Country year

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At the time of the Weimar Republic , there was a labor market policy offer under the name Landhilfe for young people who had completed their full-time schooling after the eighth year of school and left school. During the time of National Socialism , this measure was continued, expanded starting in 1934 and made mandatory for this group of students as a country year ; the called up young people were brought together in regional year camps and received a "national political training" there.

Land aid in the Weimar Republic

The "Landhilfe" was originally intended as a measure against youth unemployment and was propagated by the " Reichsanstalt für Arbeitsvermittlung und Arbeitslosenversicherung ". It was supposed to protect the school-leavers from the alleged dangers of the big cities and to show young people possible career prospects in agriculture. At the same time, the job market should be relieved.

The country year sponsored by the employment office was a non-binding offer and was aimed at the fourteen to fifteen year old primary school students in large cities. These students were placed with individual farmers for a period of at least six months.

Land aid in the Third Reich

During the time of National Socialism, this labor market policy measure was initially continued and modified several times by a decree of March 3, 1933, while retaining the name “Landhilfe”. Young people between the ages of 14 and 21 - up to 25 years of age under certain conditions - were placed as rural workers after voluntarily registering on family farms; in East Prussia larger companies were also permitted. In addition to travel expenses, the Reichsanstalt für Arbeitsvermittlung und Arbeitslosenversicherung paid the rural workers a monthly fee of up to 25 Reichsmarks; the farm received an average of 18.53 RM. Beneficiaries were soon given preferential treatment; thus the welfare offices were financially relieved.

In the financial year 1933/1934 just under 28 million RM were spent on land aid. By March 1934, 159,000 young people were temporarily employed as rural workers. Their participation was certified by a land helper letter , the submission of which was advantageous when applying for agricultural professions.

On May 7, 1934 showed Friedrich Syrup , President of the Reich Office for placement on the relevant departments not to allow "people of non-Aryan descent" for country assistance. This provision anticipated the Nuremberg Laws .

Country year 1934 to 1944

Camp of the Landjahr Winkelshütten, Whitsun trip to Marienfeld with a swastika flag on the truck (1942), photo from the Federal Archives

The form of "individual land aid" expired by 1936 and was gradually replaced by "group land aid", in which young people lived in shared accommodation and worked on different farms during the day.

By law of March 29, 1934, this form was expanded - initially on a trial basis in Prussia - to become an eight-month “land year” and made mandatory. The country year was intended for the school leavers. An education according to the principles of the National Socialist state and with physical exercises of all kinds was intended as an internal arrangement. This measure was a substitute for the general introduction of a ninth year of compulsory schooling, which was not possible in terms of financial policy, but would have effectively relieved the labor market. In the selection of students, economically weak and “politically endangered” areas should be given preference in order to “train children who have been raised in a Marxist way” in terms of national politics and “strengthen their ideology”. When National Socialist rule was established, other goals came to the fore. In addition to a career-directing intention, the formation of an elite was sought.

In a contemporary information brochure it says:

“The Landjahr is a state educational institution. It is subordinate to the Reich Minister for Science, Education and Public Education. In the Landjahr, carefully selected boys and girls are to be educated to be responsible young Germans who are physically hardened and strengthened in character and filled with the will to serve the people as a whole at work and in every position. "

The highest Landjahrführer was the NSDAP politician and later Ministerialdirigent in the Reich Ministry of Education Adolf Schmidt-Bodenstedt .

Formation education

The young people called up were housed from April to December in rented communal accommodation such as former manor houses, monasteries or inns. There were usually 60 young people in the camp. On three to four working days, the morning was reserved for work in agriculture; During the harvest season, people worked all day. No payment was planned; those who were obliged to pay a year old received only a small amount of pocket money of RM 0.05 per day.

The education plan of the country year included "pre-military training, athletics, swimming, boxing, etc." for the boys and "gymnastics, athletics, swimming, games and dance" for the girls. As practical and pre-vocational education, “manual work, work in the warehouse, in the garden and with the farmer” is listed for the boys, “kitchen work, housework, laundry care, sewing and mending, gardening, help in the village kindergarten and with the farmer”. “National political training” is also mentioned as an essential part of education. Shielded from their parents' house and church, the young people were exposed to a camp education with services, roll calls, order exercises, field games and celebrations with songs influenced by the National Socialists.

Compulsory year

The country year was in competition with the Reich Labor Service and compulsory year , which became mandatory for young men from 1935 and for young women in 1938. Young women under the age of 25 had to prove that they had worked in agriculture or housekeeping for one year. The compulsory year could also be completed in rural aid. From April 1938, the group land aid in the land service of the Hitler Youth.

In the reports from the Reich , the secret situation reports of the security service , a persistent " rural exodus " is lamented for 1938 , which even endangers agricultural production . The willingness to do the land service is insufficient, the young women often evaded and would rather do their compulsory year in the city's housekeeping.

Applicants who had completed the Landjahr were given preference in the nanny or NS nurse training course. The country year was counted towards the training periods of a "agricultural labor apprenticeship" and a "rural housekeeping apprenticeship" and partly also to other apprenticeship periods, teacher training and the later " compulsory year ".

Gifted boys were also offered the prospect of admission to a national political educational institution or a free position in a secondary school.

Numbers

In 1934 the number of people who were drafted in the land year was around 21,000, rose to a maximum of 32,000 in 1937 and fell to around 16,000 by 1944. While the male participants initially predominated, in the end the relationship was reversed due to the war.

The state expenses for a student in the country year were around 500 RM and significantly exceeded the costs for students in a middle school. From 1937, the financial resources for the country year were throttled.

literature

  • Reinhard Hauke: The country year - a piece of educational history under the swastika. (Diss.) Gelnhausen 1997, ISBN 3-931559-20-3 .
  • Detlev Humann: 'Arbeitsschlacht' - job creation and propaganda in the Nazi era 1933–1939. Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8353-0838-1 (pp. 482-591).
  • Annemarie u. Jörn-Peter Leppien : Country year for girls in Schleswig-Holstein. Neumünster 1989
  • Edith Niehuis: Das Landjahr - A youth education facility in the time of National Socialism. Nörten-Hardenberg 1984
  • Tags Landdienst , country helper , country assistance , the country year in Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: vocabulary of Nazism . 2nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019549-1 , pp. 369–373.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In science, the topic of ´land year´ was treated only marginally for a long time ... until Edith Niehuis presented a first comprehensive ´evaluation and appreciation´ in her pedagogical dissertation in 1983, which ´ also from a historical point of view as the basis for each other Investigation can apply '(Leppien 1989, p. 12).
  2. ↑ Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vocabulary of National Socialism , Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-11-013379-2 , p. 371.
  3. ↑ Detlev Humann: 'Arbeitsschlacht' - job creation and propaganda in the Nazi era 1933–1933. Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8353-0838-1 , pp. 489-496.
  4. ↑ Detlev Humann: 'Arbeitsschlacht' , p. 496.
  5. ↑ Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vokabular ... , p. 371 with note 21.
  6. ↑ Dieter Maier: Labor administration and the National Socialist persecution of Jews in the years 1933–1939 . In: Labor Market and Special Decree. Human exploitation, racial policy and employment office, (contributions to National Socialist health and social policy, vol. 8) Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-88022-957-0 , p. 103.
  7. ↑ Detlev Humann: 'Arbeitsschlacht' p. 505.
  8. ↑ Law on the land year of March 29th in: Gerd Rühle: Das Third Reich. Documentary representation of the building of the nation. The second year - 1934 . Hummelverlag Berlin [1935], pp. 218-219.
  9. ↑ Quarterly Issues for Economic Research 1934 / after Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vokabular ... , p. 372 with note 30.
  10. ↑ Reinhard Hauke: Das Landjahr - A piece of educational history under the swastika. Gelnhausen 1997, ISBN 3-931559-20-3 , p. 9.
  11. ↑ Compare archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Accessed September 9, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alt-bramstedt.de
  12. ↑ weindorf-johannisberg.de: Leaflet for the parents of those who are obliged to pay a year in the country.
  13. ↑ Detlev Humann: 'Arbeitsschlacht' p. 510.
  14. ↑ Heinz Boberach (Ed.): Messages from the Reich. Herrsching 1984, ISBN 3-88199-158-1 , Vol. 2, pp. 161, 294.
  15. ^ Wolfgang Keim: Education under the Nazi dictatorship. 2nd edition Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-18802-0 , vol. 2, p. 70.
  16. ↑ 279.00 RM in the comparison year 1943 = Reinhard Hauke: Das Landjahr. P. 49.