Background: The Nazis established a comprehensive system of indoctrination intended to reach everyone in the country. This page provides a translation of the guideline for conducting “worldview” education for girls aged 10 - 21 within the framework of the Hitler Youth. Girls aged 10-14 were in the Jungmädelschaft, those 14-21 in the Mädelschaft. Each group was to hold weekly “home evenings.” Ideally the Hitler Youth organization the area would have its own “home,” or building. Part of the program for those evenings involved instruction in Nazi doctrine. The pamphlet translated here outlines what the girls are to be told, as well as the system of training the leaders (who were often only a few years older than the girls they were leading, under the Nazi principle “Youth should be led by youth”).
The system was rather complicated. For those interested in the organizational details, I have a page on the structure of the Hitler Youth that may help untangle the titles and units. Another page includes covers of some of the leadership magazines for the period.
The source: Dienstvorschrift der Hitler Jugend: Die weltanschauliche Schulung im Winterhalbjahr 1938/39 (Gültig für die Zeit vom 1.10.1938 bis 31.5.1939) (Berlin: Reichsjugendführung, Amt für weltanschauliche Schulung, 1938).
(Part I)
With the beginning of the new year, worldview education for units of the HJ, the BDM, the DJ, and the JM will be organized by age group in the entire Reich.
Two editions (A and B) of the Mädelschaft and the Jungmädelschaft will be issued.
Once these have been received in the Untergauen and Jungmädel-Untergauen, they are to be distributed as follows:
Units with mixed ages will automatically be supplied with editions A or B in alternate years.
According to a regulation of the Reich Treasurer, preparation and distribution of educational material is the duty of the administrative office leaders.
They are responsible to ensure that the material is distributed as directed by the Organisationsstellenleiter, and that no copies go to waste or are sent to the wrong place.
In the future, educational material will be produced for the individual age groups. The resulting educational plan for the JM and the BDM is as follows:
Jungmädel:
First Year:
Second Year: Great Figures of the German Past
Third Year: Men and Women Battling for Germany
Fourth Year: Adolf Hitler and his Comrades
The BDM
First Year: The Battle for the Reich
Second Year: The National Socialist Movement Battles for People and Reich
Third Year: a) A People and its Inheritance of Blood
b) People and Personality
The Themes for Annual Education of the Jungmädel for the Year 1938/39
The program begun last winter will be continued in Winter 1938/39.
The themes for this year are printed in Die Jungmädelschaft, Edition A (JM, first and second years).
Great Figures of Germany’s Past
October: Armin the Cherusker. Armin, a noble of the Cherusker tribe, defeated the Roman troops invading German land in the ninth century. For the first time, the larger part of the Germanic tribes were united.
November: King Heinrich I. King Heinrich was a Saxon. He was the first German ruler who did not allow himself to be crowned by the pope. In hard battles, he fought against the enemies of the Reich, defeating the Hungarians in 933 on the Unstrut River. We see King Heinrich I as the founder of the First German Reich.
December: Christmas. (The Christmas issue for the Jungmädelschaft editions A and B are the same). We will provide fairy tales, stories, and songs for the pre-Christmas meeting.
January: Walter von der Vogelweide. For us, he is the singer of the German Middle Ages who learned to sing and tell stories, as he himself said, in Austria. He lived and worked for the Kaiser and the Reich, and became the guardian of the Reich and the conscience of the age. His poem, filled with pride, truthfulness, and clever strength, are witnesses to German greatness.
February: Prince Eugen, the Noble Knight. Prince Eugen was one of the most courageous and bravest fighters for the idea of the Greater German Reich, the victor of Belgrade. He was not only the soldier and marshall of the Reich, but also the statesman who settled German farmers in the southeast of the Reich and worked to extend German territory.
March: The Great King. Frederick the Great made Prussia into a great power. He fought victoriously against the states of Europe that wanted to hinder Prussia’s rise. He defeated Silesia in the Seven Year War. His overpowering personality, both on the battlefield and in peace, won him the love and loyalty of his soldiers and his people. He was the greatest Prussian king. We still love and honor him today, just as did the people of his day.
April/March: Our Führer Adolf Hitler. The Jungmädel join us on 20 April, the Führer’s birthday. For the first time, and as a foundation for our whole work, we will acquaint them with the Führer’s life and personality.
The Jungmädelschaft — Edition B
(JM in the third and fourth years)
Adolf Hitler and his Comrades
October: The Unknown S.A. Man. Adolf Hitler’s call was answered by German men from every class and occupation of the people. They volunteered to join the brown marching columns of the Storm Troopers. They stood and fought sacrificially, fulfilling their duty, for their people, loyal to the Führer. As an unknown fighter, the S.A. Man did his duty everywhere, rescuing the German people from collapse.
November: The Eternal Watch. On 9 November 1934, sixteen National Socialists fell through betrayal before the shots of government troops. They are the first blood martyrs of the National Socialist movement. In the center of those who bear the Blood Medal of the party, the Führer marches on 9 November each year to the Feldhernnhalle and to the Honor Temples, where he remembers the sixteen fallen heroes, who here rest in bronze sarcophagi in the open air.
December: Christmas. See Jungmädelschaft, Edition A.
January: Rudolf Heß. As one of the most loyal of Adolf Hitler’s old guard, Rudolf Heß to us is a model of self-sacrifice for the idea of National Socialism. Courageous and loyal, he always stood by the Führer’s side, and today as well we see him fulfilling his duty.
February: Hermann Göring. Hermann Göring, too, is one of Adolf Hitler’s oldest fighting comrades. During the World war, he was a fighter pilot and commander of the Richthofen Squadron. After the collapse of 1918, he finds the way to Adolf Hitler. He is a participant in the march to the Feldherrnhalle. After the reestablishment of Germany’s military, he builds a strong air force. Wherever there is a particularly difficult problem to solve, Hermann Göring is there. The Führer gave him leadership of the Second Four Year Plan. We see in Hermann Göring the model of a fighting, action-ready soldier and National Socialist.
March: Adolf Hitler — Youth and World War. We learn about the Führer’s youth in his parents’ home, then his poverty in Vienna. We follow him to his new home in Munich, where he experiences the beginning of the World War. We see Adolf Hitler as a messenger at the front, and hear of his deeds and his wounds. We learn of his decision to become a politician.
April/May: Adolf Hitler — The Führer and Chancellor. Adolf Hitler rescued Germany from collapse and made it once more into a strong and powerful Reich, which as Führer and chancellor he is building for the coming millennia of German history.
The Mädelschaft — Edition A
(BDM, first and second years)
The National Socialist Movement Fights for People and Reich
October: Munich becomes the Movement’s Capital. After the November Revolution in 1918, only a few in Germany believe in a better future, and have the courage to resist the general decline. In Munich, an unknown soldier from the World War, Adolf Hitler, joins with a few loyal comrades to oppose the destructive forces, filled with an unshakable will to rescue Germany. Through betrayal, his work is destroyed and sixteen German men fall before the Feldherrnhalle because of their faith in Germany.
November: Germany Awakes. The death of the sixteen heroes at the Feldherrnhalle obligates the living to still greater commitment. After his release from prison, Adolf Hitler re-founds the NSDAP. Under his unbending leadership, more and more Germans join his flag each year. Despite bans and terror, the movement grows. Workers, farmers, and the middle class affirm him. The fight for power lasts fourteen years, until victory is finally achieved on 30 January 1933.
December: Christmas. (The Christmas material is the same in editions A and B of the Mädelschaft). At the family Christmas, we experience the reflection and joyous love at the birth of new life. Extended to the entire people’s community, we see mutual assistance in the Winter Aid. Even more powerfully, we sense the ties that bind all Germans throughout the world, as expressed in Rudolf Heß’s Christmas message.
January: The Führer’s Highways. Immediately after the takeover of power, comprehensive measures were taken to eliminate unemployment. Especially through the Reich Autobahn program, millions of German people’s comrades gain work and food. A wide-reaching, useful, and beautiful network of roads will speed traffic and the transport of goods, and connect all German landscapes and Gaue.
February: Hermann Göring Directs the German Economy. To restore Germany’s economic health, the Führer entrusted Hermann Göring with the reorganization of the German economy. The program is intended to increase consumption of German agricultural and industrial products, and build our economic freedom and independence.
March: The Wehrmacht Protects the Reich. To ensure Germany’s security and peace, the Führer proclaimed the Law to Re-establish Conscription in March 1935. German troops stand once more on the Rhine and in all German Gaue and give witness to the strength and military might of the new Germany.
April: Battle against the Bolshevist World Enemy. National Socialist Germany has made open declaration of war against the world enemy Bolshevism. Along with Italy and Japan, which have also recognized the Bolshevist danger, Germany has joined the Anti-Komintern Pact as a bulwark against the destructive plans of the Komintern.
The Mädelschaft — Edition B
(BDM, Third Year)
Since the education for the Third GDM year during the winter of 1937/38 already covered racial hygiene questions, the education for 1938/39 will address the theme:
People and Personality
October: Liselotte von der Pfalz. The daughter of German nobility, a political promise forced her to marry into the French court. She there maintained her fresh and natural manner. We learn from her letters how she maintained her love for her German homeland, despite many hostile influences.
November: Friedrich Schiller. In Schiller, we encounter a man and poet who fought for freedom. He had to leave his homeland to create freely. In Schiller, we see the best expression of man’s struggle for inner freedom.
December: Christmas. See the Mädelschaft, Edition A.
January: Maria Theresa. In Maria Theresa we see a great German ruler. We see how she rids her state of the laziness and neglect of civil servants, and how she gives her full effort to the prosperity of working people. She governed her land with the same energy with which she ruled her own family. Through her example and her work, the Viennese court became a center of Germandom.
February: Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm. In the Brothers Grimm, we encounter men who rediscovered the old treasures of the German past. They wandered through Germany, listening to the people’s sagas, songs, and fairy tales. They collected the fairy tales and thereby gave the German people a book that exercises its influence in every family.
March: Peter Rosegger. Peter Rosegger came from a farming family in the Austrian mountains. His work shows us how his roots led him to love his homeland and become an early fighter for all of Germandom.
April: Gorch Fock. More than anyone else, Gorch Fock lived and wrote from a love of the sea. From his house on the dike in Finkenwärder, he gazed toward the wide ocean. This experience of his youth determined his whole life. Cheerfully and freely, he told stories of life in a small fishing village, never forgetting the power of the sea. What he wrote, he sealed with his life in war. He fell at the Battle of Skagerrak.
This applies to weekend courses, Sunday courses, evening courses, short courses lasting several days for the leaders of lower-level units as well as for leadership applicants for the BDM. (Education for JM leader applicants follows the already-published guidelines for education of the JMfA of 1 July 1938, AK/JMB/B 2.)
The goal of weekend training during winter 1938/39 is to make clear the meaning and purpose of the annual educational plan, and to work through the themes in the home evening folders for each month.
Practical Guidelines
Weekend training must occur once a month. It will use the material issued by the Reichsjugendführung: Die Wochenendschulung 1938/39. All girls group leaders (Mädelsgruppenführerinnen, Mädelscharführerinnen, and Mädelschaftsführerinnen) are obligated to attend the weekend training.
Weekend training must include:
In the case of short courses lasting several days, enough time should be set aside to discuss the annual educational plan. Weekend training courses are not there only to provide only technical details. The goal must be to prepare leaders to be able to conduct worldview education at home evenings.
In the future, leaders must be able to assure the conduct of the annual training plan in their areas. The leader of the weekend training must, therefore, always speak in clear and compelling ways about the themes of the annual education plan, and also about the meaning and nature of the plan.
It is forbidden to add any material to the annual training plan that goes beyond what is provided.
Training of Future BDM Leaders
The experiences of recent years have shown that we must train new leaders for lower-level units. Particularly capable girls from the units are to be given special training. The goal of the training is to familiarize future leaders with the meaning, nature, and themes of the annual education plan, so that they will later be able to lead home evenings themselves.
The training will follow the guidelines in Die Wochenendschulung 1938/39. Other educational material that goes beyond the framework of the annual training plan may not be added.
Worldview Requirements of the Achievement Badge
The worldview requirements for the achievement badge are being prepared.
Required Knowledge for Home Evenings
I. The Führer and his Movement
Our obligation to the Führer, who is our model of struggle and work, stands behind the whole Jungmädelschaft work.
- The Jungmädel must know when and where the Führer was born, and be able to talk about his life.
- She must be able to talk about the history of the movement, and the battle of the S.A. and the Hitler Youth
- The Jungmädel knows the national anthem and the “Horst Wessel Song,” as well as the meaning of national holidays.
II. The Hitler Youth
- The Jungmädel should know why we are called the Hitler Youth.
- She should be able to name the dead of the HJ and talk about their struggle.
- The Jungmädel must know what her pennant means, and what the runes on it mean.
- The Jungmädelschaft must be able to sing three HJ songs well, being familiar with both text and tune. The HJ song “Forward, Forward...” must be the first of the three. The remaining two songs can be chosen from the following list:
- “We Raise Our Flags”
- “A Young People”
- “Only Freedom Belongs with our Lives”
- “Where We Stand, Loyalty Stands”
- “The Gray Sky”
- “Let the Flags Fly”
III. Germandom throughout the World
- The Jungmädel must be able to draw a map of the German Reich from memory.
- She should know that members of the German people also live outside the German Reich.
- The Jungmädel must be able to talk about her own border area or Kameradschaftsobergau. [HJ units in the interior of Germany were paired with units in areas along German borders with other countries. As the Nazi guidelines put it: “The girls who live along the border should know that they do not stand alone.”]
The material continues on the next page.
Last edited: 2 August 2023
[Page copyright © 2006 by Randall Bytwerk. No unauthorized reproduction. My e-mail address is available on the FAQ page.]
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