the soviet partisan movement 1941-1944 by edgar m. howell

104 THE SOVIET PARTISAN MOVEMENT
to counteract Soviet propaganda, appease the local population, and gain
an effective theme for German propaganda in the rear areas. 29 And
even Goebbels saw the need for a clearly drawn church policy and
understood its propaganda value. 30
In the campaigns prior to BARBAROSSA, the Army had restored
churches to religious uses when desired by the populace and German
chaplains had frequently held services for the people. In Russia, however,
there was the strange picture of Hungarian, Romanian, and Italian
chaplains holding services for the natives when the German chaplains
were not allowed to do so. 31
Education
Hitler flatly ordered that the people of the occupied territories be
denied all but the most rudimentary education. Anything higher, he
said, was under no circumstances to be permitted, for a knowledge of
reading and writing would enable the eastern peoples to acquire some
historical background which might lead them to nationalism and opposition
to German rule. 32
All in all, it is extremely doubtful that the average Russian ever
became overly perturbed about this matter of schooling, despite the fact
the USSR had provided free education and the opportunity for unlimited
advancement for the younger generation within the framework
of the state. In executing such a policy, however, certainly the Germans
lost a valuable propaganda medium, and one the Soviets had
always made maximum use of. Probably the most detrimental effect
of the whole business was the propaganda opening it gave the Communists
who used it to the fullest. "The Germans need land and slaves;
slave must be kept dumb, so they close the schools," was a typical
approach. 33 For the Germans, it was just another lost opportunity.
Food Shortages
While in a general sense the decline of native morale stemmed from
the German failure to provide positive answers to many burning problem,
more immediately felt and direct in its effect on the population
29 Ltr, Rosenberg to Reich Commissioners for Ostland and Ukraine, 13 Mar 42.
EAP 99/40 in Rosenberg files.
30
The Goebbels Diaries, op. cit., p. 225, entry for 22 May 42.
31 See: Oral testimony of Von Brauchitsch, in I.M.T.,op. cit., XX, p. 578.
32 Picker, op. cit., pp. 73, 116-17; for additional German views on the educational
policy, see: Himmler's speech, 16 Sep 42, in Persoenl Stab RFSS. 161-b-12/154;
ltr, Von Homeyer to Rosenberg, 30 Dec 42. EAP 99/40, in Rosenberg Collection.
33
Soviet propaganda quoted in "Urgent Questions of Partisan Warfare and Recruitment
of Local Volunteers” in OKH/Fde. H. Ost, Nr. 3220/42, 25.XI.42.
H 3/468.2.