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What do we learn besides arithmetic?

Nazi propaganda touched everything in the Protectorate — even mathematics textbooks, for example. Can you uncover the ways in which the Ministry of Schooling and National Education tried to manipulate students in those days?

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Read the text of the exercise no.375, which was solved by pupils during the World War II.

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When you left click on the image, you can magnify sections of it.
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375. A particularly cruel demand from the Versailles dictate. German children suffered the consequences of malnutrition, and 800,000 civilians died as a result of the blockade. Still, the German government had to hand over 140,000 dairy cows to Belgium and France.

In 1931, one monitored dairy cow provided 3678 liters of milk.

  1. How many liters of milk would 140,000 cows have provided in one year?
  2. How many liters of milk would each German schoolchild have been able to receive per day for breakfast? (8 million schoolchildren, 240 days of school.)
  3. 1932 brought 69,000 tons of butter to Germany. What percent of this amount would it be possible to make from the milk of those cows? (28l of milk makes 1kg of butter.)

Math problem for students in the first grade of middle school (which corresponds to the fifth grade of elementary school today). Source: Arithmetic for Middle Schools: First Grade, Prague 1943

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Mark the passages, that are not necessary to solve the exercise.

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With the left mouse button, highlight the chosen word or phrase. This offers a list from which you can choose the category you’re marking. You can erase the highlight using the X.
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Math problem for students in the first grade of middle school (which corresponds to the fifth grade of elementary school today). Source: Arithmetic for Middle Schools: First Grade, Prague 1943

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What was the author of this word problem trying to share with students?

Rank the textbook author’s goals by magnifying and reducing them.

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To vindicate Nazi Germany’s behavior during the Second World War.
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To accuse the victors of the First World War of making an unfair peace treaty with Germany.
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To emphasize the deepening supply problems during the economic crisis.
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To give students practice with multiplication, division, and calculating percentages.
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To show students the arrogance of the victors of the First World War, who forced Germany into signing the peace treaty with a maritime blockade.
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To say that Germany children could have more milk for breakfast.
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To make Czech children sympathize with German children.
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After the war, the exercise disappeared from the textbook. The page looked like this:

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When you left click on the image, you can magnify sections of it.
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Source: Arithmetic for Middle Schools: First Grade, Prague 1943

Source: Arithmetic for Middle schools: First grade, reissued for the 1946/47 school year

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What do we learn besides counting?

Why did this exercise appear in Czech textbooks during the Second World War?

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Write answers to the questions or other comments into the text box (as assigned).
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The project was funded by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic