English Translation

154 Hand in hand with dismantling of Czech education went also his Germanization. The number of teaching hours of German language increased. German became compulsory in the burgher schools on the basis of the government regulation No.260/1939 Coll. on German teaching at Czech burger schools from 5 October (414), in the general school a year later on the government decree No.232/1940 Coll. on German teaching at Czech general schools from 25 January. (415) Since the school year 1940/1941 German has been compulsory at all types of Czech schools according to Government Regulation No. 394/1940 Coll., which is newly adapted to compulsory classrooms in schools of general and burghers of 26 September. (406) Since the beginning of 1942 the number of hours of German language has been increased to eight a week (newly, not only afternoon conversational hours were introduced, but also for training in professional German terminology). This task was taken up by a commission of the Ministry of Education and National Awareness, which was established already in the second Republic. Its task was to remove from school textbooks if it was only a little technically possible learning that did not meet the new political orientation. A total of 1,200 types of textbooks for all types of schools were revised. About 10 percent of the books were withdrawn from circulation and 60 percent had to be modified. The Commission was aware that these were large economic values, which is why it suggested adjustments rather than exclusion. ((417) The biggest problems occurred since the 1940/1941 school year, when the old and unsatisfactory textbooks were finally discarded and new ones were not available. Immediately after the creation of the Protectorate, the state emblem of the Czech-Slovak Republic was removed from the front wall and until 1941 only the cross remained there. In May 1941, portrait photographs of Adolf Hitler and Emil Hácha appeared on the front face of the classes, the cross and the so-called larger character of the protectorate were placed on the side wall. All portraits of Edvard Beneš had to be handed over to the district authorities by the end of 1939 at the latest, photographs of T.G. Masaryk survived until the summer of 1940.