Nazi Germany

Nazi GermanyNazi Germany

Global History and Geography IVGlobal History and Geography IV

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION

Anti-IntellectualismAnti-Intellectualism

A sentiment of hostility towards, or mistrust of, intellectuals and intellectual pursuits

Attacks merits of science, education, literature

Not just about hating intellectualism: also about what values fill its place

What would be the What would be the consequences of consequences of

Anti-Intellectualism?Anti-Intellectualism? A society where --

• individual thought is compromised• the preservation of truth is minimal• authorities have more power• there is no challenge to the state

Consequences of Consequences of Anti-IntellectualismAnti-Intellectualism

Emergence of Pseudoscience• (i.e. Eugenics)

Rewriting of History Destruction of Literature

NAZI BOOK BURNINGSNAZI BOOK BURNINGS

Why?Why?

A way of venting anger• Symbolic transition of cultural values:

Intellectualism to radical emotionalism

Unity through ritual Intimidates intellectual

community

State PolicyState Policy

May 10, 1933• Nazi Party declares that any book

““which acts subversively on our future or strikes at the root of German thought, the German home and the driving forces of our people...” is to be burned.

Who would be the target of such a policy and why?

The Burning SpectacleThe Burning Spectacle Students marched through the streets

rampaging libraries, synagogues, and even private homes to loot books

Some Authors of Books Burned Some Authors of Books Burned on 5/10/33on 5/10/33

Albert Einstein Havelock Ellis Lion Feuchtwanger Sigmund Freud André Gide Franz Kafka Erich Kästner Helen Keller Alfred Kerr Jack London Heinrich Mann Thomas Mann Karl Marx

Hugo Preuss Marcel Proust Walter Rathenau Erich Maria

Remarque Margaret Sanger Arthur Schnitzler Upton Sinclair Jakob Wasserman H. G. Wells Stefan Zweig Emile Zola

EDUCATION INEDUCATION INTHE THIRD REICHTHE THIRD REICH

Nazi EducationNazi Education

The Curriculum• Racial biology and

eugenics

• Celebratory German history

• Discipline, duty, obedience, courage

• Physical training—Body over mind

• No concern for the “spirit of academics”

“The Jewish Nose is Wide at the End and Looks like

the Number Six”

The Nazi ClassroomThe Nazi Classroom

Task of the Educator• Strengthen the soul and spirit of youth• Instill nationalism in younger generation

Root out values of…• Liberal individualism• Rationalism• Intellectualism

Trained children…• to be good soldiers• to benefit the state

Adolf Hitler on EducationAdolf Hitler on Education

"Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented”

—-Adolf Hitler

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round”

—Adolf Hitler

The Hitler YouthThe Hitler Youth

Clip From Clip From Triumph of the WillTriumph of the Will

Click image to see video on YouTube Notice direction of film

• Shows how admired Hitler is

• Promotes radical emotionalism

• Notice serious faces, militarism of young boys

Necessity of Hitler YouthNecessity of Hitler Youth

Future of Nazi Germany was in its children

Composed of a generation that knew only Nazism• No need to suppress individual thinking

Trained:• Children for roles as Nazi citizens• Men for “Wehrsport” (Military training)• Women for Aryan motherhood

The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain...” and women who can suffer pain...” -- Adolph Hitler-- Adolph Hitler

NazismNazism

Nazi PopulismNazi Populism

“Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state...”

– Joseph Goebbels

Struggle against “privileged elite”

Intellectuals are elitists and tricksters

The VolksgemeinschaftThe Volksgemeinschaft

“The People’s Community”• Established collective national spirit• Based on racial and national pride

Subliminal influence on cultureBureaucratization of censorship &

propaganda

PEOPLE CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES

The ReichskulturkammerThe Reichskulturkammer

“Reich Culture Chamber” Managed by Hans Hinkel Goals:

• Promote “Good Culture”• Root out, ban “Bad Culture”

Compulsory membership for all members of German media

Ministry of PropagandaMinistry of Propaganda

Spread and enforced Nazi ideology

Antithesis of intellectual-based culture

Rampant anti-Semitism

Infected all mediums of art and literature

Goebbel’s The “Big Lie” TheoryGoebbel’s The “Big Lie” Theory “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will

eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

What is the Purpose of Nazi What is the Purpose of Nazi Propaganda?Propaganda?

public opinion must be molded to fit the state

Undo Intellectualism:

• No “marketplace of ideas”

• No tolerance of dissent

• No ability to question authority

• No independent thought

• No formulation of rational ideas

The Nuremberg Laws (1935)The Nuremberg Laws (1935) Denaturalization

Laws Placed severe

restrictions on Jews Could not marry

non-Jews Not allowed to

attend or teach at German schools or universities

Prohibited from government jobs, practicing law or medicine or publishing books

Established a pseudo-scientific basis identification

Only those with four German grandparents were of "German blood."

Jewish is who descends from three or four Jewish grand-parents

In the middle stood people of "mixed blood" of the "first or second degree."

KristallnachtKristallnacht“Night of the Broken Glass”“Night of the Broken Glass”

“The mob” trumps individualism

The Rise of Hitler The Rise of Hitler The Expansion of the Nazi StateThe Expansion of the Nazi State

The HolocaustThe Holocaust