Small wood-framed chalkboard used by a student in Nazi Germany
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 8.125 inches (20.638 cm) | Width: 11.500 inches (29.21 cm) | Depth: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm)
Archival History
The blackboard was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1990 by the Schulmuseum des Rates des Bezirkes Dresden.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Schulmuseum des Rates des Bezirkes Dresden
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Wood-framed chalkboard used by a student in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. After Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi authorities passed new laws that dictated who could teach and be educated in the German school system. Quotas were placed that restricted the number of Jewish students who could attend public schools, and under the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service Act, teachers that were Jewish or considered “politically unreliable” were purged from schools. The act also made Nazi Party membership compulsory for all remaining teachers. At the entrance to school, students had to lift their arms and say, “Heil Hitler!” School curriculum was changed to emphasize sports, history, and racial science with the purpose of indoctrinating students with Nazi ideology. Subjects such as religion became less important, and were eventually removed from the curriculum altogether. Any textbooks used to educate students had to be approved by the party. Censors removed books that did not meet these standards from the classroom, and introduced new textbooks that taught students militarism, racism, antisemitism, obedience to state authority, and love for Hitler. Instruction aimed to produce race-conscious, obedient, self-sacrificing Germans who would be willing to die for Führer and Fatherland. Nordic and other “Aryan” races were glorified while labeling Jews and other so-called “inferior” peoples as “parasitic, bastard races” incapable of creating culture or civilization.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Small, rectangular, black, slate chalk board with a brown, wooden frame. The front of the board is gridded with 19 horizontal, and 28 vertical engraved lines. The reverse has 22 evenly spaced, horizontal engraved lines. The wood frame has a smooth finish, with rounded sides and box joints at the corners. A small hole is centered in the left side of the frame, and there are scratches in the wood and faint indistinguishable markings throughout. The surface of the board has several small, worn spots from use.
Subjects
- Germany.
- Education--Germany--History--20th century.
- Schools--Germany--Dresden.
- National socialism and education--Germany.
- Fascism and education--Germany--History--20th century.
Genre
- Blackboards.
- Object
- Furnishings and Furniture