Research

The Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten (National-Political Education Institutes), known as Napolas for short, were the most prominent type of elite school in Nazi Germany. Founded in 1933 as a birthday present for Hitler, these boarding-schools, which educated pupils from the age of 10 upwards, were intended to train the future elite of the Third Reich in all walks of life.

A monograph based on this research project, entitled The Third Reich's Elite Schools: A History of the Napolas, has now been published by Oxford University Press.Read more...

Ancient Sparta was particularly prized as a paradigm for Prusso-German military elite-education during the 19th and 20th centuries. Analysis of two case-studies, the Royal Prussian Cadet-Corps and the Napolas, has demonstrated that generations of future German officers and putative Nazi leaders were trained to see a 'Spartan' way of life as their ultimate aspiration.

A monograph based on this research project, entitled Sparta's German Children. The ideal of ancient Sparta in the Royal Prussian Cadet-Corps, 1818-1920, and in National Socialist elite schools (the Napolas), 1933-1945, was published in 2013 by the Classical Press of Wales.Read more...