Anti-Intellectualism in Nazi Germany

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Anti-Intellectualism in Nazi Germany

• Thought Control

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Symbols of the Reich
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What is Anti-Intellectualism?

• A sentiment of hostility towards, or mistrust of,
  intellectuals and intellectual pursuits
• Attacks on the merits of science, education,
  literature
• Not just about hating intellectualism its about
  the values in its place

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John Locke on Intellectualism

• I attribute the little I know to my not having
  been ashamed to ask for information, and to my
  rule of conversing with all descriptions of men
  on those topics that form their own peculiar
  opinions.John Locke
• New opinions are always suspected, and usually
  opposed, without any other reason but because
  they are not already common.John Locke

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Consequences of Anti-Intellectualism

• A society where individual thought is
  compromised, and the preservation of truth is
  minimal
• Authorities take more power
• --Cannot be challenged there is no intellectual
  spirit of dissent

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Consequences of Anti-Intellectualism

• Emergence of Pseudoscience
• (e.g., Eugenics)
• Rewriting of History
• Destruction of Classical Literature

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Nazi Anti-Intellectualism

• Knowledge that benefited state was allowed, e.g.,
  war technology
• Individual learning was frowned upon
• Independent thinking v public opinion
• Propaganda new form of education
• Repression of the truth in favor of that which
  stirs up emotion

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CENTRAL QUESTION

• Why was anti-intellectualism such a critical
  element in sustaining Nazi culture from 1933-1945?

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NAZI BOOK BURNINGS
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Why Burn Books?

• A way of venting anger
• Symbolic transition of cultural values
• Intellectualism to radical emotionalism
• Unifies community in ritual behaviors
• Intimidates the intellectual community
• Angry mobs
• lost touch with traditional values

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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 targets, but
  many non-Jews who challenged the Third Reich were
  suspect as well

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Burning of the Books

• Students led by Brown Shirts ran through the
  streets rampaging libraries, synagogues, and
  private homes for books
• Confiscated books were thrown onto bonfires with
  ceremony

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Mob Censorship

• Nazi leaders encouraged burnings, but discouraged
  any publicity
• Aftermath
• Frightened intellectuals, Jewish and non-Jewish,
  fleeing Germany
• Jewish intellectualism is deadJoseph Goebbels,
  Minister of Propaganda, after the 1933 Book
  Burning

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Authors of Books Burned 5/10/33

• 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

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

• The Curriculum
• Racial biology and eugenics
• Celebratory German history
• Discipline, duty, obedience, courage
• Physical trainingBody over mind
• No concern for the spirit of academics

The Jewish Nose is Wide at the End and Looks
like the number six
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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

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The Nazi Classroom

• The Goal to root out values of
• Liberal individualism
• Rationalism
• Intellectualism
• a complete 180 from the ideals of
• Locke and the Enlightenment!

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Rationale

• Trained children to be good soldiers for the
  State
• Easier to accept a total authority if you dont
  know how to think for yourself
• Control what is taught and thought
• Ultimate Goal
• In Democracies Student learns so he may benefit
  himself
• In Totalitarian Germany Student learns so he may
  benefit the state

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Adolf Hitler on Education

• "Universal education is the most corroding and
  disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever
  inventedAdolf Hitler
• "Through clever and constant application of
  propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as
  hell, and also the other way roundAdolf Hitler

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Adolf Hitler on Education

• "The folkish state must not adjust
  itseducational workto the inoculation of mere
  knowledge, but to the breeding of absolutely
  healthy bodiesAnd 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

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The Hitler Youth (Hitler Jung)
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Clip from Triumph of the Will

• Hitler is admired
• Promotes emotionalism
• Note the serious faces and militarism of young
  boys

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Why was the HJ necessary in Nazi Germany?

• Hitler believed the future of Nazi Germany was in
  its children
• Create a generation that knew only Nazism
• No need to suppress individual thinking as adults
• People are imprinted with anti-intellectual
  ideology at a young age

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Goals of the Hitler Youth

• Train children for their roles as Nazi citizens
• Men Wehrsport (military training)
• Women Preparation for Aryan motherhood

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Hitlers View of the Corps

• 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

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Relevance of the Hitler Jung toAnti-Intellectuali
sm

• The values of a culture result from the values
  instilled in its youth
• U.S. pressure to do well in school, go to
  college, get a job, make money
• Nazi Germany People were worth only what they
  contributed to the state

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Environment ofAnti-Intellectual Germany
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Nazi Populism

• Whoever can conquer the street will one day
  conquer the state...Joseph Goebbels
• Struggle against privileged elite
• Jews
• Non-German Internationalists
• Intellectuals are elitists and tricksters
• Hoodwink opponents with rhetoric
• Communists and Non-conformists

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The Volksgemeinschaft

• The Peoples Community
• Established collective national spirit
• Based on racial and national pride
• Subliminal influence on culture
• Bureaucratization of censorship and propaganda
• PEOPLE CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES

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The Reichskulturkammer

• Reich Culture Chamber
• Managed by Hans Hinkel
• Goals
• Promote Good Culture
• Root out, ban Bad Culture
• Compulsory membership for all members of German
  media
• HEIGHT OF ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM

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Divisions of the Reichskulturkammer

• Reichspressekammer (press)
• Reichsfilmkammer (film)
• Reichsrundfunkkammer (radio)
• Reichsmusikkammer (music)
• Reichsschriftumskammer (literature)
• Reichstheaterkammer (theater)
• Reichskammer der bildenden künste (fine arts)

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The Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and
Propaganda

• Spread and enforced Nazi ideology
• Antithesis of intellectual-based culture
• Rampant anti-Semitism
• Infected all mediums of art and literature

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Ministry of Propaganda

• In a totalitarian regime, public opinion must be
  molded to fit the state
• Conversely, intellectualism demands
• A marketplace of ideas
• Tolerance of dissent
• Ability to question authority
• Independent thought
• Formulation of rational ideas

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KristallnachtNight of the Broken Glass

• Political assassination by Jew ignites spark
• Nazi youth pillage Jewish buildings
• The mob trumps individualism
• Considered beginning of Holocaust

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Joseph GoebbelsHead of the Anti-intellectual
Serpent
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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

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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
  endeavor to make every item of news serve a
  certain purpose

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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

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Summation
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Anti-intellectualism

• A force that seeks to unify
• The mind of a nation
• The will of a nation
• Censorship of truth
• Idea that truth is irrelevant
• Truth is dangerous
• Propaganda is used to orchestrate the direction
  of public opinion

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Contemporary Parallels

• Regent University Law Grads
• Ranked Tier 4 School
• Extremely conservative
• 150 in Administration
• Loyalty over intelligence
• Firing of U.S. Attorneys
• Serve at the pleasure of the Chief Executive
• No reasons given
• Not based on performance

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Repetitious Rhetoric

• Propaganda
• Overuse of the word freedom
• Overgeneralization of terror
• Simplification of good vs. evil
• Stirring up emotions
• 9/11 as a rallying point
• Scapegoating outsiders

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Karl Rove on Intellectualism

• As people do better, they start voting like
  Republicansunless they have too much education
  and vote Democratic, which proves there can be
  too much of a good thing

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The End(or is it?)