Patriotic teaching

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As Patriotic education was during the First World War the propaganda influencing both the German soldiers and the " home front " in the sense of the views and objectives Supreme Command designated (OHL). The primary aim was to strengthen the will to persevere in the face of the increasingly difficult military and economic situation from 1916 onwards.

Introduction to the troops

On July 29, 1917, the Chief of the General Staff, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, issued guidelines for reconnaissance among the troops . These regulated both the content and the organizational side of this lesson. The term itself wasn't officially introduced until September 1917.

These propaganda events were carried out by so-called reconnaissance officers, under the supervision of the respective military command authorities. The scout officers gave lectures and showed films. The soldiers were instructed about the causes and the need to continue the war, as the OHL saw it.

Introduction in the home area

Very soon these events were extended to the home area. Because of this interference in domestic politics and the attitude of the OHL to an annexation policy, as advocated by the German Fatherland Party , this measure was heavily criticized by the parties of the Intergroup Committee ( Center , Progressive People's Party and SPD ).

At school

In schools, patriotic instruction was known as war hours. From the beginning of the First World War they were mainly given in high schools. They were used for civic education and were considered national instruction. War hours stood out as exceptional hours from everyday school life and were intended to make the students more aware of the exceptional situation in which Germany found itself due to the state of war.

For example, a war hour at a grammar school in Ulm had the following sequence:

Every Saturday the students of all classes gathered in the school's ballroom for the last lesson. The lessons, which were always under the direction of the director, began with a “patriotic song”, which a teacher accompanied on the piano. The Deutschlandlied or O Deutschland hoch im Ehren and Die Wacht am Rhein were voted on . Then students read “weekly reports” on the latest events in the theaters of war and explained the current military situation in short lectures on large maps. There were also reports of individual heroic acts by soldiers in the field, their steadfastness and the willingness of the population to make sacrifices. Furthermore, former students, teachers or guests gave lectures on their experiences at the front. As far as there were fallen students or teachers, the headmaster read an obituary and the song "Morgenrot, Morgenrot" was sung. During the war hour, a donation box went around so that the students could “do” a service to the fatherland. The hour of the war ended with a patriotic song.

Effect and end

Obviously, the patriotic education had not been able to develop any far-reaching effects in terms of the desired goals. The general tiredness of war and the socio-political division in the late war years were probably too strong for any noteworthy propaganda successes to be achieved.

At the end of October, classes were given up when a press officer was appointed to the Reich Chancellor for the first time and the OHL's media work ended.

literature

  • Lieutenant Urbach (High Command Heeresgruppe Eichhorn): Patriotic instruction. For official use. in: Miesmacher-Spiegel. 10th Army Newspaper, Vilnius 1917, OCLC 645494250 .
  • Deputy Gene. Come. IX. AK Aufklärungsabt .: Leaflet for war reconnaissance . (together with the supplement Patriotic Education. ) Altona 1917, OCLC 250933243 .
  • Patriotic instruction in the home army Communications from the Press Department of the Deputy General Command XVIII. Army Corps. Frankfurt am Main 1918, OCLC 183368982 , (journal).
  • Anne Lipp: Control of opinion in war. War experiences of German soldiers and their interpretation 1914–1918, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht Verlag, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 978-3-525-35140-6 .
  • Martin Kronenberg: The importance of the school for the "home front" in the First World War Collections, relief services, celebrations and nailing in the German Reich. (= The Importance of School for the 'Home Front' during World War I. , Dissertation, Universität Göttingen 2010) Göttingen 2010, OCLC 838290876 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Markus Pöhlmann : Patriotic teaching. in: Gerhard Hirschfeld , Gerd Krumeich , Irina Renz : Encyclopedia First World War. 2nd Edition. Schöningh, Paderborn 2004, ISBN 3-506-73913-1 .
  2. ↑ Schott, "War hours" in school, in: Deutsches Philologen-Blatt 1914 , p. 698f .; Schott, “At the end of the war hours” in school, in: Deutsches Philologen-Blatt 1918 , p. 419.