Editing Nazi Germany (section)

=== 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}}