Education and Upbringing during the Occupation

The elementary school was shortened by a year during the occupation. It was followed by burgher or secondary schools. Even the burgher schools were declared selective, so that most pupils could only have a basic education. German was compulsory in all types of schools. There was also a revision of textbooks; unsatisfactory textbooks were withdrawn from the schools and most of them were revised. Pupils and students were often put to work as agricultural labourers, which further deteriorated the level of education. The Czech youth was to be re-educated in the spirit of National Socialism by means of the Curatorium for the Education of Youth, which brought together young people from 10 to 18 years of age who had to take part in compulsory service. As Czech youth did not participate very actively in the programmes of the Curatorium, from 1944 the so-called "Model Swarms" were organised for the younger age group, and "ZZ (Special Units)" for the older boys. Some ZZ platoons were deployed in rescue work after air raids and, in 1945, in digging trenches in Moravia and Austria.

Emanuel Moravec – the chairman of the curatorium – was its main figure. In 1942, by the direct intervention of K. H. Frank, he was appointed Minister of Education and Enlightenment and remained in this position almost until the end of the war. On May 5, 1945, at the beginning of the Prague Uprising, he shot himself.