During the Third Reich, German music education was seen to be a means to redeem the world through the German race and culture, particularly music. The official approach of music education was Musische Erziehung, which emphasized music?s power to transform human beings and society. After World War II, German music educators considered the reasons that led to this misuse of music education and developed the concept of aesthetic education. At the core of this approach is not the idea of transforming human beings and redeeming the world but a self-determined, critical student and an education of the sensorial perception. Although the German approach to aesthetic education was developed at the same time as in the United States, it is significantly different. The American approach to aesthetic education refers to the meaning of aesthetics as a branch of philosophy examining the aesthetic value of art. This meaning of aesthetics emphasizes humanistic dimensions in terms of transforming the world and human beings through intense aesthetic experiences. German music education relies on the meaning of aesthetics in the original Greek meaning in terms of perception by means of the senses and points out the need of critical thinking for students.