Nazi Purpose and Methodology in Youth Indoctrination
Nazi Purpose and Methodology in Youth Indoctrination
Nazi propaganda was incredibly pervasive in the lives of German youth before and during World War II. The Nazi's had worked to incorporate their Nazi ideology into school materials, going as far as restricting the teacher's in their lecture material and rewriting textbooks. This pervasiveness in the teachings of Nazism allowed for a sense of acceptance and even pride among the Nazi youths, leading to a sense of complacency and in many cases active and violent Nazism from the youths.
(Emboldened quotes emphasized by website author)
Published in a Nazi magazine for women, this magazine's issue breaks down the Nazi's goals for education into four major subjects: race, military training, leadership, and religion.
Race Education:
"Only a pure member of the German race can have such an understanding of his people, crowning it with the willingness to sacrifice all for the people. He must know that without his people he is a miserable nothing, and that it is better if he himself die than that his people and fatherland perish!"
Religion:
"We want the German youth to again recognize the religious nature of life. They must realize that God wants the individual as well as the whole people, and that they lose contact with life when they lose contact with God!"
Despite the Nazis being relatively anti-religion, they still used it to bring a sense of unity among the Aryan German youth. Additionally, the concept of religion promotes self-sacrifice. If they believe their god wants and approves of Nazism, they will certainly be encouraged and willing to make those sacrifices to expand Nazism.
"Nazi youth at a camp near Berlin-1940" by ADiamondFellFromTheSky is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
With the symbol for the Nazi S.S., the Nazi youth are portrayed as heroic, brave, and courageous. 
"Nazi Aviation Recruiting Poster" by kaymoshusband is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Translation: Flying requires courage, determination and perseverance! Hail to the German youth who cultivate these virtues! / Become a Member of the German Aviation-Association
"WWII Propaganda- Nazi Germany" by x-ray delta one is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
"Youth Serves the Leader/ Every ten year old in the HJ"
HJ: abbreviation for Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth)
Educational Principles of the New Germany (cont.)
Military Training:
"Their bodies must be steeled, made hard and strong, so that the youth may become capable soldiers who are healthy, strong, trained, energetic, and able to bear hardships...Our youth should not sit in stuffy rooms and develop crooked back and weak eyes."
"A youth being trained for such important national duties must accept the idea of following the Führer absolutely and without question, without unhealthy carping criticism, without selfishness or opposition."
Leadership:
"Germany no longer believes that the masses can lead themselves by majority rule! The masses themselves are nothing!"
"They will not bend to an empty mass will expressed through useless votes, but rather look with enthusiasm to the nation's strong and noble Führer."
Focus on leadership is more so a focus on blind loyalty to Hitler and Nazi Germany. They aren't building leaders, but conditioning blind followers willing to fight for the cause of Nazism.
"Kultur Terror" by pixeljones is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Translation (Danish): U.S.A. will save Europe's culture from ruin.
Heavy criticism of the United States' own atrocities and self-proclamation as the world-police/superior nation, all while subtly blaming the American Jewish population for said atrocities and violence. Note the star of David hanging from the drum along with the Jewish caricature hanging on the bag of money on the figure's right hand.
Controlling Information with Propaganda: Indoctrinating the Youth in Nazi Germany
Danielle Appleby
"[Hitler] banned all books, films, or paintings that did not support the ideology of Aryan superiority, as well as anything produced by Jewish artists and scientists regardless of the content...To achieve his ultimate goal of a national community of pure Aryan Germans who conformed unquestionably and completely to his ideologies, Hitler recognized that he had to appeal to the German youth." (page 2)
"[Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda] further stated that propaganda is 'winning people over to something that [you] have recognized as right' and that 'it is the forerunner to state control.'" (page 3)
"Hitler believed that to fulfill the ideologies he desired it would be necessary to have the unquestioning obedience and loyalty of the German youth...Hitler's speech on November sixth, 1933, expresses the important he placed on the indoctrination of the German youth: When an opponent says, 'I will not come over to your side,' I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us already ... you will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.'" (page 4)
Controlling Information with Propaganda (cont)
"History textbooks 'were rewritten to stress the greatness of Germany and reduce the achievements of the other nations.'" (page 6)
"Understanding that regulation of the teachers was crucial in order to successfully indoctrinate the German youth and spread his ideologies, Hitler ensured that the teachers' classroom actions were controlled and that their lecture information was highly censored." (page 7)
"German children's participation in the various youth organizations, as well as their attendance in school, continually reinforced the idea of belonging to a national community." (page 9)
"Youth were taught, above all else, to unquestioningly believe in and follow Hitler and his ideologies...The Nazi propaganda was so successful that children were willing to condemn their friends and families for speaking against Hitler and his regime." (page 9)
Hitler and Goebbels both understood not only the importance of propaganda, but the importance in youth indoctrination. They viewed them as empty, moldable minds--and they were. Because of this, they focused heavily on restricting anti-Nazi materials while distributing large quantities of Nazi ideology in various forms of propaganda.