The Nazi leaders have not finished with their alterations of the German methods of education. But their vague fear, that the high schools and universities may still produce ghosts of what the Nazis are working to destroy, is causing the creation of a new type of school, a new “course of training” for the “elite of the German people.”
Dr. Georg Mollowitz writes, in the National Socialist Educator: “The enemy still believes that he has one last possibility of influence, namely, in the domain of the spirit. For here National Socialism has not yet officially sounded its call to arms. Here the old Liberal spirit still continues to spread its influence. And our opponents attempt to keep this condition alive by all possible means, indeed to proclaim it necessary; they say that matters of the spirit, sciences, are in their very essence ‘unpolitical’ and must be handled in an ‘objective’ manner; that they stand on a superior level, above the ‘merely political,’ economic social, etc., matters of everyday life…. And so there are still those who hope by this circuitous route to influence the mighty change that has taken place in Germany…. But that is a mistaken idea. True, National Socialism has not yet given the signal for attack on this plane. But the first battlers have for a long time been ready for such a call, and the General Staff is working feverishly; as a matter of fact, all that is wanting is the signal, and then here too, as with other undertakings of National Socialism, there will be the usual thorough radical purge, and the establishment of a new order. May our opponents hear this warning: here, too, they stand on territory that is already absolutely lost for them!”
Dr. Mollowitz may well know that his prophecies will come true, for they are founded on an edict “On the Unification of the Higher Institutes of Learning,” of March 20, 1937. The edict is crammed with “transitional measures” of secondary importance, all with the object of eradicating the humanistic ideal of education. But the edict also determines, in a passing phrase, that the Gymnasien (approximating the American high school and two first years of college) “may remain as subordinate units of the general school plan… ”
What, then, is the school structure to be? Where will the elite get their education? Hitler outlined it, concisely enough, on January 18, 1937: “Following a report by the Reich Organization Director of the National Socialist Party and the Youth Leader of the German Reich, I approve that the National Socialist Schools under construction, which are also to be preparatory schools for National Socialist Order Castles, shall bear my name.”
The edict was complemented by a statement by Reich Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach, and another by Dr. Robert Ley, Leader of the Workers’ Front, both of which announced that boys who have made their mark either in the Jungvolk or in the Hitler Youth will be enrolled, beginning at twelve, in one of the “Adolf-Hitler Schools.” After six years, they must fulfill their “Voluntary Labor Service” and then serve in the army. Immediately after that, the best of them — and we know what the word means among the Nazis —enter a National Socialist Order Castle.
The Order Castles of the Middle Ages are the spiritual parents of the new schools; and the characteristic atavism is openly admitted here. “Knights of an Order” were pious, it is true, in principle, although their customs were brutal and they lived for war. Their piety was what set them apart in their Castles; everything else, brutality and lack of culture, ran parallel to their century. But today, the “Junkers” — they are called “Junkers,” of course — live in castles expropriated from their owners; they do not steal, of course, like the “Robber Barons” — they make “changes” and “new creations.” Their “Order” is National Socialism, and their “Order Castles,” beautifully situated in the mountains and forest country, were “changed” by the State which now supplies them with funds. The pupils pay tuition in proportion to their parents’ incomes; and even the poorest of them enjoys “Junkers’” privileges. Hitler has decreed that no social shortcomings are to stand in the way of a leader, whose qualifications depend on other virtues.
There is no lack of weapons or equipment. “Schulpforta,” one of the most respectable seats of learning in Germany, famous for four hundred years for its strictness and discipline in educating young men to the highest type of spiritual responsibility, has been altered and “newly created.” Ownership was transferred, teachers dismissed, pupils forced to leave; and in moved an army of “the very best prospective National Socialist Führers.” This army was supplied with uniforms at the expense of the State; and we cannot help suspecting that General Goering himself had a hand in the matter, for each boy has to possess at least nine uniforms. To every pair of boys is given a motorcycle, and the older ones even have automobiles. There are twelve National Socialist Order Castles in Germany now, but of course this is only the beginning.
J. W. Tate writes in the London Morning Post: “Life in these schools is characterized by a strongly marked political motif and an extensive use of military forms. There is a special uniform, the various schools being distinguished only by the color of the shoulder-strap. This uniform, worn by boys over fifteen — and by their teachers — consists of a peaked khaki cap, tunic, and breeches, with field boots and a side-arm. The younger boys wear open khaki shirts, shorts, and a forage cap.
“School work, including gymnastics, is confined to the morning, and, except for an hour-and-a-half’s preparation, the afternoon and evening are devoted to a fixed program of sport, in which swimming, boxing, shooting, and handball are the chief items, with instruction in riding, motorcycling and driving for the senior boys. Important competitive games are few and far between, and everything is carried out with a view to producing the physically efficient National Socialist.
“Marching is not merely a means of moving boys from one activity to another, but is one of the school games. At least twice a week, a period is allotted for Geländesport. This ‘game’ perhaps had its origin in the efforts of patriots to keep up some form of military training during the period of complete disarmament under the Treaty of Versailles. It might be described in army phraseology as ‘tactical exercises without arms.’