Military education was a complex system of pre-military training in the GDR, which included not only schooling but also all other areas of society in a biographically staggered system. The overarching task of military education was described as the development of military awareness, which includes knowledge, attitudes, emotions, as well as acts of will and convictions regarding the defence of socialism and is expressed in a conscious personal contribution to the defence of the socialist fatherland (Ilter/Herrmann/Stolz, 1974, p. 30).

In a narrow understanding of the term, military education referred to pre-military training in the sense of acquiring military fitness. In this sense, it was about practical military exercises to prepare for basic military (and military sports) training in the National People's Army of the GDR (Nationale Volksarmee, NVA), and at the same time about recruiting young professionals and state service personnel for the NVA. Extracurricular activities such as those in the Society for Sports and Technology (Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik, GST) played a central role in this. In a broad understanding of the term, military education also included the functions, tasks and objectives of defence policy in the sense of an ideological education program. Here, it was not reduced to military usability but was at least equally concerned with promoting a specific awareness and shaping military readiness and motivation. A variety of elements, equally permeated with ideology for teaching in various school subjects, could be placed in the context of this broader understanding of military education.

Military instruction was a specific form of military education that was anchored in the (school) curriculum from the 1978/79 school year onwards. This instruction, which included militaristic practical and ideological elements (Decker & Koch, 2021, p. 4), did not have the status of a school subject. It was therefore not listed in official schedules and was not graded either. It had no stringent curriculum, was not linked to the training of corresponding specialist teachers and is not considered in textbooks and periodicals of pedagogical provenance (Geißler, 2023, pp. 1191-1197). It was set at four double lessons each on national defence issues for the 9th and 10th grades. In addition, there were about 3 weeks of courses/training camps over this period. While the (theoretical) lessons on national defence issues took place together, different gender-specific focuses were set for the practical training. The focus for boys was pre-military training, closely linked to the goal of recruiting them for military careers (course curriculum, 1984). For girls, the focus was on civil defence and imparting basic knowledge and skills on how to behave correctly in dangerous situations and how to carry out the necessary measures to protect life and aid (ibid., p. 7). Despite this differentiation, both training courses also included elements of the other (cf. ibid.). In view of the peace movement in the Federal Republic at the same time, the introduction of military training was sharply criticised by the churches, sometimes publicly rejected by parents, and in several cases, participation was actively refused.