Yuval Beker
"State education in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939" (2016)
In October 2016, twenty-four award winners from EUSTORY competitions met at a History Camp in Georgia. For this occasion they prepared posters about their projects and findings which were displayed in the National History Museum in Tbilisi.
My competition entry was about schools in Nazi Germany. I studied the way the Nazis perceived education, the importance they accorded to schooling and the way they changed it to fit their worldview once they were in power. Furthermore, I studied how the system of education affected its students and what students thought of the system once the Nazi regime fell.
How did you decide on your topic?
Being a student, I‘m naturally interested in education, its evolution and its political impact. In this sense, Nazi education is an extreme case of totalitarian education, and through this research I understood how education can be employed to serve a certain agenda. Consequently I could draw conclusions regarding our own democratic education.
How did the research affect you personally?
This research reminded me of the significance of education when trying to spread an ideology. The Nazi ideology appealed to young people especially because of its emotional, romantic aspects, and thus, education became a crucial factor in the ideological diffusion. I realized education can make sure this bloodthirsty worldview never seizes power again, because children raised based on humanism and tolerance will accept these peaceful values.
Take a closer look at Yuval's poster here.
For his project on schools in Nazi Germany, Yuval was awarded in the Israeli history competition.