Education: The Russian Way

In the U.S. and British zones of occupied Germany, Germans had little say in the reopening of their schools. Allied occupation officers did it all: organizing courses, screening teachers, printing new books and destroying the old.

Last week the Russians went at it differently. Marshal Georgi Zhukov summarily ordered the Germans themselves to open all schools (except universities) in the Soviet zone by October 1. German officials were “warned” to prepare buildings and books in time. All private schools were told to become public ones. The German zone administrator was given two days to submit a list of courses and books for Soviet approval. German school directors were told to go out and find non-Nazi teachers. Teaching, said Marshal Zhukov, must “reveal the reactionary character of Naziism, fascist race instructions, and the military character of the former German Reich.” His instructions were typical of the Russian way: make the Germans do the work themselves, police them while they do it.