The Third Reich In Power Part 2

Old Social Democrats despaired. A whole generation was growing up, as one of them said, 'that has no concept of the labour movement, that hears nothing all the time but "heroes and heroism". This generation of young people doesn't want to hear anything from us any more.'193 Yet despite this ma.s.sive programme of military training and ideological indoctrination, the effect of the Hitler Youth on the younger generation was mixed. The more it evolved from a self-mobilizing movement fighting for a cause into a compulsory inst.i.tution serving the interests of the state, the less attractive it became to the younger generation. Ideological indoctrination was often superficial, since the leaders of the Hitler Youth groups were more often men in the brutal, anti-intellectual tradition of the browns.h.i.+rts than educated thinkers along the lines of the leaders of the old youth movement.194 Thus the majority of their charges had no very firm grasp of 'the idea of National Socialism'. If there was a regime change, one of the more reflective youth leaders thought, for example through defeat in a war, then most of them 'would adjust themselves to the new situation without particular inner complications'. Thus the majority of their charges had no very firm grasp of 'the idea of National Socialism'. If there was a regime change, one of the more reflective youth leaders thought, for example through defeat in a war, then most of them 'would adjust themselves to the new situation without particular inner complications'. 195 195 The emphasis on sporting activities that was such an attraction to many to join the Hitler Youth also hindered a full-scale indoctrination, since the interest of many boys and girls went no further than using the facilities to play games. Physical exercise was not to every child's taste. Particularly unpopular was the obligation to go round with a collecting-box for donations, especially since this was increasingly a feature of school life too. With hikes sometimes beginning at 7.30 in the morning on a Sunday and lasting all day (not coincidentally obliging the religious amongst the partic.i.p.ants to miss church) or compulsory gymnastics at eight o'clock on a Wednesday evening, it was not surprising that some young people began to long for time to spend on their own private pursuits. Yet unorganized hiking and spontaneous activities organized by the young people themselves, notable features of the pre-1933 youth movement, were expressly forbidden. The emphasis on sporting activities that was such an attraction to many to join the Hitler Youth also hindered a full-scale indoctrination, since the interest of many boys and girls went no further than using the facilities to play games. Physical exercise was not to every child's taste. Particularly unpopular was the obligation to go round with a collecting-box for donations, especially since this was increasingly a feature of school life too. With hikes sometimes beginning at 7.30 in the morning on a Sunday and lasting all day (not coincidentally obliging the religious amongst the partic.i.p.ants to miss church) or compulsory gymnastics at eight o'clock on a Wednesday evening, it was not surprising that some young people began to long for time to spend on their own private pursuits. Yet unorganized hiking and spontaneous activities organized by the young people themselves, notable features of the pre-1933 youth movement, were expressly forbidden.196 In September 1934 the Hitler Youth leaders.h.i.+p in a working-cla.s.s district of Hamburg sent a lengthy memorandum to Hitler Youth members, with copies to their parents, complaining: You are not turning up to do your duty and are not even giving any excuses for your absence. Instead you are pursuing private pleasures. The 'liberal Marxist I' counts amongst you once more, you are denying the National Socialist 'we'. You are sinning against the interests of the nation. You are excusing yourselves from service because you want to go to an acquaintance's wedding feast, you are excusing yourselves because you are overburdened with school homework and want to go for a spin on your bicycle. When you get to school you use your Hitler Youth service as an excuse for not finis.h.i.+ng your homework.197

Most hated of all was the military discipline, which became more p.r.o.nounced as time wore on.198 Schirach proclaimed that 'the principle of self-leaders.h.i.+p' would apply as it had in the old youth movement, Schirach proclaimed that 'the principle of self-leaders.h.i.+p' would apply as it had in the old youth movement,199 but in practice the organization was effectively run by grown-ups. Hitler Youth members were drilled by adult browns.h.i.+rts, plunged into ice-cold water to toughen them up, forced to go on lengthy exercises in winter with inadequate clothing to teach them physical endurance and subjected to increasingly brutal punishments if they disobeyed orders. There were reports of boys being forced to run the gauntlet for minor misdemeanours, or even being beaten with spring-hooks. Doctors complained that long hours of drill, night marches with full packs and military exercises without proper nourishment were ruining young people's mental and physical health. but in practice the organization was effectively run by grown-ups. Hitler Youth members were drilled by adult browns.h.i.+rts, plunged into ice-cold water to toughen them up, forced to go on lengthy exercises in winter with inadequate clothing to teach them physical endurance and subjected to increasingly brutal punishments if they disobeyed orders. There were reports of boys being forced to run the gauntlet for minor misdemeanours, or even being beaten with spring-hooks. Doctors complained that long hours of drill, night marches with full packs and military exercises without proper nourishment were ruining young people's mental and physical health.200 Social Democratic agents reported that young people absented themselves from training evenings, or failed to pay their dues, so that they were excluded from the organization, rejoining only when they needed to show their members.h.i.+p card to get a job or enter university. One agent in Saxony reported in 1938: 'The boys are past-masters in telling the latest jokes about n.a.z.i inst.i.tutions. They fritter away their hours of service whenever they can. In their spare time, when they meet to play in a school-friend's home, they talk contemptuously of "the plan of service".'201 Children quickly got bored with long evenings sitting around a camp fire singing patriotic songs: 'Most of them', reported one Social Democratic agent, 'want to go home already after the first song.' Children quickly got bored with long evenings sitting around a camp fire singing patriotic songs: 'Most of them', reported one Social Democratic agent, 'want to go home already after the first song.'202 Weekly parades lasting from 7.30 to 9.30 in the evening were notable for their poor attendance. There was little that the organization could do to punish those who stayed away. As long as they paid their dues, they could not be expelled, and many a young person was, as one member of the League of German Girls noted, 'more or less only a paying member', since a fifteen-year-old 'had all kinds of other interests'. Young people who were already at work in their teens found the hours of training particularly wearisome. Weekly parades lasting from 7.30 to 9.30 in the evening were notable for their poor attendance. There was little that the organization could do to punish those who stayed away. As long as they paid their dues, they could not be expelled, and many a young person was, as one member of the League of German Girls noted, 'more or less only a paying member', since a fifteen-year-old 'had all kinds of other interests'. Young people who were already at work in their teens found the hours of training particularly wearisome.203 Camping, once a favourite activity in the youth movement, became increasingly unpopular as it became more militarized. As one young man returning from a camp complained: Camping, once a favourite activity in the youth movement, became increasingly unpopular as it became more militarized. As one young man returning from a camp complained: We hardly had any free time. Everything was done in a totally military way, from reveille, first parade, raising the flag, morning sport and ablutions through breakfast to the 'scouting games', lunch and so on to the evening. Several partic.i.p.ants left the camp because the whole slog was too stupid for them. There was no kind of fellow-feeling between the camp inmates. Comrades.h.i.+p was very poor, and everything was done in terms of command and obedience . . . The camp leader was an older Hitler Youth functionary of the drill sergeant type. His entire educational effort amounted to barking orders, holding scouting exercises, and general slogging . . . The whole camp was more hyperactivity and an exaggerated cult of the muscular than a spiritual experience or even an active and co-operatively shaped leisure time.204

Another, remembering his time in the Hitler Youth some years later, confessed that he had been 'enthusiastic' when he had joined at the age of ten - 'for what boy is not roused to enthusiasm when ideals, high ideals like comrades.h.i.+p, loyalty and honour, are held up before him?' - but soon he was finding the 'compulsion and the unconditional obedience . . . exaggerated'.205 The 'endless square-bas.h.i.+ng' was boring and the punishments for the tiniest infringements could lead to bitterness, remembered another, but n.o.body complained, since proving your toughness was the only way to get on, and it had its effects too: 'Toughness and blind obedience were drilled into us from the moment we could walk.' The 'endless square-bas.h.i.+ng' was boring and the punishments for the tiniest infringements could lead to bitterness, remembered another, but n.o.body complained, since proving your toughness was the only way to get on, and it had its effects too: 'Toughness and blind obedience were drilled into us from the moment we could walk.'206 Even young n.a.z.is were 'disappointed and discontented'. Under the surface, the old tradition of the youth movement lived on, as rebellious boys learned old, now forbidden, hiking songs and hummed the tunes to one another at Hitler Youth camps as a sign of recognition; they clubbed together at camp and organized their own activities where they could.207 But a good number of other Social Democratic observers curbed their desire to seek light at the end of the tunnel and reported gloomily that the younger generation were losing touch with the values of their elders and falling prey to n.a.z.i ideology under the impact of the Hitler Youth and indoctrination in the schools. For all their deficiencies, the Hitler Youth movement and the increasingly n.a.z.ified school system were driving a wedge between parents who still retained some loyalty to the beliefs and standards they had grown up in themselves, and their children who were being indoctrinated at every stage of their lives. As one such agent ruefully observed: But a good number of other Social Democratic observers curbed their desire to seek light at the end of the tunnel and reported gloomily that the younger generation were losing touch with the values of their elders and falling prey to n.a.z.i ideology under the impact of the Hitler Youth and indoctrination in the schools. For all their deficiencies, the Hitler Youth movement and the increasingly n.a.z.ified school system were driving a wedge between parents who still retained some loyalty to the beliefs and standards they had grown up in themselves, and their children who were being indoctrinated at every stage of their lives. As one such agent ruefully observed: It is extremely difficult for parents who are opponents of the n.a.z.is to exercise an influence on their children. Either they ask the child not to talk at school about what is said at home. Then the children get the feeling, aha, the parents have to hide what they think. The teacher permits himself to say everything out loud. So he's bound to be right. - Or the parents express their opinion without giving the child a warning. Then it's not long before they are arrested or at the very least called up before the teacher, who shouts at them and threatens to report them. - 'Send your father to the school!' That is the normal answer to suspicious doubts and questions on the part of the child. If the father is quiet after such a visit, then he gives the child the impression that he has been convinced by what the teacher has told him, and the effect is far worse than if nothing had ever been said.208

There were even more disturbing reports of children whose members.h.i.+p in the Hitler Youth was disapproved of by their parents threatening to report them to the authorities if they tried to stop them going to meetings. For adolescents, it was only too easy to annoy parents who were former Social Democrats by greeting them at home with 'Hail, Hitler!' instead of 'good morning'. 'Thus war is taken into every family', one wife of an old labour movement activist observed. 'The worst is', she added apprehensively, 'that you've got to watch yourself in front of your own children.'209 Thus state and Party were both undermining the socializing and educating functions of the family. Baldur von Schirach was aware of this criticism and sought to counter it with the allegation that many poor and working-cla.s.s children did not have a proper family life anyway. The middle-cla.s.s parents who were most vociferous in complaining about the time their children were forced to spend outside the home in activities organized by the Hitler Youth or the League of German Girls should remember, he said, 'that the Hitler Youth has called up its children to the community of National Socialist youth so that they can give the poorest sons and daughters of our people something like a family for the first time'.210 But such arguments were only liable to increase resentment among working-cla.s.s parents. Bringing up children, many of them complained, was no longer a pleasure. The costs of providing uniforms and equipment for their children in the Hitler Youth was considerable, and they got nothing back in exchange. 'Nowadays, childless couples are often congratulated by parents on their childlessness. These days parents have nothing more than the duty to feed and clothe their children; educating them is in the first place the task of the Hitler Youth.' But such arguments were only liable to increase resentment among working-cla.s.s parents. Bringing up children, many of them complained, was no longer a pleasure. The costs of providing uniforms and equipment for their children in the Hitler Youth was considerable, and they got nothing back in exchange. 'Nowadays, childless couples are often congratulated by parents on their childlessness. These days parents have nothing more than the duty to feed and clothe their children; educating them is in the first place the task of the Hitler Youth.'211 One 'old soldier' was heard complaining about his son, a Hitler Youth activist, in bitter terms: 'The lad has already been completely alienated from us. As an old front-soldier I'm against every war, and this lad is just mad about war and nothing else. It's awful, sometimes I feel as if my lad is the spy in the family.' One 'old soldier' was heard complaining about his son, a Hitler Youth activist, in bitter terms: 'The lad has already been completely alienated from us. As an old front-soldier I'm against every war, and this lad is just mad about war and nothing else. It's awful, sometimes I feel as if my lad is the spy in the family.'212 The overall effect of Hitler Youth members.h.i.+p, some Social Democratic observers complained, was a 'coa.r.s.ening' of the young. The suppression of any discussion or debate, the military discipline, the emphasis on physical prowess and compet.i.tion, led boys to become violent and aggressive, especially towards young people who for whatever reason had not joined the Hitler Youth.213 Hitler Youth groups travelling by train amused themselves by insulting and threatening guards who failed to say 'Hail, Hitler!' every time they asked a pa.s.senger for his ticket. Camps held in rural districts were liable to give rise to a flood of complaints from local farmers about thefts of fruit from their orchards. So rough was the training to which the children were subjected that injuries of one kind and another were a frequent occurrence. Training in 'boxing' made a point of dispensing with rules or precautions: 'The more blood the lads saw flowing on such occasions, the more enthusiastic they became.' In the Hitler Youth, as in the SA, the army and the Labour Service, one Social Democratic agent noted, a process of brutalization was setting in. 'The kind of leader they have and the way they treat everyone degrades human beings to animals there, turns everything s.e.xual into s.m.u.t. There are many who get venereal diseases.' 'Once a month, in many divisions of the Hitler Youth, they carry out the kind of "s.e.x parade" that we all remember from the war'. Hitler Youth groups travelling by train amused themselves by insulting and threatening guards who failed to say 'Hail, Hitler!' every time they asked a pa.s.senger for his ticket. Camps held in rural districts were liable to give rise to a flood of complaints from local farmers about thefts of fruit from their orchards. So rough was the training to which the children were subjected that injuries of one kind and another were a frequent occurrence. Training in 'boxing' made a point of dispensing with rules or precautions: 'The more blood the lads saw flowing on such occasions, the more enthusiastic they became.' In the Hitler Youth, as in the SA, the army and the Labour Service, one Social Democratic agent noted, a process of brutalization was setting in. 'The kind of leader they have and the way they treat everyone degrades human beings to animals there, turns everything s.e.xual into s.m.u.t. There are many who get venereal diseases.' 'Once a month, in many divisions of the Hitler Youth, they carry out the kind of "s.e.x parade" that we all remember from the war'.214 The Hitler Youth refused to provide s.e.x education, declaring it a matter for parents. Cases of h.o.m.os.e.xual behaviour by Hitler Youth leaders in the camps were hushed up; there was no question of bringing them to the attention of the press, as had happened in the campaign of allegations brought against Catholic priests working in care inst.i.tutions. In one particularly serious case in 1935, just as Goebbels was beginning his exposure of s.e.x scandals in the Church, a boy was s.e.xually a.s.saulted by several others at a Hitler Youth camp then knifed to death to stop him talking. When his mother found out what had happened and reported it to Reich Commissioner Mutschmann, he immediately had her arrested and imprisoned to prevent the scandal from coming out into the open. Parents who complained about any aspect of their children's treatment in the camps, or took their children out of the organization for their own good, were liable to be accused of undermining the Hitler Youth and could even on occasion be silenced by the threat that, if they continued, their children would be taken into care. The Hitler Youth refused to provide s.e.x education, declaring it a matter for parents. Cases of h.o.m.os.e.xual behaviour by Hitler Youth leaders in the camps were hushed up; there was no question of bringing them to the attention of the press, as had happened in the campaign of allegations brought against Catholic priests working in care inst.i.tutions. In one particularly serious case in 1935, just as Goebbels was beginning his exposure of s.e.x scandals in the Church, a boy was s.e.xually a.s.saulted by several others at a Hitler Youth camp then knifed to death to stop him talking. When his mother found out what had happened and reported it to Reich Commissioner Mutschmann, he immediately had her arrested and imprisoned to prevent the scandal from coming out into the open. Parents who complained about any aspect of their children's treatment in the camps, or took their children out of the organization for their own good, were liable to be accused of undermining the Hitler Youth and could even on occasion be silenced by the threat that, if they continued, their children would be taken into care.215 An attempt by no less a personage than Heinrich Himmler, in collaboration with Schirach, to impose discipline through an internal Hitler Youth police force, established in July 1934, was effective mainly in providing a recruiting mechanism for the SS. An attempt by no less a personage than Heinrich Himmler, in collaboration with Schirach, to impose discipline through an internal Hitler Youth police force, established in July 1934, was effective mainly in providing a recruiting mechanism for the SS.216 The indiscipline of the Hitler Youth had a particularly disruptive effect in the schools. Its teenage activists, showered by the regime with a.s.surances of their central importance to the nation's future and accustomed to commanding groups of younger children considerably larger than the cla.s.ses their teachers taught, behaved with increasing arrogance towards their elders in school. 'By continually whipping up their self-confidence, ' one Hitler Youth leader himself admitted, 'the leaders.h.i.+p encourages amongst many boys a kind of megalomania that refuses to recognize any other authority.'217 In the struggle between the Hitler Youth and the schools, the former was gradually getting the upper hand. In the struggle between the Hitler Youth and the schools, the former was gradually getting the upper hand.218 The Hitler Youth wore their own uniforms in school, so that increasingly the teachers faced cla.s.ses dressed to advertise their primary allegiance to an inst.i.tution run from outside. A regulation of January 1934 giving the Hitler Youth equal status with the schools as an educational inst.i.tution further boosted their self-confidence. The Hitler Youth wore their own uniforms in school, so that increasingly the teachers faced cla.s.ses dressed to advertise their primary allegiance to an inst.i.tution run from outside. A regulation of January 1934 giving the Hitler Youth equal status with the schools as an educational inst.i.tution further boosted their self-confidence.219 Adolescent rebelliousness was being channelled against socializing inst.i.tutions such as the school, as well as parents, the family and the Churches. Former Hitler Youth members recalled in interviews after the war how they had gained more power in school through their members.h.i.+p. Adolescent rebelliousness was being channelled against socializing inst.i.tutions such as the school, as well as parents, the family and the Churches. Former Hitler Youth members recalled in interviews after the war how they had gained more power in school through their members.h.i.+p.220 Even the Security Service of the SS expressed its concern in 1939 at the deteriorating relations between teachers and Hitler Youth. Even the Security Service of the SS expressed its concern in 1939 at the deteriorating relations between teachers and Hitler Youth.221 In 1934, one Social Democratic agent reported that a Hitler Youth 'school leader' told a sixty-year-old teacher who had put his hat on in the bitter winter cold of the weekly Monday-morning collective drill, when the whole school sang the national anthem and greeted the raising of the n.a.z.i flag with doffed caps, that if he did this again he would be reported. In 1934, one Social Democratic agent reported that a Hitler Youth 'school leader' told a sixty-year-old teacher who had put his hat on in the bitter winter cold of the weekly Monday-morning collective drill, when the whole school sang the national anthem and greeted the raising of the n.a.z.i flag with doffed caps, that if he did this again he would be reported.222 Only rarely were teachers ingenious enough to find a way of rea.s.serting their control without running the risk of denunciation, as in the case of one mathematics teacher at a Cologne secondary school, who addressed particularly knotty arithmetical questions to two Hitler Youth leaders who appeared in his cla.s.s in uniform, with the words: 'As. .h.i.tler Youth leaders you must surely set a good example; surely you can solve this question!' Only rarely were teachers ingenious enough to find a way of rea.s.serting their control without running the risk of denunciation, as in the case of one mathematics teacher at a Cologne secondary school, who addressed particularly knotty arithmetical questions to two Hitler Youth leaders who appeared in his cla.s.s in uniform, with the words: 'As. .h.i.tler Youth leaders you must surely set a good example; surely you can solve this question!'223 IV.

The school system of the Third Reich was formally under the aegis of Bernhard Rust, who was appointed Prussian Minister of Education and Religion (Kultusminister) in 1933. A schoolteacher himself, Rust had joined the n.a.z.i Party early on and became District Leader of Southern Hanover and Brunswick in 1925. He was fifty years of age when Hitler was appointed Chancellor, somewhat older than the other leading n.a.z.is, who were mostly in their thirties or early forties. On 1 May 1934 Rust secured his own appointment to the new Reich Ministry of Science and Education, which took over the Prussian Ministry and, in effect, the regional Ministries, at the beginning of 1935, while responsibility for religion and the Churches pa.s.sed to the new Reich Church Ministry led, as we saw earlier in this chapter, by Hans Kerrl. On 20 August 1937 the Reich Education Ministry took central control over the appointment of all established teachers, and in 1939 it set up a Reich Examination Office to oversee all educational examinations. Meanwhile, it had also acted on 20 March 1937 to rationalize the secondary school system, a long-standing demand of teachers, already planned under the Weimar Republic, into three basic types of school, concentrating on modern languages and the humanities, on science and technology, or on a cla.s.sics-based curriculum.224 And on 6 July 1938 the regime issued another law extending the Prussian school structure established in 1927 to the whole of Germany, laying down a minimum requirement for all children of eight years at school - a step forward for Bavaria, which had hitherto only had required seven, but a step backward for Schleswig-Holstein, where the minumum had traditionally been nine. It was this law that also laid down a centrally determined curriculum, including 'racial education' for all. And on 6 July 1938 the regime issued another law extending the Prussian school structure established in 1927 to the whole of Germany, laying down a minimum requirement for all children of eight years at school - a step forward for Bavaria, which had hitherto only had required seven, but a step backward for Schleswig-Holstein, where the minumum had traditionally been nine. It was this law that also laid down a centrally determined curriculum, including 'racial education' for all.225 On Hitler's birthday, 20 April 1933, Rust founded three National Political Educational Inst.i.tutions or 'Napolas', boarding schools set up in the premises of former Prussian military cadet schools (rendered defunct by the Treaty of Versailles) and designed to train a new elite to rule the future Third Reich.226 The need to please President Hindenburg, who had been a student at one of these cadet schools, may have played a role as well. By 1939 there were 16 Napolas in existence. The need to please President Hindenburg, who had been a student at one of these cadet schools, may have played a role as well. By 1939 there were 16 Napolas in existence.227 They were intended to provide a military training and were equipped with riding stables, motor-bikes, yachts and the like, all signs that the sports the students were trained in had a distinctly aristocratic tinge that would reinforce their elitist self-image. On graduating, the pupils usually went into the armed forces, the SS or the police as officers. They were intended to provide a military training and were equipped with riding stables, motor-bikes, yachts and the like, all signs that the sports the students were trained in had a distinctly aristocratic tinge that would reinforce their elitist self-image. On graduating, the pupils usually went into the armed forces, the SS or the police as officers.228 The students were selected in the first place according to racial criteria, decided by a medical examination carried out by a qualified doctor, and then by character traits, displayed during an entrance test that consisted above all of compet.i.tive sports in which the applicants were required to demonstrate their courage and aggression. The students were selected in the first place according to racial criteria, decided by a medical examination carried out by a qualified doctor, and then by character traits, displayed during an entrance test that consisted above all of compet.i.tive sports in which the applicants were required to demonstrate their courage and aggression.229 At the same time, however, at the insistence of the officials in Rust's Ministry, the Napolas continued to teach the regular state school curriculum with its academic subjects, as befitted state educational inst.i.tutions. At the Party Congress in 1934, and again in 1935, Hitler insisted that political education was a matter for the Party and not for state-run inst.i.tutions or state-appointed teachers. In conformity with this view, the Napolas were run by SS and SA officers without any previous educational experience. The administration appointed a parallel staff of 'educators' from the same background to work alongside the trained teachers who provided the pupils with normal school lessons. All the staff had to undergo regular special training, and the students also had to spend time several weeks a year working on a farm or a factory to maintain contacts with the people. Under these circ.u.mstances it was not surprising that it soon proved difficult to find enough qualified teachers. Those who did serve in many cases did so because they themselves had had previous experience of the Prussian cadet schools, and some of the heads consciously revived some of the old Prussian cadet school traditions. It was apparent to some in the n.a.z.i leaders.h.i.+p by 1934 therefore that the Napolas were more reactionary throwbacks to the old Prussian tradition than modern inst.i.tutions dedicated to the creation of a new elite for the Third Reich. They seemed to be more interested in supplying the army with officers than the state with leaders.230 The man in charge of the day-to-day management of the schools was Joachim Haupt, a professional educationalist who had published a number of writings under the Weimar Republic urging the foundation of a new educational system devoted to racial and political training. But in the wake of the 'Night of the Long Knives', Haupt came under attack from the SS, who more than hinted that he was h.o.m.os.e.xual and claimed that Rust wanted to be rid of him because he was too reactionary. As a consequence, Haupt was sacked in 1935 and the overall management and inspection of the Napolas transferred to a senior SS officer, August Heissmeyer; eventually, the administration of the Napolas was turned over to the SS altogether. As a new type of state educational inst.i.tution, they had not been much of a success. Nor were their standards really high enough to provide the regime with a new elite cadre of leaders for the future. The man in charge of the day-to-day management of the schools was Joachim Haupt, a professional educationalist who had published a number of writings under the Weimar Republic urging the foundation of a new educational system devoted to racial and political training. But in the wake of the 'Night of the Long Knives', Haupt came under attack from the SS, who more than hinted that he was h.o.m.os.e.xual and claimed that Rust wanted to be rid of him because he was too reactionary. As a consequence, Haupt was sacked in 1935 and the overall management and inspection of the Napolas transferred to a senior SS officer, August Heissmeyer; eventually, the administration of the Napolas was turned over to the SS altogether. As a new type of state educational inst.i.tution, they had not been much of a success. Nor were their standards really high enough to provide the regime with a new elite cadre of leaders for the future.231 [image]

Map 7. n.a.z.i Elite Schools n.a.z.i Elite Schools As these events ill.u.s.trated, Rust was less than effective when it came to dealing with the big hitters in the n.a.z.i power structure. He was subject to bouts of depression, alternating with periods of manic optimism and aggression, which made it difficult for him to carry out a consistent policy line; his civil servants distrusted him and often obstructed his orders and he was often in no shape to stand up to the predatory aggression of his rivals in the top echelons of the Party. Rust also suffered from a progressive paralysis of the facial muscles that caused him increasing pain as time went on, which further limited his ability to stand up to opposition.232 His Napolas were soon outflanked by two far more ideological inst.i.tutions, run not, as the Napolas were, by the state, but controlled from the outset by organs of the Party. On 15 January 1937, Reich Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach and German Labour Front Leader Robert Ley issued a joint announcement reporting that Hitler, at their request, had ordered the founding of 'Adolf Hitler Schools', secondary schools run by the Hitler Youth, which would determine the curriculum and be supervised by n.a.z.i Party Regional Leaders. His Napolas were soon outflanked by two far more ideological inst.i.tutions, run not, as the Napolas were, by the state, but controlled from the outset by organs of the Party. On 15 January 1937, Reich Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach and German Labour Front Leader Robert Ley issued a joint announcement reporting that Hitler, at their request, had ordered the founding of 'Adolf Hitler Schools', secondary schools run by the Hitler Youth, which would determine the curriculum and be supervised by n.a.z.i Party Regional Leaders.233 Overriding Rust's furious objections, the two leaders set up the first Adolf Hitler School on 20 April 1937. The intention was, as Ley declared, that n.o.body in future would be able to take on a leading position in the Party without first having undergone an education in these inst.i.tutions. Two-thirds of the pupils at the Adolf Hitler Schools were boarders. The Hitler Youth determined the curriculum, which focused even more strongly than the Napolas on physical and military education. Like the Napolas, the Adolf Hitler Schools did not provide any religious instruction. There were no examinations but instead a regular 'Achievement Week' at which the students had to compete against each other in every area. Overriding Rust's furious objections, the two leaders set up the first Adolf Hitler School on 20 April 1937. The intention was, as Ley declared, that n.o.body in future would be able to take on a leading position in the Party without first having undergone an education in these inst.i.tutions. Two-thirds of the pupils at the Adolf Hitler Schools were boarders. The Hitler Youth determined the curriculum, which focused even more strongly than the Napolas on physical and military education. Like the Napolas, the Adolf Hitler Schools did not provide any religious instruction. There were no examinations but instead a regular 'Achievement Week' at which the students had to compete against each other in every area.234 Drawing on the Hitler Youth across Germany, these schools, which provided an education from the age of twelve free of charge, became something of a vehicle of upward social mobility, with 20 per cent of their pupils coming from backgrounds that could broadly be defined as working-cla.s.s. Drawing on the Hitler Youth across Germany, these schools, which provided an education from the age of twelve free of charge, became something of a vehicle of upward social mobility, with 20 per cent of their pupils coming from backgrounds that could broadly be defined as working-cla.s.s.235 Initially only physical criteria were applied to select students for admission, but by 1938 it had become clear that the neglect of intellectual abilities was causing serious problems, since a large proportion of the pupils could not grasp even the fairly basic political ideas that the teachers were trying to transmit to them. From this time onwards, therefore, academic criteria were added to the other elements in the admission process. The teachers appointed in the first couple of years, all leaders of the Hitler Youth, were not very competent either, and from 1939 onwards they were required to undergo proper teacher training at a university before taking up their posts. Ley's idea was that there should be one of these schools in each n.a.z.i Party Region, under the general management of the Party Regional Leader; but the n.a.z.i Party management successfully objected that the costs would be too great for the Party to bear, and the full complement of schools was never reached. In 1938 only 600 pupils were taken on nationwide, far fewer than the original plan had envisaged. The buildings under construction to house the schools were never completed, and until 1941 the schools depended overwhemingly on rented premises in the Order Castle at Sonthofen. Initially only physical criteria were applied to select students for admission, but by 1938 it had become clear that the neglect of intellectual abilities was causing serious problems, since a large proportion of the pupils could not grasp even the fairly basic political ideas that the teachers were trying to transmit to them. From this time onwards, therefore, academic criteria were added to the other elements in the admission process. The teachers appointed in the first couple of years, all leaders of the Hitler Youth, were not very competent either, and from 1939 onwards they were required to undergo proper teacher training at a university before taking up their posts. Ley's idea was that there should be one of these schools in each n.a.z.i Party Region, under the general management of the Party Regional Leader; but the n.a.z.i Party management successfully objected that the costs would be too great for the Party to bear, and the full complement of schools was never reached. In 1938 only 600 pupils were taken on nationwide, far fewer than the original plan had envisaged. The buildings under construction to house the schools were never completed, and until 1941 the schools depended overwhemingly on rented premises in the Order Castle at Sonthofen.236 The Order Castles (Ordensburgen) were the next stage in the system of Party-based education dreamed up by Schirach and Ley. They were intended exclusively to teach graduates of the Adolf Hitler Schools, though before being admitted the students had to undergo vocational training or university education and prove their personal and ideological soundness. Not only did the students not pay any fees, they even received pocket-money from the schools. There were three Order Castles, located high up in remote country districts. They were designed by leading architects on a lavish scale. Construction began in March 1934 and the buildings were opened two years later. They were intended to form an interconnected system of education and training. Students were to spend the first year at the Falkenburg, on the Crossin Lake in Pomerania, being educated in racial biology and undertaking various sporting activities; in their second year the students were supposed to move to Vogelsang Castle, in the Eifel hills above the Rhine, which concentrated more exclusively on sport; and in their third year they were to move to Sonthofen Castle, in the mountainous district of Bavaria Allgau, where they were to undergo further ideological training and to engage in dangerous sports such as mountaineering. The regime intended to build a fourth Order Castle, at Marienburg, to focus on instruction about Eastern Europe, and ultimately a 'High School' on the Chiem Lake, in Bavaria, to carry out research and to train teachers for the Order Castles and the Adolf Hitler Schools. In the meantime, however, the elite pupils of the Order Castles had to spend three separate monthly periods every year working in Party organizations in the regions, so that they had experience of practical politics; and the Order Castles in turn functioned as training centres for numerous n.a.z.i Party officials on short courses, as well as teacher training centres for the Adolf Hitler Schools.237 As the name suggested, the aim of the Order Castles was to create a modern version of the medieval knightly and monastic orders of old: disciplined, united and dedicated to a cause; to underline this intention, the students were known as 'Junkers'. Together with the Adolf Hitler Schools, they were the means by which the Party planned to secure its future leaders.h.i.+p in the long term. As the name suggested, the aim of the Order Castles was to create a modern version of the medieval knightly and monastic orders of old: disciplined, united and dedicated to a cause; to underline this intention, the students were known as 'Junkers'. Together with the Adolf Hitler Schools, they were the means by which the Party planned to secure its future leaders.h.i.+p in the long term.238 Measured by normal academic standards, the level of education provided by the Order Castles was not high. The overwhelming emphasis on physical training and the ideologically driven curriculum made them poor subst.i.tutes for a conventional higher education, and the criteria on which the students were selected left intellectual ability more or less out of account. In July 1939 Vogelsang Castle was the subject of withering criticism by an internal n.a.z.i Party report, which pilloried the low intellectual level of the graduates and expressed serious doubts about their ability to give a coherent account of n.a.z.i ideology and added: 'Only in the smallest number of cases does blooming health and strength also vouch for a p.r.o.nounced intellectual capacity.' As early as 1937, Goebbels's paper The Attack The Attack had raised doubts about the inst.i.tution's effectiveness after a reporter had heard one of the earliest graduates 'give an ideologically coloured lecture, but he didn't say much to the point. Have the right people been selected at all?' it asked pointedly. Two years later, the situation in Vogelsang Castle descended into chaos when its commander, Richard Manderbach, whose main claim to distinction was that he had founded the first branch of the stormtroopers in the Siegerland district in 1924, was discovered to have had his youngest child secretly baptized in a Catholic church. Although Manderbach denied any knowledge of this, the Junkers greeted him in the dining hall and the teaching room with rude choruses, songs and shouts demanding to know why he had been consorting with 'Pope and priest'. Order was only restored with his dismissal on 10 June 1939. had raised doubts about the inst.i.tution's effectiveness after a reporter had heard one of the earliest graduates 'give an ideologically coloured lecture, but he didn't say much to the point. Have the right people been selected at all?' it asked pointedly. Two years later, the situation in Vogelsang Castle descended into chaos when its commander, Richard Manderbach, whose main claim to distinction was that he had founded the first branch of the stormtroopers in the Siegerland district in 1924, was discovered to have had his youngest child secretly baptized in a Catholic church. Although Manderbach denied any knowledge of this, the Junkers greeted him in the dining hall and the teaching room with rude choruses, songs and shouts demanding to know why he had been consorting with 'Pope and priest'. Order was only restored with his dismissal on 10 June 1939.239 As one of the students of the Adolf Hitler School housed in the Order Castle at Sonthofen, the future Hollywood movie actor Hardy Kruger, later noted, the students were constantly told that they were going to be the leaders of n.a.z.i Germany in the future, so it was not surprising that they did not tolerate ideological backsliding. In an atmosphere that encouraged physical toughness and ruthlessness, he added, bullying and physical abuse of the younger by the older boys was inevitably widespread, the general spirit brutal and rough. As one of the students of the Adolf Hitler School housed in the Order Castle at Sonthofen, the future Hollywood movie actor Hardy Kruger, later noted, the students were constantly told that they were going to be the leaders of n.a.z.i Germany in the future, so it was not surprising that they did not tolerate ideological backsliding. In an atmosphere that encouraged physical toughness and ruthlessness, he added, bullying and physical abuse of the younger by the older boys was inevitably widespread, the general spirit brutal and rough.240 The same ideas that inspired the Adolf Hitler Schools, the Order Castles and to a more limited extent the Napolas were also evident in yet another elite school, founded under the aegis of Ernst Rohm and the SA: the National Socialist High School on the Starnberger Lake. A private school owned by the browns.h.i.+rt organization, opened in January 1934, it had only been in existence for a few months when Rohm was shot dead on Hitler's orders. In desperation, the school's head sought to preserve it by putting it under the protection first of Franz Xaver Schwarz, the Party Treasurer, then of Rudolf Hess's office, where Martin Bormann was the key functionary. On 8 August 1939 Hess renamed it the Reich School of the NSDAP Feldafing, by which time it had already become the most successful of the n.a.z.i elite schools. Housed in forty villas, some of them confiscated from their Jewish owners, the school was under the academic control of the n.a.z.i Teachers' League, and all the pupils and teachers were automatically members of the SA. With its powerful patrons in the top ranks of the Party, the school managed without too much difficulty to obtain lavish funding and first-rate equipment, and, with its connections to the teaching profession, it provided a much better academic education than the other elite schools, although it shared with them a common emphasis on sport, physical training and character-building. Yet critics maintained that the pupils, often the scions of high-ranking Party officials, learned only how to be playboys.241 All in all, none of the elite schools could match the standards of Germany's long-established academic grammar schools. Eclectic and often contradictory in their approach, they lacked any coherent educational concept that could serve as the basis for training a new functional elite to rule a modern technological nation like Germany in the future. On the eve of the war, with a mere 6,000 male and 173 female pupils in the sixteen Napolas, the ten Adolf Hitler Schools and the Reich School combined, they formed only a small part of the boarding school system: at the same point in time, September 1939, other residential schools were educating All in all, none of the elite schools could match the standards of Germany's long-established academic grammar schools. Eclectic and often contradictory in their approach, they lacked any coherent educational concept that could serve as the basis for training a new functional elite to rule a modern technological nation like Germany in the future. On the eve of the war, with a mere 6,000 male and 173 female pupils in the sixteen Napolas, the ten Adolf Hitler Schools and the Reich School combined, they formed only a small part of the boarding school system: at the same point in time, September 1939, other residential schools were educating 36,746 36,746 pupils of both s.e.xes, or six times as many. pupils of both s.e.xes, or six times as many.242 Nevertheless, the low academic standards evident in the Napolas, the Adolf Hitler Schools and the Order Castles had also begun to become apparent in the state school system by the eve of the Second World War. At every level, formal learning was given decreased emphasis as the hours devoted to physical education and sport in the state schools were increased in 1936 to three a week, then in 1938 to five, and fewer lessons were devoted to academic subjects to make room for indoctrination and preparation for war.243 Children still learned the three Rs, and in grammar schools and other parts of the secondary education system much more than this, but there can be little doubt that the quality of education was steadily declining. By 1939 employers were complaining that school graduates' standards of knowledge of language and arithmetic were poor and that 'the level of school knowledge of the examinees has been sinking for some time'. Children still learned the three Rs, and in grammar schools and other parts of the secondary education system much more than this, but there can be little doubt that the quality of education was steadily declining. By 1939 employers were complaining that school graduates' standards of knowledge of language and arithmetic were poor and that 'the level of school knowledge of the examinees has been sinking for some time'.244 Yet this did not cause any concern to the regime. As Hans Schemm, the leader of the n.a.z.i Teachers' League up to 1935, declared: 'The goal of our education is the formation of character', and he complained that too much knowledge had been crammed into children, to the detriment of character-building. 'Let us have', he said, '. . . ten pounds less knowledge and ten calories more character!' Yet this did not cause any concern to the regime. As Hans Schemm, the leader of the n.a.z.i Teachers' League up to 1935, declared: 'The goal of our education is the formation of character', and he complained that too much knowledge had been crammed into children, to the detriment of character-building. 'Let us have', he said, '. . . ten pounds less knowledge and ten calories more character!'245 The progressive demoralization of the teaching profession, the growing shortage of staff and the consequent increase in cla.s.s sizes also had their effects. As we have seen, the Hitler Youth proved a thoroughly disruptive influence on formal education. 'School', one Social Democratic report already noted in 1934, 'is constantly disrupted by Hitler Youth events.' Teachers had to allow pupils time off for them almost every week. The progressive demoralization of the teaching profession, the growing shortage of staff and the consequent increase in cla.s.s sizes also had their effects. As we have seen, the Hitler Youth proved a thoroughly disruptive influence on formal education. 'School', one Social Democratic report already noted in 1934, 'is constantly disrupted by Hitler Youth events.' Teachers had to allow pupils time off for them almost every week.246 The abolition of the compulsory ceremonies attached to the State Youth Day, which on one reckoning had taken up 120 hours of out-of-school preparation each year, in 1936, made little real difference in this respect. The abolition of the compulsory ceremonies attached to the State Youth Day, which on one reckoning had taken up 120 hours of out-of-school preparation each year, in 1936, made little real difference in this respect.247 Despite the military-style discipline in the schools, there were numerous reports of indiscipline and disorder, violent incidents between pupils, and insubordination towards teachers. Despite the military-style discipline in the schools, there were numerous reports of indiscipline and disorder, violent incidents between pupils, and insubordination towards teachers.248 'One can't speak of the teacher having authority any more,' noted one Social Democratic agent in 1937: 'The snotty-nosed little brats of the Hitler Youth decide what goes on at school, they're in charge.' 'One can't speak of the teacher having authority any more,' noted one Social Democratic agent in 1937: 'The snotty-nosed little brats of the Hitler Youth decide what goes on at school, they're in charge.'249 In the same year, the teachers of one district in Franconia complained in the half-yearly report of their branch of the National Socialist Teachers' League that the att.i.tude of pupils towards education was giving repeated cause for justified complaints and to concern about the future. There is a widespread lack of zeal for work and feeling for duty. Many school pupils believe that they can just sail through their school-leaving examinations by sitting tight for eight years even if they fall way below the required intellectual standard. In the Hitler Youth and Junior Hitler Youth units there is no kind of support for school; on the contrary, it is precisely those pupils who serve in leading positions there who are noticeable for their disobedient behaviour and their laziness at school. It is necessary to report that school discipline is noticeably declining and to a worrying degree.250 Educational standards had declined markedly by 1939. What really mattered was, as one Social Democratic observer noted ruefully in June 1937: 'Whether one observes young people playing or working, whether one reads what they write or visits their homes, whether one looks through the school timetable or even follows what goes on at camp, there is only one will that rules the entire carefully devised and ever more efficiently operating machine: the will to war.'251

' STRUGGLE AGAINST THE INTELLECT'

I.

While the n.a.z.is concentrated a great deal of effort on turning the school system to their own purposes after 1933, they were somewhat less vigorous in imposing their views on Germany's universities. Only in 1934, with the founding of the Reich Education Ministry, did the regime really began to get a grip on higher education from the centre. Even then, the grip was but a feeble one. Not only was the Education Minister Bernhard Rust weak and indecisive, he was also fundamentally uninterested in universities. His incurable tendency to vacillation soon became the b.u.t.t of mocking humour amongst university professors, who joked that a new minimum unit of measurement had been introduced by the government: 'One Rust', the time that elapsed between the promulgation of a decree and its cancellation. Nor were the other n.a.z.i leaders particularly concerned about higher education. When Hitler spoke to a student audience on the tenth anniversary of the founding of the n.a.z.i Students' League in January 1936, he barely mentioned student affairs; he never addressed a student audience again. In a fas.h.i.+on only too typical of the Third Reich, higher education became the focus of intra-Party rivalries, as the Office of the Leader's Deputy, nominally under Rudolf Hess but in reality spurred on by his ambitious chief of staff, Martin Bormann, began to take an interest in academic appointments. Research funding fell under the aegis of the Interior Ministry. Regional Leaders interfered in university affairs too. The SA tried to enlist students. And the n.a.z.i Students' League took the lead in the n.a.z.ification of university life. The Ministry took the view that the main function of the Students' League should be to further the political indoctrination of the undergraduates and graduates; but running the university was the job of the Rector, whom the guidelines issued by the Education Ministry on 1 April 1935 defined as the leader of an inst.i.tution; the duty of the rest of the staff and students was to follow him and obey his commands.252 In practice, however, the weakness of the Education Ministry made it impossible for this principle to be applied with any consistency. Academic appointments became the object of struggles between the Ministry, the Rector, the n.a.z.i Students' League, the professors and the local n.a.z.i Party bosses, all of whom continued to claim the right of political control within the universities. Like the Hitler Youth in the schools, the n.a.z.i Students' League and its members did not fight shy of naming and shaming the teachers they thought were not toeing the n.a.z.i line. In 1937 a Hamburg professor complained that no student meeting had been held in the previous few years 'in which the professoriate has not been dismissed in contemptuous terms as an "ossified" society that is not fit to educate or lead young people in the universities'.253 From 1936 the Students' League had a new leader, Gustav Adolf Scheel. As a student before 1933 he had led a successful campaign of hara.s.sment and intimidation against the pacifist professor Emil Julius Gumbel at Heidelberg University. He strengthened the League's position with the incorporation of all student unions and the formal recognition of its right to appoint its own leaders and run its own affairs. Scheel cultivated excellent relations with Hess's office and was thereby able to ward off all attempts by the Education Ministry to curb his growing influence. With a seat on the academic senate of every university, the student organization was now able to gain access to confidential information about prospective appointments. It did not hesitate to make its wishes and objections known. Since it was clear that if the students did not like a new Rector they could - and would - make life very difficult for him, from 1937 onwards the Education Ministry felt obliged to consult the students' representatives in advance, giving Scheel and his organization yet more say in how the universities were run. From 1936 the Students' League had a new leader, Gustav Adolf Scheel. As a student before 1933 he had led a successful campaign of hara.s.sment and intimidation against the pacifist professor Emil Julius Gumbel at Heidelberg University. He strengthened the League's position with the incorporation of all student unions and the formal recognition of its right to appoint its own leaders and run its own affairs. Scheel cultivated excellent relations with Hess's office and was thereby able to ward off all attempts by the Education Ministry to curb his growing influence. With a seat on the academic senate of every university, the student organization was now able to gain access to confidential information about prospective appointments. It did not hesitate to make its wishes and objections known. Since it was clear that if the students did not like a new Rector they could - and would - make life very difficult for him, from 1937 onwards the Education Ministry felt obliged to consult the students' representatives in advance, giving Scheel and his organization yet more say in how the universities were run.254 Yet in the end, the influence of the n.a.z.i Students' League was limited. Although it had swept the board in student union elections all over Germany well before 1933, it was in fact a comparatively small organization, with a members.h.i.+p that fell just short of 9,000 on the eve of Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor. Since many of these belonged to the League's female affiliate or studied in non-university higher education inst.i.tutions, and others were located in German-speaking universities outside the Reich, the number of male students in German universities who were members actually fell just short of 5,000, or less than 5 per cent of German university students as a whole.255 During and after the seizure of power, this figure grew rapidly, helped by the mixture of terror and opportunism characteristic of the process of social and inst.i.tutional co-ordination in 1933. Beyond this, the overwhelmingly nationalist German student body was swept by enthusiasm for the spirit of 1914 unleashed by the new regime in the initial period of its power. Yet the n.a.z.i Students' League was not without compet.i.tion in the student world at this time. Many students joined the stormtroopers in the spring of 1933, and following Hitler's instruction in September 1933 that the task of politicizing the student body was to be undertaken by the SA, the browns.h.i.+rts set up their own centres in the universities and put pressure on students to join. By the end of the year, over half the students at Heidelberg university, for example, had enrolled as stormtroopers. Early in 1934 the Interior Ministry made military training organized by the browns.h.i.+rts compulsory for male students. Soon they were spending long hours training with the SA. This had a serious effect on their studies. University authorities began to note a drastic fall in academic standards as students spent days or even weeks away from their studies, or appeared at lectures in a state of exhaustion after training all night. Nor was that all. As the Rector of Kiel University complained to the Education Ministry on 15 June 1934: During and after the seizure of power, this figure grew rapidly, helped by the mixture of terror and opportunism characteristic of the process of social and inst.i.tutional co-ordination in 1933. Beyond this, the overwhelmingly nationalist German student body was swept by enthusiasm for the spirit of 1914 unleashed by the new regime in the initial period of its power. Yet the n.a.z.i Students' League was not without compet.i.tion in the student world at this time. Many students joined the stormtroopers in the spring of 1933, and following Hitler's instruction in September 1933 that the task of politicizing the student body was to be undertaken by the SA, the browns.h.i.+rts set up their own centres in the universities and put pressure on students to join. By the end of the year, over half the students at Heidelberg university, for example, had enrolled as stormtroopers. Early in 1934 the Interior Ministry made military training organized by the browns.h.i.+rts compulsory for male students. Soon they were spending long hours training with the SA. This had a serious effect on their studies. University authorities began to note a drastic fall in academic standards as students spent days or even weeks away from their studies, or appeared at lectures in a state of exhaustion after training all night. Nor was that all. As the Rector of Kiel University complained to the Education Ministry on 15 June 1934: There is now a danger that under the t.i.tle 'struggle against the intellect', a struggle against the intelligentsia is being waged by the SA University Office. There is further the danger that under the motto 'rough soldierly tone' students in the first three semesters adopt a tone that must frequently be labelled no longer rough but positively coa.r.s.e.

Some browns.h.i.+rt leaders even told their student members that their first duty was to the stormtroopers: their academic studies were leisure pursuits, to be conducted in their spare time. Such claims encountered rapidly rising resistance amongst the majority of students. In June 1934 the national student leader Wolfgang Donat encountered 'howling, trampling and whistling' when he tried to address a meeting at Munich University, while some university teachers who dared to include a pinch of criticism of the regime in their lectures met with outbreaks of wild applause. Open fights broke out in some universities between n.a.z.i activists and other students.256 That these events coincided with the first great crisis of the regime in June 1934 was not coincidental. The decapitation of the SA leaders.h.i.+p in the 'Night of the Long Knives' at the end of the month opened the way for a thoroughgoing reform of the n.a.z.i presence in the student body. The Office of the Deputy Leader, Rudolf Hess, took over the running of the n.a.z.i Students' League and reshaped its leaders.h.i.+p, while at the end of October the SA was effectively removed from the universities, and training with the browns.h.i.+rts replaced with less demanding sports education. Members.h.i.+p in the n.a.z.i Students' League began to rise sharply, reaching 51 per cent of male university students by 1939, and 71 per cent of female.257 By this time, the League had managed to overcome the stubborn resistance of the traditional student fraternities, which in 1933 had encompa.s.sed more than half the entire male student body. Like other conservative inst.i.tutions, the fraternities had vehemently opposed the Weimar Republic and gone along with the n.a.z.i seizure of power; most of their members had probably joined the Party by the summer of 1933. At the same time, however, they had been obliged to introduce the leaders.h.i.+p principle in their previously collective management, to appoint n.a.z.is to top posts, and to expel any even remotely Jewish members and Jewish 'old gentlemen', the ex-members whose financial clout gave them a major say in how the fraternities were run. The aristocratic tone and traditional independence of the fraternities were still not to the liking of n.a.z.i leaders, however, and when members of one of the most exclusive Heidelberg duelling fraternities were seen interrupting one of Hitler's radio broadcasts in a drunken state and, a few days later, loudly speculating during a riotously bibulous meal at an inn on whether the Leader ate asparagus 'with his knife, his fork or his paw', Hitler Youth leader