Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Three-seat wooden school bench used by students in Germany during, and possibly before, the Holocaust. The bench was manufactured by the German company of Fritz Seitz, which began manufacturing school furniture around the turn of the twentieth century. The bench appears to be a modified design of the two-seat Rettig school bench, which was originally designed by Wilhelm Rettig in 1893. After Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi authorities passed new laws that dictated who could teach and be educated in the German school system. Quotas restricting the number of Jewish students who could attend public schools were established. Under the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service Act, Jewish teachers or ones considered “politically unreliable” were purged from schools, and made Nazi Party membership compulsory for all remaining teachers. At the entrance to school, students had to lift their arms and say, “Heil Hitler!” School curriculum was changed to emphasize sports, history, and racial science with the purpose of indoctrinating students with Nazi ideology. Subjects such as religion became less important, and were eventually removed from the curriculum altogether. Any textbooks used to educate students had to be approved by the party. Censors removed books that did not meet these standards from the classroom, and introduced new textbooks that taught students militarism, racism, antisemitism, obedience to state authority, and love for Hitler. Instruction aimed to produce race-conscious, obedient Germans who would be willing to die for the Führer and Fatherland. Nordic and other “Aryan” races were glorified, while Jews and other peoples were deemed inferior.
- Date
-
use:
before 1945
- Geography
-
use:
Germany
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the District of Unterfranken
- Contributor
-
Manufacturer:
Fritz Seitz Würzburg
Physical Details
- Language
- German
- Classification
-
Furnishings and Furniture
- Category
-
Furniture
- Object Type
-
School benches (aat)
- Genre/Form
- Desks.
- Physical Description
- Wooden school bench and backrest made from a single, finished, stained brown board with a single, wide, unfinished board for a foot rest. The attached writing surface consists of two finished wooden boards: the outer board has a long rectangular indentation near the top edge for storing writing tools, with three inkwell holders near the top outside edge. The desk top lifts at the lip and folds back for storage. Along the top rear edge of the desk is a narrow metal bar with mounts at each end to act as a bookrest. There is a narrow unfinished stretcher support beneath the desktop. The seat and desk have finished, stained blond wooden convex side pieces. The sides of the desk top, seat, and feet are attached to a wide, unfinished, horizontal board that extends beneath all four legs. There are dark brown finished wooden feet attached to one set of outer legs. The floor board sits atop an unfinished wooden stretcher that is attached vertically inside all four legs. The base, floor board, and stretchers may be replacements.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 35.000 inches (88.9 cm) | Width: 62.875 inches (159.703 cm) | Depth: 28.500 inches (72.39 cm)
- Materials
- overall : wood, metal, varnish, stain
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The school bench with attached desk was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by the District of Unterfranken, Bavaria, Germany.
- Record last modified:
- 2024-10-11 14:46:36
- This page:
- http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn523066
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Also in District of Unterfranken collection
The collection consists of school desks and educational charts relating to education and the teaching of racial science in schools in Nazi Germany before and during the holocaust.
Date: before 1945
Large wall chart with 16 photos of races from Europe and border regions to teach racial hygiene
Object
Large wall panel lithograph featuring 16 headshots of eight racial/ethnic types from Europe and neighboring countries. Nazi racial policy makers idealized the Nordic race and considered other racial groups to be inferior. The chart was produced by The Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA) and edited by Dr. Bruno K. Schultz, a race specialist and SS and Nazi Party member, as a teaching tool for racial hygiene instruction. Nazi ideology sought to create a racially pure German nation. All those who did not belong to the Nordic race were to be excluded from the community. Thus citizens had to be educated to recognize the physical characteristics that revealed the racially undesirable.
Large wall chart with 16 photos of non-European races to teach racial hygiene
Object
Large wall panel lithograph featuring 16 headshots of eight racial/ethnic types from outside Europe. Nazi racial policy makers idealized the Nordic race and considered other racial groups to be inferior. The chart was produced by The Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA) and edited by Dr. Bruno K. Schultz, a race specialist and SS and Nazi Party member, as a teaching tool for racial hygiene instruction. Nazi ideology sought to create a racially pure German nation. All those who did not belong to the Nordic race were to be excluded from the community. Thus citizens had to be educated to recognize the physical characteristics that revealed the racially undesirable.
Wooden school bench with desk and inkwells used in a German classroom
Object
Three-seat wooden school bench used by students in Germany during, and possibly before, the Holocaust. The bench was manufactured by the German company of Fritz Seitz, which began manufacturing school furniture around the turn of the twentieth century. The bench appears to be a modified design of the two-seat Rettig school bench, which was originally designed by Wilhelm Rettig in 1893. After Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi authorities passed new laws that dictated who could teach and be educated in the German school system. Quotas restricting the number of Jewish students who could attend public schools were established. Under the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service Act, Jewish teachers or ones considered “politically unreliable” were purged from schools, and made Nazi Party membership compulsory for all remaining teachers. At the entrance to school, students had to lift their arms and say, “Heil Hitler!” School curriculum was changed to emphasize sports, history, and racial science with the purpose of indoctrinating students with Nazi ideology. Subjects such as religion became less important, and were eventually removed from the curriculum altogether. Any textbooks used to educate students had to be approved by the party. Censors removed books that did not meet these standards from the classroom, and introduced new textbooks that taught students militarism, racism, antisemitism, obedience to state authority, and love for Hitler. Instruction aimed to produce race-conscious, obedient Germans who would be willing to die for the Führer and Fatherland. Nordic and other “Aryan” races were glorified, while Jews and other peoples were deemed inferior.
Large wall chart with photos of 4 European races used to teach racial hygiene in Nazi Germany
Object
Racial science chart featuring headshots of the four major ethnic groups of Europe as defined by Nazi racial policy makers. It was produced by The Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA) and edited by Dr. Bruno K. Schultz, a race specialist and SS and Nazi Party member, as a teaching tool for racial hygiene instruction. Nazi ideology sought to create a racially pure German nation. All those who did not belong to the Nordic race were to be excluded from the community. Thus citizens had to be educated to recognize the physical characteristics that revealed the racially acceptable and the racially undesirable.
