This book offers a compelling new analysis of Nazi educational policy, arguing that in order to understand National Socialism, we need to understand its policies on youth.

In its determination to take absolute control, the Third Reich focused on the nation's youth, reserving for the schools the vital task of refashioning the German psyche. This book examines these propaganda efforts—one of the most radical and far-reaching experiments in educational history. The book focuses on the manipulation of the German past, one of the primary means of state intervention to ensure the triumph of the racial idea in history. It shows how textbooks written by National Socialists equalled or exceeded the most imaginative fiction, with an itinerary that extended from Valhalla and the Germania of Tacitus to the Prussia of Frederick the Great, before mounting to the pinnacle represented by the Third Reich. The primary source materials for this study consist of a broad, representative collection of history textbooks, primers, and books of readings containing historical instruction.

The Third Reich's Elite Schools tells the story of the Napolas, Nazi Germany's most prominent training academies for the future elite. This deeply researched study gives an in-depth account of everyday life at the schools, while also shedding fresh light on the political, social, and cultural history of the Nazi dictatorship.

Published in 1938, this well-documented indictment reveals the systematic brainwashing of Germany's youth, involving the alienation of children from parents, promotion of racial superiority, and development of a Hitler-based cult of personality.

For more than half a century, discourses on the Nazi past have powerfully shaped German social and cultural policy. Specifically, an institutional determination not to forget has expressed a “duty of remembrance” through commemorative activities and educational curricula. But as the horrors of the Third Reich retreat ever further from living memory, what do new generations of Germans actually think about this past? Combining observation, interviews, and archival research, this book provides a rich survey of the perspectives and experiences of German adolescents from diverse backgrounds, revealing the extent to which social, economic, and cultural factors have conditioned how they view representations of Germany’s complex history.

A chronicle of the collision between educational reformer Paul Geheeb, who founded the Odenwaldschule, and fascist ideology during Hitler's rise to power. By examining one individual's story it shows how education in general, and progressive education in particular, fared in Nazi Germany.

Among the most controversial of Nazi publications was a book for children, published in 1938 under the title Der Giftpilz-or, The Poisonous Mushroom. Here, the Jewish threat to German society was portrayed in the most simplistic and elemental terms. The author, Ernst Hiemer, put together 17 short vignettes or morality stories intended to warn children of the dangers posed by Jews. Jews were depicted as conniving, thieving, treacherous liars who would do anything for personal gain. 'Avoid Jews at all costs, ' was Hiemer's underlying message. Though aimed at children aged roughly 8 to 14, Hiemer's lessons were intended for all readers-older siblings, parents, and grandparents. Following Hitler's lead, and not without justification, Jews were presented as a profound threat to German society; they had to be shunned and ultimately removed from the nation, if the German people were to flourish. Long out of circulation, and banned in Germany and elsewhere, this new edition reproduces a work of historical importance-including full color artwork by German cartoonist Philipp Rupprecht ("Fips"). The book was repeatedly cited at the Nuremberg Trials as evidence of 'Nazi cruelty', and was used by prosecutors to justify a death sentence for its publisher, Julius Streicher. If only for the sake of history, the reading public should have access to one of the more intriguing and notorious publications of the Third Reich.