweig]; Deutsche Wissenschaft, I: 12 (June 1935), 273f. For the extension of this office to the entire Reich in 1938, see Deutsche Wissenschaft, IV; 6 (March 1938), 128 and VSHB/HJ, III, 1937f. See also Niemuth, Alfred, Der Schuljugend-Walter (Berlin, n.d.).Google Scholar

41. For orders to this effect, see Ministerialabteilung für die Höheren Schulen to all Higher Schools in Württemberg, January 29, 1935, Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, E202, Bündel 581.Google Scholar

42. For Rust's decree, see Deutsche Wissenschaft III:14, 349.Google Scholar

43. Reichsbefehle der Reichsjugendführung 21/II and 30/II, June 11, and August 13, 1937.Google Scholar

44. See “Schuljugendwalter-Vertrauenslehrer der Hitler-Jugend: Appell an die deutsche Erzieherschaft,” Das junge Deutschland, XXXII: 5 (May, 1939), 218f.Google Scholar

45. For an example of this, see Blumentritt, A., “Arbeitstagung der Kreisjugendwalter des NSLB and Bannreferenten für Schuljugendarbeit der HJ,” October 1935, HI, HA/NSDAP 13/252, as well as an earlier statement by the same individual, “Schule und Hitlerjugend”, Mitteilungsblatt, Nr. 1, (April 1934), 9–11.Google Scholar

46. Grunberger, , 287; Eilers, 21.Google Scholar

47. “Monatsbericht des NSLB Kreis Döbeln,” February 1934, HI, HA/NSDAP 13/245. For an excellent description of this fateful trend on a general level, see Eilers, 121f.Google Scholar

48. For the opposition to the NSLB and its coercive methods, see Reich Interior Minister Frick to all Reichstatthalter and Ministers of Education, Oct. 18, 1933, BHStAr, Abt. II, Reichstatthalter 644. Pressures to join the NSLB and to participate in its many activities on behalf of the party are well documented by Potscher, W., “Die politische Arbeit der Schulen eines Aufsichtsbezirkes,” Mitteilungsblatt, Nr. 23, (Dec. 1935) 555ff.; Schuster, Hilde, “Bericht über die Arbeit der Abteilung Mädchenbildung im NSLB Sachsen für den Monat März 1934,” HI HA/NSDAP 13/246; and Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, May 25, 1935, in BHStAr, Abt I, MK 14, 858.Google Scholar

49. Rust, , “Störungen des Schulbetriebes durch Sammlungen und ausserschulische Veranstaltungen,” Deutsche Wissenschaft, I: 11 (June 1935), 230. Also cited in Kluger, , 163–167.Google Scholar

50. Ibid., II:14, (July 1936), 344f and III: 9 (May 1937), 235.Google Scholar

51. The reduction of the number of years of study in the higher schools from nine to eight years on January 29, 1938 may well account for some of that joy. For the decree to this effect, see Kluger, , 85.Google Scholar

52. Schirach, , Revolution der Erziehung, 116–125. Actually the HJ had been moving in this direction for years. The issue was first raised by Chief of Staff Lauterbacher as early as 1934. See Mitteilungsblatt, 6, (September 1934) 23f. It achieved more concrete form the following year when Schirach first gave voice to such a plan. See Kaufmann, Günter, “Der Orden des jungen Deutschland,” in Wille und Macht, III: 4 (February 1935) 4f. A few months later he even went so far as to conclude an agreement to train future HJ leaders as teachers. For this see “Zusammenarbeit zwischen Hitler Jugend und Deutscher Studentenschaft in Fragen der Lehrerbildung, “Verordnungsblatt Reichsjugendführung der NSDAP, III/22, June 13, 1935. By 1937 he had grown confident enough to proclaim his desire at the Nuremberg Party Rally. See his statement in “Lehrernachwuchs aus der Hitlerjugend,” Mitteilungsblatt, 19 (November 1937) 430.Google Scholar

53. See Schirach's, memoirs, Ich glaubte an Hitler (Hamburg, 1967) which are totally lacking any information about his educational policies.Google Scholar

For documentation of the completely unknown fact that he wanted to head the Education ministry and had evidently been promised it by Hitler, see Schirach's top secret communique to all Gebietsführer of September 11, 1939 in National Archives, Captured German Documents, Micropy T-81, Roll 97, Frame 112810. Hereafter cited as NA T-81/97/112810. In March 1940 Schirach asserted that the only reason he did not obtain that position was the sudden outbreak of the war. For this see SS-Brigadeführer Berger, Gottlob to Himmler, Heinrich, June 5, 1940, NA T-175/20/2, 525, 119. Schirach was still pursuing his candidacy for that post as late as September 1942. See Berger, to Himmler, , September 2, 1942, NA T-175/20/2, 525, 067ff.Google Scholar

54. For specific charges that amount to deliberate sabotage see State Secretary Zschintsch of the Reich Education Ministry to Reich Minister Dr. Lammers, November 11, 1939 BA R43II/515.Google Scholar

For a belated admission to this effect by Schirach who stated at a meeting in Munich held between December 5 and 7, 1941, that the HJ had committed an error of the first magnitude in making the teaching profession look bad and ludicrous, see SS-Hauptsturmführer Ruboeh to Heinrich Himmler, December 10, 1941, NA T-l 75/123/2, 648, 490–499, especially 498. For a printed report, see also Müller, Albert, “Kleine Beiträge,” in Das junge Deutschland, XXXV: 12, (December 1941) 301f.Google Scholar

55. For figures on paid HJ leaders, see Kaufmann, Günter, Das kommende Deutschland. Die Erziehung der Jugend im Reich Adolf Hitlers (Berlin, 1943)Google Scholar

44. Kaufmann asserts that in 1939 the HJ had 8,017 paid leaders, while the schools employed 234,345 teachers. Accordingly the HJ had a ratio of 1 to 1450 while the schools enjoyed a ratio of 1 to 37.Google Scholar

However, according to its treasurer, the youth organization in November 1937 employed 13,500 people. But this included administrative and clerical personnel which composed 13.7 percent of the paid employees. See der Hitler-Jugend, Der Reichskassenverwalter, Die Verwaltung der Hitler-Jugend in NAT-580/38/239.Google Scholar

Because of this insistance on youth and the lack of adequate support from the party and the state, the HJ does not conform exactly to the typology of of youth organizations and their goals that has been developed in an otherwise most persuasive fashion by Gillis. Cf. Gillis, 155 and 165ff.Google Scholar

56. For an excellent example of this, see the November 1943 report of the Lehrerbildungsanstalt at Darmstadt, NA T-81/104/121, 106ff.Google Scholar

57. See International Military Tribunal, Unpublished Documents, Document NG 1264, on deposit at IFZG. For more information on the momentous teacher shortage see Kaufmann, Günter, “Die Schule von morgen!” in Wille und Macht VI: 24 (December 1938) 4–12 expressing the view that Germany's annual requirement of 7,500 new teachers could no longer be met by a mere 1,880 recruits. In an effort to ameliorate this crisis, Rust was compelled on August 26, 1938 to raise the retirement age of teachers from 62 to 65 years. See Rust to Regierungspräsidenten-Schulabteilungen, BA R21/71.Google Scholar

58. Undated memorandum of the Gau leadership of the Hamburg NSLB, “Minderung der Schulleistungen durch Ueberbärdung und Störung der Schularbeit,” Forschungstelle für die Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus in Hamburg, NS-Lehrerbund, H-64.Google Scholar

59. For a call for higher standards from the commander of the army, see General von Brauschitsch's appeal, cited in Kluger, , 84.Google Scholar

60. For the Kriegseinsatz, see Klose, , 240–243 and the 1944 report of the HJ Press and propaganda Office, HI, HA/NSDAP 19/358.Google Scholar

61. For Hitler's statement, see the report of September 26–27, 1940 in International Military Tribunal, Unpublished Documents, NG 1714, IFZG.Google Scholar

62. For this expression of views by Emil Klein, a high official in the Bavarian Education Ministry and the HJ, see Bavarian Ministry of Education to all Higher Schools, January 30, 1940 and “Vorrücken gefährdeter Schüler—Erteilung der Reife-Beurlaubung vom Schuldienst-Kriegseinsatz der Jugend,” BHStAr, Abt. I, MK 14858.Google Scholar

The unavoidability of disruption remained constant throughout the war. As late as the end of 1943 and early 1944 educators had continual difficulties preventing the HJ from halting regular instruction by pulling students out of school. For this see the especially interesting correspondence between Dr. Weighart, Director of the Aufbauschule for Boys at Lauingen on the Danube, and the HJ. After repeated complaints by the good director, the young leader of the local HJ, Oberstammführer Victor Brandl of HJ Gau Schwaben countered by writing on February 24, 1944, “No other school director writes as frequently to the district … Moreover, his arguments reveal that he has not yet been influenced in any way by National Socialism. I regard it as most urgent that Weighart be reprimanded and that it be made unequivocally clear to him that it is our present duty to train soldiers …” For this correspondence, see NA T-580/348 and 350, Bundles 3 and 6.Google Scholar

63. See Meldungen aus dem Reich, April 5 and June 17, 1940, NA T-175/258 and 259/2, 751, 181f., and 2,751, 784. For a useful although somewhat skimpy selection of these reports, see Boberach, Heinz (ed.), Meldungen aus dem Reich. Auswahl aus den geheimen Lageberichten des Sicherheits-Dienstes der SS 1939–1944 (Neuwied and Berlin, 1965).Google Scholar

64. Oberpräsident der Provinz Sachsen, Abteilung höheres Schulwesen to Reichsminister Rust, September 20, 1940, BA R43II/943b.Google Scholar

As far the students' attitudes regarding the higher value of character and political activism over education was concerned, they were of course correct. For an explanation of the phenomenon of upward social mobility as related to political commitment, see Schoenbaum, 267–274, 278–289. For the role of non-intellectual qualities in the so-called elite schools, see Orlow, , 272–284 and Ueberhorst, Horst, Elite für die Diktatur. Die Nationalpolitischen Erziehungsanstalten 1933–1945 (Dusseoldorf, 1969) 180–194.Google Scholar

65. BA R43II/943b, Rust, to Goering, , July 1941, for the Education Minister's weak and belated response.Google Scholar

For even later and evidently equally unsuccessful attempts to upgrade standards and achievements levels, see the lead article, “Leistungsteigerung der Jugend,” in Das junge Deutschland, XXXVI: 2 (February 1942) 25f., and, more importantly, the joint appeal by Reichsjugendführer Artur Axmann and Reichsarmament Minister Albert Speer of April 12, 1944 for youngsters to develop their intellectual and creative powers in the schools and the Reich Vocational Competitions, Gebietsbefehl 4/44K of HJ Gebiet Westmark in NA T-81/100/116, 972–979. On these competitions and their relationship to the decline of higher education see the excellent article by Kater, Michael H., “The Reich Vocational Contest and Students of Higher Learning in Nazi Germany” Central European History VIII: 3(September 1974) 225–261.Google Scholar

66. See for this Klose, , 252–262 and Koch, Horst-Adalbert, Die Geschichte der deutschen Flakartillerie und der Einsatz der Luftwaffenhelfer (Bad Neuheim, 1965) 310–319.Google Scholar

67. NA T-175/261/2,754,259f., Meldungen aus dem Reich, July 10, 1941.Google Scholar

68. Ibid., Feb. 16, June 4, and July 16, 1942, T-175/262 and 263/2,755,907; 2,756,828f. and 2,757, 139ff.Google Scholar

69. Ibid., October 5, 1942, T-175/264/2,757,721–727.Google Scholar

70. Ibid. Google Scholar

71. Ibid., 2,757,727.Google Scholar