Fifth Grade Nazi Biology Textbook
The fifth grade Nazi biology textbook was designed to shape the thoughts of
young people in Nazi Germany in order to conform them to the Nazi way of thinking.
The textbook was Nazi propaganda disguised as childhood education. This was one
of the tactics used by the Nazis to design their perfect society of likeminded people.
It was extremely effective as young minds are very easy to mold. This particular
biology textbook, written for fifth grade girls, made compelling references to how
natural selection or “survival of the fittest” applies to humans as well as animals.
The text filled with quotes from Hitler such as “He who wants to live must fight, and
he who does not want to fight in this world of perpetual struggle does not deserve to
live!” (Excerpts from a Nazi Biology Textbook (1942). Web. 3 Oct. 2015) instills that
only the strong deserve to live. The textbook also discourages individualism and that
the only purpose of the individual is to serve the whole group. It taught that
individual life is not important and must be sacrificed to protect the species.
Individuals who were not useful, or deemed harmful to the whole must be
eliminated. The textbook taught that the society needed to be structured where
