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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses An investigation into the eects of National Socialism on secondary education in Germany and some problems involved in its reconstruction Powell, J.W. How to cite: Powell, J.W. (1948) An investigation into the eects of National Socialism on secondary education in Germany and some problems involved in its reconstruction, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9601/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM ON SECONDARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY AND SOME PROBLEMS IN• VOLVED IN ITS RECONSTRUCTION. ABSTRACT. The first part of this dissertation consists of an examina• tion of the effects of National Socialism on secondary education for boys. In the Introductory chapter the back• grounds and the fundamental principles of National Socialist educational philosophy are considered. The application of these principles and the subsequent innovations in both the form and content of secondary education are then described, with special reference to the part played by the racial doctrines. In Chapter IV the effects of National Socialism on the secondary school teacher, his training and his pro• fessional associations are discussed. To conclude Part One, the Hitler Youth, rated by many theorists as a more important educational institution than the school itself, is reviewed. Part Two contains first of all an account of the dis• integration of secondary education during the last years of the war, and the situation which confronted the allied edu• cation authorities during the early stages of the occupation. The emphasis throughout Part Two is on developments in the British Zone in Germany, but reference is also made to educational tendencies noted in the other zones. Some of the divergent aims and methods pursued in the zones in the re-organisation of the form and content of secondary education along democratic lines are detailed in Chapter VII. In conclusion certain parallel lines of development in'contemporary English and National Socialist educational thought have been included which point to the conclusion that the Nazi diagnosis was often correct but that the remedy applied was wholly false. Finally the conditions of and the prospects for education for democracy in Germany are discussed, which lead to the ultimate belief that un• less the Western powers can rapidly provide some spiritual goal, the more dynamic, all-embracing totalitarian ideology of the Russians may in the end make more appeal to the Germans. J.W. Powell, 64b, Park Road, Lenton, Nottingham. AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM ON SECONDARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY AND- SOME PROBLEMS INVOLVED IN ITS RECONSTRUCTION. Submitted for the degree of M. Ed. SYBIL RANG & AP SIMON 43 ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C.2. March, 1948. and at 21 Heath Street, N.W.j. TEMple Bar 1733 HAMpstead £329 TYPEWRITING 8t DUPLICATING i TABLE OF CONTENTS PART ONE I. NATIONAL SOCIALIST EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY. 1. Backgrounds. 2. Hitler, Rosenberg and Goebbels. 3. Basic concepts. II. THE FORM OF SECONDARY EDUCATION UNDER THE NATIONAL SOCIALISTS. 1. Secondary education before 1933. 2. Preliminary measures. 3. The reform of 1938. 4. The leadership schools. (a) The N.P.E.A. (b) The Adolf Hitler School. Icj War time developments. III. THE CONTENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION. 1. Physical Training. 2. "Deutschkunde". (a) German. (b) -History. (c) Geography. (d) Art and Music. 3. Natural Science and Mathematics. (a) Biology. (b) - Chemistry and Physics. (c) Mathematics. 4. Languages. 5. Religion. IV. THE TEACHER UNDER NATIONAL SOCIALISM. 1. The training of the teacher. 2. The National Socialist ideal of a teacher. 3. The Nationalsozialistische Lehrerbund. 4. The results of National Socialist policy. V. THE HITLER YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 1. Aims and principles. 2. The content of education in the Hitler Youth. 3. The Hitler Youth and the secondary school. 4. Resistance to the Hitler Youth. FART TWO. VI. THE LEGACY OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM. 1. The disintegration of secondary education. 2. German youth in defeat. 3. The German educational scene in 1945 • 4. The beginnings of re-education. VII. TENDENCIES IN GERMAN EDUCATION TODAY. 1. The progress towards democrat!sation. 2. The contents of the new secondary education. 3. The training of teachers. VIII. CONCLUSION. 1. The lessons of National Socialism for contem• porary education. 2. The outlook on education for democracy. (a) Education and politics. (b) The question of responsibility. (c) Towards new ideals. 3- The challenge to Western democracy. APPENDICES 1-6. BIBLIOGRAPHY PART ONE. CHAPTER I. NATIONAL SOCIALIST EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY. 1. Backgrounds. To understand the educational philosophy of the Na• tional Socialists one must examine certain aspects of the works of Germany's greatest writers, whom the theorists of the movement claimed as their precursors. With pride they often pointed to many of their most famouB figures and praised them for having the foresight to predict those developments which would enable Germany to fulfil her mis• sion. O'Butler, in his book "The Roots of National So• cialism" put forward the thesis that the National Socialist outlook was very much an extension of the traditional out• look of Germany. "National Socialism" he claimed, "is not artificial or exotic. It is naturally-German." The philosophers of the movement "called up the German spirit from the depths these men of limited intelligence but dynamic drive achieved a splendid consummation of a century and a half of German thought."1 There can be no doubt that some aspects of the work of Germany's most prominent writers in the late eighteenth 1 O'Butler, "The Roots of National Socialism", Faber and. .Faber, London, 1941, pp. 283-284. -2- and nineteenth centuries bear striking resemblance to the tenets of official National Socialist "Weltanschauung". Yet as Kneller points out, "the compatibility of isolated elements of thought does not necessarily show harmony of the whole point of view.H^ The theorists of the new movement were indeed adept at selecting those aspects of literature and thought which were readily adaptable to their "Weltanschauung", and at omitting those which were contrary to it. It will therefore be relevant to examine very briefly some aspects of German writers, from whom the National Socialists claimed to have derived the fundamental principles of their educational philosophy. Gottfried Herder was venerated by them as the first man to realise the significance of race, and to conceive the idea of the "Volksgemeinschaft" represented as an or• ganic historical growth. Herder, they considered, gave Germans pride in their historic past, from which all true culture originated. This side of his work was eagerly taken up by the educational philosophers, and it would in• deed seem that they have some right to refer to him as the inspiration of their ideology. But their technique of Kneller, "The Educational Philosophy of National Socia lism", Yale University Press, 1941, p. 83. -3- skilful omission is illustrated by the fact that no men• tion is made of Herder's cosmopolitanism. His desire for a Germanic culture, based on Germany's own literary traditions, never had the purpose of belittling other cul• tures, or elevating Germany to the status of a "Herren- volk". On the contrary one of Herder's most striking characteristics was his receptivity to the literature and culture of all countries. Above all things Herder sought for the truth and based his philosophy on the essential unity of mankind. Superficially Fichte*s work has even more points of contact with the principles of National Socialist educatio• nal ideology. 01Butler found Fichte's ideas on the folk nation "imbibed with a mystical unity and virtue beyond mere intellectual conception, which would appear to be in accordance with the National Socialist belief in irratio• nal forces arid the revolt against intellectualism. More• over Fichte argued in favour of a total national autarky, in which the state was all powerful and where blind alle• giance was demanded from the individual. Yet Fichte was greatly concerned with human morality and the "Vblk" was to be elevated by this means. His desire "to bring Germans 0'Butler, op. cit., p.46. -4- to that ideal of absolute freedom and mission of German science and philosophy, which were to contribute to the cause of the spiritual emancipation of humanity"'*" was consciously ignored. As with Herder, the National So• cialists claimed as their own only those aspects which suited their purpose. Much of Fichte indeed, especially his insistence on the education of the whole man rather than on purely intellectual training, reads, like modern National Socialist educational theory, but only when it is divorced from his other views. In a similar manner the current theories were said to be rooted in the works of other great philosophers and thinkers. The theorists pointed out that the idea of a heroic leader was a recurring theme with Hegel and Nie• tzsche, and later with Spengler and Moeller v.d. Bruck. Jahn had written one of the earliest assertions of the ra• cial superiority of the Germans, and had been followed by Wagner.
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