German Elementary Education from 1890 to 1945

Katharine Kennedy is the Charles A. Dana Professor Emerita of History at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia. A specialist on the history of German education, her publications encompass the Imperial, Weimar, and Nazi periods and address themes such as religion, colonialism, regionalism, and music. Her recent publications include the article “Singing about Soldiers in German Schools, from 1890 to 1945” (Paedagogica Historica 2016) and the chapter, “‘German Youth, Your Leader!’: How National Socialism Entered Elementary Schools in 1933”, in From Weimar to Hitler: Studies in the Dissolution of the Weimar Republic and the Establishment of the Third Reich, 1932–1934 (Berghahn Books 2019).

• List of FiguresAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Schooling in Wilhelmine GermanyChapter 1. Schools and Schoolbooks in Wilhelmine GermanyChapter 2. Religious Education in German SchoolsChapter 3. Community: Ordinary Stories and Moral ObligationChapter 4. Homeland, Fatherland, and Distant Lands: Spaces of BelongingChapter 5. Royal Representation of the NationChapter 6. Lessons about War: Sacrifice and Nationhood in Wilhelmine GermanyPart II: Schooling in the Weimar RepublicChapter 7. Schools and Schoolbooks in Weimar GermanyChapter 8. Weimar-Era Religious Instruction: Continuity and ReformChapter 9. Lessons about Community in Weimar Schools: Strong-Armed Men and Dutiful ChildrenChapter 10. Where is the German’s Fatherland? Within and beyond the Weimar BordersChapter 11. Representing the Republic: The Limits of Civic EducationChapter 12. Lessons about War: Mourning and Victimhood in Weimar GermanyPart III: Schooling under the Nazi DictatorshipChapter 13. Schools and Schoolbooks in Nazi GermanyChapter 14. Christian Education in Nazi SchoolsChapter 15. Lessons about Community in the Racial StateChapter 16. Lebensraum in the ClassroomChapter 17. The Hitler Myth for ChildrenChapter 18. Learning to Imagine War, AgainConclusionBibliographyIndex

“This is an excellent book with a wide-ranging and ambitious scope, covering education in three key periods of modern German history: Wilhelmine Germany, the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. Kennedy presents a careful analysis of schooling in each of these three eras. Examining textbooks and curricula, Kennedy provides an important contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the history of education in Germany, between 1890 and 1945.” • Lisa Pine, Institute of Historical Research, University of London