In 1934, an English teacher who had previously worked in German schools had returned home and “Else”, a ten-year-old former pupil, came to stay. She described school life under National Socialism and her testimony informs this remarkable report in which the teacher gives a chilling picture of German education under Hitler: schools had become places in which children are indoctrinated with a hatred of other countries, the conviction that Germany is the chosen realm and that the Führer is a reincarnation of Jesus. To achieve their ends, the Nazis had fired all teachers of a liberal persuasion, leaving them destitute and forcing the remaining staff to work in fear of reprisals for a loose word or an unconvincing adherence to the regime. This was not proper “teaching”, since “Nazi educational policy ignores the nature and needs of the child, and takes advantage of his tender age and inexperience to mould him into a political fanatic.”
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