‘All the Light We Cannot See’ - Context
Schulpforta- NPEA Schools
National Political Institutes of Education founded by Reich Minister for Education Bernard
Rust in 1933
The Nazi government attempted to control the minds of the young and thus, among other
means, intruded Nazi beliefs into the school curriculum. A major part of biology became “race
science,” and health education and physical training did not escape the racial stress.
Geography became geopolitics, the study of the fatherland being fundamental. Physical
training was made compulsory for all, as was youth labour service. Much of the fundamental
curriculum was not disturbed, however.
Selection for entry included racial origins, physical fitness and membership of the Hitler
Youth.
These schools, run by the Schutzstaffel (SS), had the task of training the next generation of
high-ranking people in the Nazi Party and the German Army.
The syllabus was that of ordinary grammar schools with political inculcation in place of
religious instruction and a tremendous emphasis on such sports as boxing, war games,
rowing, sailing, gliding, shooting and riding motorcycles. Only two out of the thirty-nine
Napolas constructed over the next few years catered for girls.
Schulpforta itself is a real school is situated in a Cistercian monastery on the Saale River.
Schulpforta was a NPEA between 1935-45 and later became a coeducational boarding
school after the war to today.
Goebbels and the Public Radio
All radio output was controlled by Goebbels’ Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and
Propaganda
Reich Radio Company
Listening to foreign stations was banned.
Radios were sold cheaply so that most Germans could afford one and thus be indoctrinated
and given through the KDF programme. These “People’s Receivers” could only be tuned to
the Nazi station. By 1939, 70 per cent of households owned one of them.
Loudspeakers erected in public areas
Germany’s search for self-sufficiency
Hermann Goring was appointed to create a plan for an economy that was prepared
for war (Wehrwirtschaft)
1936 created Four Year Plan to ensure the creation of a German Autarky
Cuts to importation, ersatz goods, economic production goals
1939 1/3 of natural resources were still imported. Autarky can only be achieved
through conquest
Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend or HJ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany.
Led by Baldur Von Schirach
Membership was compulsory for all come 1939 but by 1936 it was compulsory for certain
ages
Hitler Youth was the umbrella name given to all Nazi youth organisations but properly applies
to the organisation for male youths aged 14 to 18. It had other organisations for girls (and
were segregated) and different age ranges and taught the importance of domestically minded
women (especially the importance of child rearing).
French Resistance
Within weeks of the 1940 collapse, tiny groups of men and women had begun to resist. Some
collected military intelligence for transmission to London; some organized escape routes for
British airmen who had been shot down; some circulated anti-German leaflets; some engaged
in sabotage of railways and German installations.
The Resistance movement received an important infusion of strength in June 1941,
when Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union brought the French Communist Party into active
participation in the anti-German struggle.
Schulpforta- NPEA Schools
National Political Institutes of Education founded by Reich Minister for Education Bernard
Rust in 1933
The Nazi government attempted to control the minds of the young and thus, among other
means, intruded Nazi beliefs into the school curriculum. A major part of biology became “race
science,” and health education and physical training did not escape the racial stress.
Geography became geopolitics, the study of the fatherland being fundamental. Physical
training was made compulsory for all, as was youth labour service. Much of the fundamental
curriculum was not disturbed, however.
Selection for entry included racial origins, physical fitness and membership of the Hitler
Youth.
These schools, run by the Schutzstaffel (SS), had the task of training the next generation of
high-ranking people in the Nazi Party and the German Army.
The syllabus was that of ordinary grammar schools with political inculcation in place of
religious instruction and a tremendous emphasis on such sports as boxing, war games,
rowing, sailing, gliding, shooting and riding motorcycles. Only two out of the thirty-nine
Napolas constructed over the next few years catered for girls.
Schulpforta itself is a real school is situated in a Cistercian monastery on the Saale River.
Schulpforta was a NPEA between 1935-45 and later became a coeducational boarding
school after the war to today.
Goebbels and the Public Radio
All radio output was controlled by Goebbels’ Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and
Propaganda
Reich Radio Company
Listening to foreign stations was banned.
Radios were sold cheaply so that most Germans could afford one and thus be indoctrinated
and given through the KDF programme. These “People’s Receivers” could only be tuned to
the Nazi station. By 1939, 70 per cent of households owned one of them.
Loudspeakers erected in public areas
Germany’s search for self-sufficiency
Hermann Goring was appointed to create a plan for an economy that was prepared
for war (Wehrwirtschaft)
1936 created Four Year Plan to ensure the creation of a German Autarky
Cuts to importation, ersatz goods, economic production goals
1939 1/3 of natural resources were still imported. Autarky can only be achieved
through conquest
Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend or HJ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany.
Led by Baldur Von Schirach
Membership was compulsory for all come 1939 but by 1936 it was compulsory for certain
ages
Hitler Youth was the umbrella name given to all Nazi youth organisations but properly applies
to the organisation for male youths aged 14 to 18. It had other organisations for girls (and
were segregated) and different age ranges and taught the importance of domestically minded
women (especially the importance of child rearing).
French Resistance
Within weeks of the 1940 collapse, tiny groups of men and women had begun to resist. Some
collected military intelligence for transmission to London; some organized escape routes for
British airmen who had been shot down; some circulated anti-German leaflets; some engaged
in sabotage of railways and German installations.
The Resistance movement received an important infusion of strength in June 1941,
when Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union brought the French Communist Party into active
participation in the anti-German struggle.
