November 15, 1938: Jewish Children Expelled from German Public Schools

On November 15, 1938, the Nazi regime issued a decree officially prohibiting Jewish children from attending German public schools. The order came just days after Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass),also referred to as the November Pogrom, when Nazis attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany and Austria.

The decree required Jewish students to leave German schools immediately and attend segregated Jewish schools instead. This was but the latest in antisemitic discrimination in German education: since 1933, Jewish students had faced increasing restrictions, including limits on their numbers in public schools. By November 1938, however, Jewish children were completely excluded from Germany’s public education system.

This meant they were forcibly separated from friends, teachers, and classmates. It was another step in the Nazi regime’s systematic effort to isolate Jews from German society. The decree also demonstrates how persecution could be enacted through seemingly ordinary institutions and administrative decisions. Schools, which should be places of learning and belonging, became instruments of exclusion.

Questions for Students

- How might being suddenly removed from school affect a child’s sense of belonging and identity?

- Why do you think the Nazi regime targeted schools and education?

- What does this action reveal about the relationship between laws and discrimination?

- How can schools today ensure that students recognize exclusion and challenge it rather than participate in it?

- What responsibilities do educators have when laws or policies discriminate against a particular group?

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