Five Brothers and a War

Education—Courtesy of the Nazis

The educational system in Holland was dramatically influenced by the Nazis, as it takes no time to determine that the path to future control of a nation lies in the education of its children. The Nazis were no different. In his trial at Nürnberg, on June 11, 1946, Seyß-Inquart stated: “I introduced the supervision of the curriculum of the schools, and I made my influence felt in the appointment of teachers, particularly in the very numerous private schools in the Netherlands. Two-thirds of the Netherlands schools were private. I felt it necessary because in these schools there was definitely an anti-German tendency which was taught to the students. The Netherlands Education Ministry had the supervision of these matters.” “I ordered, or agreed to the order, that clergymen should not be heads of schools. As for clergymen who were teachers, I agreed to have their pay reduced by one-third. They were able to continue to teach with two-thirds of their income, and with the money which was saved I gave positions to 4,000 young teachers out of work.” To be appointed, those young teachers had to be approved by the German authority, and have studied in Germany prior to appointments. He also demanded that German studies be increased at the elementary level, claiming that this was done to further the education of the students. He ordered that Dutch studies also be increased, in order to demonstrate that he was not trying to Germanize the Dutch. At the same time, the order was to reduce studies in other languages, notably English and French. He further ordered the closing of the University of Leiden because students went on strike to protest the firing of Jewish professors. He claimed that this was necessary because the universities were centers for German opposition. He tried to get students to sign an oath of loyalty to Germany and German occupation, stating that if they really were students, they should have no trouble swearing such an oath. His plan was to turn the University of Leiden into a National Socialist university, and to bring in Wehrmacht soldiers and other Germans to study there. Professors did a mass resignation in May, 1942. They did so again in September of the same year.

nazi germany

Five Brothers and a War

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