Editing Nazi Germany (section)

== Society ==
=== Education ===
{{Further|University education in Nazi Germany}}
Antisemitic legislation passed in 1933 led to the removal of all Jewish teachers, professors, and officials from the education system. Most teachers were required to belong to the ''[[National Socialist Teachers League|Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund]]'' (NSLB; National Socialist Teachers League) and university professors were required to join the [[National Socialist German Lecturers League|National Socialist German Lecturers]].{{sfn|Nakosteen|1965|p=386}}{{sfn|Pine|2011|pp=14–15, 27}} Teachers had to take an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler, and those who failed to show sufficient conformity to party ideals were often reported by students or fellow teachers and dismissed.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=249}}{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=270}} Lack of funding for salaries led to many teachers leaving the profession. The average class size increased from 37 in 1927 to 43 in 1938 due to the resulting teacher shortage.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=269}}

Frequent and often contradictory directives were issued by Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick, [[Bernhard Rust]] of the [[Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture]], and other agencies regarding content of lessons and acceptable textbooks for use in primary and secondary schools.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=263–264, 270}} Books deemed unacceptable to the regime were removed from school libraries.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=264}} Indoctrination in Nazi ideology was made compulsory in January 1934.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=264}} Students selected as future members of the party elite were indoctrinated from the age of 12 at [[Adolf Hitler Schools]] for primary education and [[National Political Institutes of Education]] for secondary education. Detailed indoctrination of future holders of elite military rank was undertaken at [[NS-Ordensburgen|Order Castles]].{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=255}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2007-0329-501, Reichsgründungsfeier, Schulklasse.jpg|thumb|The Nazi salute in school (1934): children were indoctrinated at an early age.|alt=]]
Primary and secondary education focused on racial biology, population policy, culture, geography, and physical fitness.{{sfn|Pine|2011|pp=13–40}} The curriculum in most subjects, including biology, geography, and even arithmetic, was altered to change the focus to race.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=263–265}} Military education became the central component of physical education, and education in physics was oriented toward subjects with military applications, such as ballistics and aerodynamics.{{sfn|Farago|1972|p=65}}{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=265}} Students were required to watch all films prepared by the school division of the [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda]].{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=264}}

At universities, appointments to top posts were the subject of power struggles between the education ministry, the university boards, and the National Socialist German Students' League.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=292}} In spite of pressure from the League and various government ministries, most university professors did not make changes to their lectures or syllabus during the Nazi period.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=302–303}} This was especially true of universities located in predominantly Catholic regions.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=305}} Enrolment at German universities declined from 104,000 students in 1931 to 41,000 in 1939, but enrolment in medical schools rose sharply as Jewish doctors had been forced to leave the profession, so medical graduates had good job prospects.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=295–297}} From 1934, university students were required to attend frequent and time-consuming military training sessions run by the SA.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=293}} First-year students also had to serve six months in a labour camp for the [[Reich Labour Service]]; an additional ten weeks service were required of second-year students.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=299}}

=== Role of women and family ===
{{Further|Women in Nazi Germany}}
Women were a cornerstone of Nazi social policy. The Nazis opposed the feminist movement, claiming that it was the creation of Jewish intellectuals, instead advocating a [[patriarchal]] society in which the German woman would recognise that her "world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home".{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=331}} Feminist groups were shut down or incorporated into the [[National Socialist Women's League]], which coordinated groups throughout the country to promote motherhood and household activities. Courses were offered on childrearing, sewing, and cooking. Prominent feminists, including [[Anita Augspurg]], [[Lida Gustava Heymann]], and [[Helene Stöcker]], felt forced to live in exile.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=516–517}} The League published the ''[[NS-Frauen-Warte]]'', the only Nazi-approved women's magazine in Nazi Germany;{{sfn|Heidelberg University Library}} despite some propaganda aspects, it was predominantly an ordinary woman's magazine.{{sfn|Rupp|1978|p=45}}

Women were encouraged to leave the workforce, and the creation of large families by racially suitable women was promoted through propaganda campaigns. Women received a bronze award—known as the ''[[Cross of Honour of the German Mother|Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter]]'' (Cross of Honour of the German Mother)—for giving birth to four children, silver for six, and gold for eight or more.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=516–517}} Large families received subsidies to help with expenses. Though the measures led to increases in the birth rate, the number of families having four or more children declined by five per cent between 1935 and 1940.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=518–519}} Removing women from the workforce did not have the intended effect of freeing up jobs for men, as women were for the most part employed as domestic servants, weavers, or in the food and drink industries—jobs that were not of interest to men.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=332–333}} Nazi philosophy prevented large numbers of women from being hired to work in munitions factories in the build-up to the war, so foreign labourers were brought in. After the war started, slave labourers were extensively used.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=369}} In January 1943, Hitler signed a decree requiring all women under the age of fifty to report for work assignments to help the war effort.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=749}} Thereafter women were funnelled into agricultural and industrial jobs, and by September 1944 14.9&nbsp;million women were working in munitions production.{{sfn|McNab|2009|p=164}}

Nazi leaders endorsed the idea that rational and theoretical work was alien to a woman's nature, and as such discouraged women from seeking higher education.{{sfn|Stephenson|2001|p=70}} A law passed in April 1933 limited the number of women admitted to university to ten per cent of the number of men.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=297}} This resulted in female enrolment in secondary schools dropping from 437,000 in 1926 to 205,000 in 1937. The number of women enrolled in post-secondary schools dropped from 128,000 in 1933 to 51,000 in 1938. However, with the requirement that men be enlisted into the armed forces during the war, women comprised half of the enrolment in the post-secondary system by 1944.{{sfn|Pauley|2003|pp=119–137}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2000-0110-500, BDM, Gymnastikvorführung.jpg|thumb|Young women of the ''[[League of German Girls|Bund Deutscher Mädel]]'' (League of German Girls) practising gymnastics in 1941|alt=]]

Women were expected to be strong, healthy, and vital.{{sfn|Overy|2005|p=248}} The sturdy peasant woman who [[Blood and soil|worked the land]] and bore strong children was considered ideal, and women were praised for being athletic and tanned from working outdoors.{{sfn|Rupp|1978|pp=45–46}} Organisations were created for the indoctrination of Nazi values. From 25 March 1939 membership in the [[Hitler Youth]] was made compulsory for all children over the age of ten.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=272}} The ''[[Jungmädelbund]]'' (Young Girls League) section of the Hitler Youth was for girls age 10 to 14, and the [[League of German Girls|''Bund Deutscher Mädel'']] (BDM; League of German Girls) for young women age 14 to 18. The BDM's activities focused on physical education.{{sfn|Grunberger|1971|p=278}}

The Nazi regime promoted a liberal code of conduct regarding sexual matters and was sympathetic to women who bore children out of wedlock.{{sfn|Biddiscombe|2001|pp=612, 633}} Promiscuity increased as the war progressed, with unmarried soldiers often intimately involved with several women simultaneously. Soldiers' wives were frequently involved in extramarital relationships. Sex was sometimes used as a commodity to obtain better work from a foreign labourer.{{sfn|Biddiscombe|2001|p=612}} Pamphlets enjoined German women to avoid sexual relations with foreign workers as a danger to their blood.{{sfn|Rupp|1978|pp=124–125}}

With Hitler's approval, Himmler intended that the new society of the Nazi regime should destigmatise illegitimate births, particularly of children fathered by members of the SS, who were vetted for racial purity.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=370}} His hope was that each SS family would have between four and six children.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=370}} The ''[[Lebensborn]]'' (Fountain of Life) association, founded by Himmler in 1935, created a series of maternity homes to accommodate single mothers during their pregnancies.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=371}} Both parents were examined for racial suitability before acceptance.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=371}} The resulting children were often adopted into SS families.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=371}} The homes were also made available to the wives of SS and Nazi Party members, who quickly filled over half the available spots.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=521}}

Existing laws banning abortion except for medical reasons were strictly enforced by the Nazi regime. The number of abortions declined from 35,000 per year at the start of the 1930s to fewer than 2,000 per year at the end of the decade, though in 1935 a law was passed allowing abortions for eugenics reasons.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=515}}

=== Health ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P017100, Berlin, Olympiade, Pariser Platz bei Nacht.jpg|thumb|Statues representing the ideal body were erected in the streets of Berlin for the [[1936 Summer Olympics]]. ]]
Nazi Germany had a strong [[Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany|anti-tobacco movement]], as pioneering research by Franz H. Müller in 1939 demonstrated a causal link between smoking and lung cancer.{{sfn|Proctor|1999|p=196}} The Reich Health Office took measures to try to limit smoking, including producing lectures and pamphlets.{{sfn|Proctor|1999|p=198}} Smoking was banned in many workplaces, on trains, and among on-duty members of the military.{{sfn|Proctor|1999|p=203}} Government agencies also worked to control other carcinogenic substances such as asbestos and pesticides.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=319}} As part of a general public health campaign, water supplies were cleaned up, lead and mercury were removed from consumer products, and women were urged to undergo regular screenings for breast cancer.{{sfn|Proctor|1999|p=40}}

Government-run health care insurance plans were available, but Jews were denied coverage starting in 1933. That same year, Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat government-insured patients. In 1937, Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat non-Jewish patients, and in 1938 their right to practice medicine was removed entirely.{{sfn|Busse|Riesberg|2004|p=20}}

Medical experiments, many of them [[pseudoscientific]], were performed on concentration camp inmates beginning in 1941.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=611}} The most notorious doctor to perform medical experiments was SS-''[[Hauptsturmführer]]'' [[Josef Mengele]], camp doctor at Auschwitz.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=608}} Many of his victims died.{{sfn|Evans|2008|pp=609–661}} Concentration camp inmates were made available for purchase by pharmaceutical companies for drug testing and other experiments.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=612}}

=== Environmentalism ===
{{Further|Animal welfare in Nazi Germany}}
Nazi society had elements supportive of [[animal rights]] and many people were fond of zoos and wildlife.{{sfn|DeGregori|2002|p=153}} The government took several measures to ensure the protection of animals and the environment. In 1933, the Nazis enacted a stringent animal-protection law that affected what was allowed for medical research.{{sfn|Hanauske-Abel|1996|p=10}} The law was only loosely enforced, and in spite of a ban on [[vivisection]], the Ministry of the Interior readily handed out permits for experiments on animals.{{sfn|Uekötter|2006|p=56}}

The [[Reich Forestry Office]] under Göring enforced regulations that required foresters to plant a variety of trees to ensure suitable habitat for wildlife, and a new Reich Animal Protection Act became law in 1933.{{sfn|Closmann|2005|pp=30–32}} The regime enacted the Reich Nature Protection Act in 1935 to protect the natural landscape from excessive economic development. It allowed for the expropriation of privately owned land to create nature preserves and aided in long-range planning.{{sfn|Closmann|2005|pp=18, 30}} Perfunctory efforts were made to curb air pollution, but little enforcement was undertaken once the war began.{{sfn|Uekötter|2005|pp=113, 118}}

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Kirchenkampf}}
{{See also|Religion in Nazi Germany}}
When the Nazis seized power in 1933, roughly 67 per cent of the population of Germany was [[Protestant]], 33 per cent was [[Roman Catholic]], while [[Jews]] made up less than 1 per cent.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=222}}{{sfn|USHMM, ''The German Churches and the Nazi State''}} According to the 1939 census, taken following the annexation of Austria, 54 per cent of the population considered themselves Protestant, 40 per cent Roman Catholic, 3.5 per cent ''[[Gottgläubig]]'' (God-believing; a Nazi religious movement) and 1.5 per cent [[nonreligious]].{{sfn|Ericksen|Heschel|1999|p=10}} Nazi Germany extensively employed Christian imagery and instituted a variety of new Christian celebrations, such as a massive celebration marking the 1200th anniversary of the birth of Frankish emperor [[Charlemagne]], who [[Christianisation of the Germanic peoples|Christianized neighbouring continental Germanic peoples]] by force.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=534–538}} Nazi propaganda stylised Hitler as a [[Christ]]-like [[messiah]], a "figure of redemption according to the Christian model", "who would liberate the world from the Antichrist".{{sfn|Schreiner|1998|pp=345–346}}

Under the ''[[Gleichschaltung]]'' process, Hitler attempted to create a [[United and uniting churches|unified]] [[Protestant Reich Church]] from Germany's 28 existing Protestant [[Landeskirche|state churches]].{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=237}} Pro-Nazi [[Ludwig Müller]] was installed as Reich Bishop and the pro-Nazi pressure group [[German Christians (movement)|German Christians]] gained control of the new church.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=234–238}} They objected to the [[Old Testament]] because of its Jewish origins and demanded that converted Jews be barred from their church.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=220–230}} Pastor [[Martin Niemöller]] responded with the formation of the [[Confessing Church]], from which some clergymen opposed the Nazi regime.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=295–297}} When in 1935 the Confessing Church synod protested the Nazi policy on religion, 700 of their pastors were arrested.{{sfn|Berben|1975|p=140}} Müller resigned and Hitler appointed [[Hanns Kerrl]] as Minister for Church Affairs to continue efforts to control Protestantism.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=238–239}} In 1936, a Confessing Church envoy protested to Hitler against the religious persecutions and human rights abuses.{{sfn|Berben|1975|p=140}} Hundreds more pastors were arrested.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=238–239}} The church continued to resist and by early 1937 Hitler abandoned his hope of uniting the Protestant churches.{{sfn|Berben|1975|p=140}} Niemöller was arrested on 1 July 1937 and spent most of the next seven years in [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]] and Dachau.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=239}} Theological universities were closed and pastors and theologians of other Protestant denominations were also arrested.{{sfn|Berben|1975|p=140}}

[[File:Prisoner's barracks dachau.jpg|thumb|Prisoner barracks at [[Dachau Concentration Camp]], where the Nazis established a dedicated [[Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp|clergy barracks]] for clerical opponents of the regime in 1940{{sfn|Berben|1975|pp=276–277}}|alt=]]
Persecution of the [[Catholic Church in Germany]] followed the Nazi takeover.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=332}} Hitler moved quickly to eliminate [[political Catholicism]], rounding up functionaries of the Catholic-aligned [[Bavarian People's Party]] and [[Catholic Centre Party]], which along with all other non-Nazi political parties ceased to exist by July.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=290}} The ''[[Reichskonkordat]]'' (Reich Concordat) treaty with the Vatican was signed in 1933, amid continuing harassment of the church in Germany.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=295}} The treaty required the regime to honour the independence of Catholic institutions and prohibited clergy from involvement in politics.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=234–235}} Hitler routinely disregarded the Concordat, closing all Catholic institutions whose functions were not strictly religious.{{sfn|Gill|1994|p=57}} Clergy, nuns and lay leaders were targeted, with thousands of arrests over the ensuing years, often on trumped-up charges of currency smuggling or immorality.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=234–235}} Several Catholic leaders were targeted in the 1934 [[Night of the Long Knives]] assassinations.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=315}}{{sfn|Conway|2001|p=92}} Most Catholic youth groups refused to dissolve themselves and Hitler Youth leader [[Baldur von Schirach]] encouraged members to attack Catholic boys in the streets.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=226, 237}} Propaganda campaigns claimed the church was corrupt, restrictions were placed on public meetings and Catholic publications faced censorship. Catholic schools were required to reduce religious instruction and crucifixes were removed from state buildings.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=239–240}}

[[Pope Pius XI]] had the ''"[[Mit brennender Sorge]]"'' ("With Burning Concern") encyclical smuggled into Germany for [[Passion Sunday]] 1937 and read from every pulpit as it denounced the systematic hostility of the regime toward the church.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=234–235}}{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=241–243}} In response, Goebbels renewed the regime's crackdown and propaganda against Catholics. Enrolment in denominational schools dropped sharply and by 1939 all such schools were disbanded or converted to public facilities.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=245–246}} Later Catholic protests included the 22 March 1942 pastoral letter by the German bishops on "The Struggle against Christianity and the Church".{{sfn|Fest|1996|p=377}} About 30 per cent of Catholic priests were disciplined by police during the Nazi era.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=244}}{{sfn|USHMM, ''Dachau''}} A vast security network spied on clergy and priests were frequently denounced, arrested or sent to concentration camps – many to the dedicated [[Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp|clergy barracks]] at Dachau.{{sfn|Berben|1975|pp=141–142}} In the [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|areas of Poland annexed in 1939]], the Nazis instigated a [[Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland|brutal suppression]] and systematic dismantling of the Catholic Church.{{sfn|Libionka, ''The Catholic Church in Poland''}}{{sfn|Davies|2003|pp=86, 92}}

[[Alfred Rosenberg]], head of the [[NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs|Nazi Party Office of Foreign Affairs]] and Hitler's appointed cultural and educational leader for Nazi Germany, considered Catholicism to be among the Nazis' chief enemies. He planned the "extermination of the foreign Christian faiths imported into Germany", and for the [[Bible]] and [[Christian cross]] to be replaced in all churches, cathedrals, and chapels with copies of ''Mein Kampf'' and the swastika. Other sects of Christianity were also targeted, with Chief of the [[Nazi Party Chancellery]] [[Martin Bormann]] publicly proclaiming in 1941, "National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable."{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=240}}