Anti-Intellectualism in Nazi Germany

1. Anti-Intellectualism in Nazi Germany Based on a PowerPoint by David S, Horace Greeley High School

2. INTRODUCTION

3. What is Anti-Intellectualism? • Anti-intellectualism is expressed as hostility towards, or mistrust of, intellectuals and intellectual pursuits. • It attacks merits of science, education, literature. • Anti-intellectuals often see themselves as champions of ‘the ordinary man’. • They are against academic elitism, often arguing that highly educated people from an isolated social group are dominating political discourse and higher education (academia).

4. Consequences of Anti-Intellectualism • It fosters a society where individual thought is discouraged and the worth of the truth is minimal. • Authorities have more power • They can’t be challenged, because there is no intellectual spirit of dissent

5. Consequences of Anti-Intellectualism • Emergence of Pseudoscience • (i.e. Eugenics) • Rewriting of History • Destruction of Literature

6. Nazi Anti-Intellectualism • Knowledge that benefited state was allowed (i.e. rocket science) • Individual learning was frowned upon • Independent thinking goes against public opinion • Propaganda a new form of “education” • Repression of the truth in favour of that which stirs up radical emotion

7. CENTRAL QUESTION Why was anti-intellectualism such a critical element in sustaining Nazi culture from 1933-1945?

8. NAZI BOOK BURNINGS

9. Why burn books? • A way of venting anger • Symbolic transition of cultural values: Intellectualism to radical emotionalism • Unifies community in a ritual • Intimidates intellectual community • Frightening to see an angry mob that has lost touch with your values

10. The Burning of the Books • May 10, 1933 • Nazi Party declares that any book “which acts subversively on our future or strikes at the root of German thought, the German home and the driving forces of our people...” is to be burned. • Jewish intellectuals were primary target, but also many non-Jews as well

11. The Burning of the Books • Students marched through the streets rampaging libraries, synagogues, and even private homes to loot books • Books were thrown onto bonfire

12. “The Burning of the Books” • Nazis encouraged burnings, but discouraged publicising the burnings • Aftermath • Frightened many intellectuals, Jewish and non-Jewish, many fled Germany • “Jewish intellectualism is dead”—Joseph Goebbels after the 1933 book Burning

13. Albert Einstein Havelock Ellis Lion Feuchtwanger Sigmund Freud André Gide Franz Kafka Erich Kästner Helen Keller Alfred Kerr Jack London Heinrich Mann Thomas Mann Karl Marx Hugo Preuss Marcel Proust Walter Rathenau Erich Maria Remarque Margaret Sanger Arthur Schnitzler Upton Sinclair Jakob Wasserman H. G. Wells Stefan Zweig Emile Zola Some Authors of Books Burned on 5/10/33

14. EDUCATION INTHE THIRD REICH Two Jewish students are humiliated in front of their whole class. The writing on the board proclaims “the Jew is our greatest enemy! Beware of the Jew!"

15. The Nazi Classroom • The Curriculum: • Racial biology and eugenics • Celebratory German history • Discipline, duty, obedience, courage • Physical training —Body over mind • No concern for the “spirit of academics” “The Jewish Nose is Wide at the End and Looks like the Number Six”

16. The Nazi Classroom • Task of the Educator • Strengthen the soul and spirit of youth • Instill nationalism in younger generation • Prepare students for service, and even self-sacrifice to the Reich NO INTENTION OF EDUCATING THE INDIVIDUAL FOR THE SAKE OF THE INDIVIDUAL

17. The Nazi Classroom • Strong desire to destroy the values of… • Liberal individualism • Rationalism • Intellectualism

18. The Nazi Classroom • Girls and boys were taught that they had clear roles in German society: • Boys would go on to be soldiers and fight for their country. • It was the girls’ duty to become mothers and produce the next generation of soldiers.

19. The Nazi Classroom • Physical fitness was highly prized : • If you were fit you could produce lots of children. • If you were fit you could become a soldier and fight for your country.

20. The Nazi Classroom • Antisemitism: • German children were taught that the Jews were responsible for many of the problems Germany was facing. • They were taught that the Jews were an inferior race. Slavs, gay, Roma (Gypsy), mentally and physically disabled people, Jehova’s witnesses, black people and children of mixed marriages were also seen as ‘unter-menschen’ = “sub humans”

21. Reasons for this Education System • Trained children to be good soldiers • Easier to accept a total authority if you don’t know how to think for yourself • Ultimate Goal • In Democracy: Student learns so he may benefit himself • In Totalitarian Germany: Student learns so he may benefit the state

22. Adolf Hitler on Education • "Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented”—Adolf Hitler • "Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round”—Adolf Hitler

23. Adolf Hitler on Education • "The folkish state must not adjust its…educational work…to the inoculation of mere knowledge, but to the breeding of absolutely healthy bodies…And here again, first place must be taken by the development of character, especially the promotion of will-power and determination, combined with the training of joy in responsibility, and only in last place comes scientific schooling." –Mein Kampf

24. The Hitler Youth (HJ)

25. Clip From Triumph of the Will • Click image to see video on YouTube • Notice direction of film • Shows how admired Hitler is • Promotes radical emotionalism • Notice serious faces, militarism of young boys

26. Why was the HJ Necessary for Nazi Germany? • Hitler believed the future of Nazi Germany was in its children • Composed of a generation that knew almost only Nazism • No need to suppress individual thinking if people are imprinted with anti-intellectual ideology at a young age

27. Why was the HJ Necessary for Nazi Germany? • Trained children for their roles as Nazi citizens • Men: “Wehrsport” (Military training) • Women: Preparation for Aryan motherhood

28. Hitler’s View of the HJ • “The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain...” • "I will have no intellectual training. Knowledge is ruin to my young men”

29. Relevance of the HJ toAnti-Intellectualism • The values of a culture result from the values instilled in its youth • In Europe: pressure to do well in school, get a job, make money • In Nazi Germany: Children were worth only what they contributed to the state

30. Social Atmosphere in anAnti-Intellectual Germany

31. Nazi Populism • “Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state...”–Joseph Goebbels • Struggle against “privileged elite” • Especially Jews • Intellectuals are elitists and tricksters • Hoodwink opponents with rhetoric

32. The Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda • Spread and enforced Nazi ideology • The antithesis of intellectual-based culture • Rampant anti-Semitism • Infected all mediums of art and literature

33. Why have aMinistry of Propaganda? • In a totalitarian regime, public opinion must be molded to fit the state • In contrast, Intellectualism would demand: • Tolerance of dissent • Ability to question authority • Independent thought • Formulation of rational ideas

34. Kristallnacht“Night of the Broken Glass” • Political assassination by Jew ignites spark • Nazi youth destroys Jewish buildings • Considered beginning of Holocaust

35. Joseph Goebbels:Head of the Anti-intellectual Serpent

36. Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels • Head of Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda • A textbook example of the anti-intellectualism he promoted • Extreme, unconditional loyalty to Hitler: he was practically in love with him

37. Goebbels on Truth and Intellectualism • “Intellectual activity is a danger to the building of character” • “It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.” • “Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavour to make every item of news serve a certain purpose.”

38. The “Big Lie” Theory • “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”—Joseph Goebbels

39. CONCLUSIONS

40. What Anti-intellectualism Does • A force that seeks to unify… • The mind of a nation • The will of a nation • Censorship of truth • Idea that truth is irrelevant is dangerous • Use of propaganda to direct public opinion

41. Karl Rove (Bush adviser) on Intellectualism • “As people do better, they start voting like Republicans—unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing”—Karl Rove

42. The End(or is it?)