Igniting Barriers: Rise of the Students

Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz. The Wartburg Festival, 1817.

Taking inspiration from the Wartburg Festival of 1817, in which students used the name of Martin Luther in protest and symbolically burned a number of books, student organizations like the German Student Union and the NSDStB banded together to protest what they thought was wrong: the Un-German Spirit. Public showings and underhanded dealings led to uniform groups with common ideals, slowly moving under the Nazi flag. Propaganda was to be distributed to Germany, and their names spread.

German Propaganda Archive. “Come to the NSDAP Meeting. Admission Price: / War injured and the unemployed half price / Jews not admitted." 1930.

Nevington War Museum. "The German Student Fights for the Führer and the People". c.1920s.

E. Kienast. Gerhard Rühle, leader of NSDStB. 1938.

Nevington War Museum. The German Student NS-Assiociation. c1930s.

Nevington War Museum. NSDStB on Parade. c1920s.

The rise of student organizations was accompanied by an increased pressure from the Nazi party onto the German govenment. Two months after Hitler gained power, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service passed, directly starting the ignition of the barrier of hate against "un-German" groups.

ALEX Historical Legal and Legal Texts. Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. April 7, 1933.

IGNITING BARRIERS

Igniting Barriers

German Students Rise Up