“Wehrmacht needs soldiers”: Upbringing and education under the influence of Nazism

Abstract

Studying the experience of implementing educational and upbringing changes of such a totalitarian state as the  Third Reich allows us to look differently at any reformist actions in  our country. This experience is  especially useful in  combination with the  study of  the activities of  the Ministry of  Education and Propaganda of the Third Reich. The purpose of the article is to study the place of Nazi propaganda given to men in the “national community”. Applying a socio-cultural approach in combination with a gender-sensitive methodology will allow us to rethink the existence of Germans of the Third Reich through the prism of dominant gender roles in society. As a result of the study, it is found that the concept of creating a new image of “man” helped the Nazis in their quest to achieve an ideal society and “national community”. An intermediate link in this system is the reform of the education and upbringing of the Third Reich as well as the introduction of a number of  youth organizations, which aimed to educate young people in  obedience in  the spirit of  the ideas of National Socialism. Participation in these organizations, as well as further service in the army, became the  responsibility of  the young German. All parts of  the education system are undergoing changes: undesirable teachers have been removed from teaching, school and university programs are filled with ideology, and education is  carried out in  accordance with ideals. The  militarized model of  masculinity is becoming increasingly important in the state. Such personal qualities as strength, courage, endurance, as well as the willingness to sacrifice their lives for the benefit of the state become the invariable characteristics of a true German.