The concept was a factor in the requirement of a year of land service for members of Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls. This period of compulsory service was required after completion of a student's basic education, before they could engage in advanced studies or become employed. Although working on a farm was not the only approved form of service, it was a common one; the aim was to bring young people back from the cities, in the hope that they would then stay "on the land". In 1942, 600,000 boys and 1.4 million girls were sent to help bring in the harvest. The concept was one of the reasons for the creation of the Reich Harvest Thanksgiving Festival whose main purpose was the recognition of the achievements of the German farmers (as well as the propagation of nationalist, anti-Semitic ideologies).