Routledge Anti-Semitism and Schooling Under the Third Reich (Studies in the History of Education)

This book investigates the anti-Semitic foundations of Nazi curricula for elementary schools, with a focus on the subjects of biology, history, and literature. Gregory Paul Wegner argues that any study of Nazi society and its values must probe the education provided by the regime. Schools, according to Wegner, play a major role in advancing ideological justifications for mass murder, and in legitimizing a culture of ethnic and racial hatred. Using a variety of primary sources, Wegner provides a vivid account of the development of Nazi education. Review "Within Hitler's Germany, education played a pivotal role in disseminating virulent Antisemitism among the German youth. It underscored Hitler's long-term objective of eliminating all forms of Jewish influence in European culture and furthered the public acceptance of events leading to the Holocaust. Within this difficult and complicated subject, Wegner offers readers an in-depth look at the ideology of National Socialism, its history, and its disturbing success, in influencing the course of German education during Hitler's twelve-year rule." -- David A. Meier, Professor of History, Dickinson State University "Professor Wegner's study of the role played by anti-Semitism in the schools of the Third Reich fills a huge and long-neglected gap in the historiography of Nazi Germany. He portrays the frightening efficiency with which Nazi educators infused anti-Semitism into every aspect of the school curriculum -- racial hygiene, biology, history, geography, and literature. In today's parlance we might speak of "anti-Semitism across the curriculum." This study is firmly rooted in primary source material and becomes a major contribution to our understanding of how education can be misused to promote hatred and prejudice." -- Karl A. Schleunes, University of North Carolina at Greensboro "Gregory Paul Wegner's study of the role played by anti-Semitism in the schools of the Third Reich fills a huge and long-neglected gap in the historiography of Nazi Germany. He portrays the frightening efficiency with which Nazi educators infused anti-Semitism into every aspect of the school curriculum. This study forms a major contribution to our understanding of how education can be misused to promote hatred and prejudice." -- Karl A. Schleunes, author of The Twisted Road to Auschwitz: Nazi Policy toward German Jews, 1933-1939 "By illuminating how education can become a tool for hate, Gregory Paul Wegner has done a great service not just for historians and educators, but for all concerned for the future of our society." -- Mark Weitzman, Director, Task Force Against Hate, Simon Wiesenthal Center "Gregory Paul Wegner's extensive research and excellent analysis illuminates the linkages between educational thought and eugenicist ideology. He insightfully shows that curricular policy in the Third Reich was a bold attempt to rewrite history and religion, and that there was enthusiasm for the project from writers and educators." -- Stephen Feinstein, Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota "Gregory Wegner has performed the valuable service of compiling and analyzing the publications and proposals of a distressingly large group of Nazi "education reformers" who ranged from the overtly vicious and genocidal to the self-proclaimed objective and dispassionate. Differing in tone and style, they agreed upon the goal of establishing "antisemitism across the curriculum." The disciplinary boundaries of biology, history, anthropology, literature, foreign languages, even physical education were to be transcended through the integrating theme of "race hygiene." -- Christopher R. Browning, Frank Porter Graham Professor of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "Gregory Paul Wegner's study of the role played by anti-Semitism in the schools of the Third Reich fills a huge and long-neglected gap in the historiography of Nazi Germany. He portrays the