Essay On Hitler Youth And Propaganda

One way in which the Hitler Youth pushed the Nazification of Germany was through the brainwashing of the youth in schools (Featherman, 1932). Hitler was smart and realized it would be very hard to convince adults to change their ways immediately, so he targeted the youth because they were young and easily manipulated. According to

"Propaganda attempts to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." These words of Adolf Hitler are taken from his book Mien Kampf (My Struggle) published in 1926. Propaganda was an elaborate and essential tool used extensively by Hitler and the Nazi's during their terrorizing reign of Germany and throughout Europe. Not only was it used to promote and endorse the party and its leader's extreme anti-Semitic values, but also to mask the horrifying truths of what was to become known as the Holocaust.

This proved to be relatively easy, because often the leaders of the other youth groups sympathized with Hitler and were easily lured into Hitler youth. By the end of 1933 membership had increased to two million and by 1936 it had risen to five million.

Propaganda is the use of mass media like television, radio, magazines and other mediums to make a large number of people believe a specific point of view. Propaganda controlled Germans and allowed them to adapt to the idea of murdering the Jews. Nazi party created such effective propaganda that immediately people only saw or heard their opinions and they had the urge to comply with them. They portrayed their anti-semitism and the murderous concept of killing Jews in a way that made it indirect yet straightforward and clear. This propaganda allowed almost the entire population to develop a strong hatred for the Jews. Hitler forced all media sources in Germany to send out antisemitic messages to citizens. Anything that opposed him in media was censored or removed. Posters and advertisements were used to falsify the German citizens into supporting violence leading up to the Holocaust. It was especially powerful in enabling the genocide to move from ideology to action. These visual deliberately misled people to believe the ideology was right because of the constant repetition of the same message. Propaganda softened people’s resistance to Nazi aggression. Nazi propaganda encouraged those carrying out the holocaust to think their actions were acceptable. The holocaust was not only caused by

Action. Fun. Adventure. These were the things promised to children as young as ten, who were lured by the promises of Hitler Youth or BDM. By training the children rigorously and implementing Nazi Germany’s core beliefs in them, Hitler formed future Nazi citizens that would be willing to sacrifice their lives for Hitler and the Third Reich. In 1920, Hitler approved the founding of Hitler Youth which modeled a previous youth group who distinguished themselves, wanting to reconnect with the land ( Lisciotto). The brainwashing of Germany’s children through the use of Hitler Youth programs was unethical: it was created to mold children into perfect Nazi citizens,implementing a deep sense of racial superiority taught by teachers, infusing deep hatred for anything the Nazis considered a threat to Germany, and due to Hitler Youth teachings of reporting adults who were not law-abiding citizens, it lead to children reporting their parents out of duty to the Third Reich.

“Once Hitler rose to power, he banned all other groups, even Boy Scouts, and only allowed for the Hitler Youth Program,” (Trueman). Hitler strongly believed that the youth was the future of Germany (Trueman). Additionally, he gradually started assigning adult roles to

The Hitler Youth, also known as the Hitlerjugend, was designed specifically for young Germans who wanted to fulfill their duties to the Fatherland and its leader, Adolf Hitler. Founded in 1926, this helped Hitler gain support from children throughout the entire country. Children as young as 6, with good records could join and become apprentices. By 1933, there were 100,000 members of the Hitler Youth and by 1940, 90% of all German children were members of the organization. Children were encouraged directly, mostly through school teachers. Parent permission was not necessary, making it easier for children to join. There were different sections of the Hitler Youth, based on age. It also had several divisions much like a real army. The boys were treated much like real soldiers at Hitler Youth training camps. They practiced military marching daily, strengthened their bodies, and had their hair shaved in military

During the time of Adolf Hitler, many young German Kids were forced to join the Hitler Youth. Teachers pressured the German students into joining the Hitler Youth program, In “Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow,” author Susan Campbell Bartolletti discussed the ways Adolf Hitler used education to further Nazi ideals. To make young Germans into good Nazis, Hitler changed the textbooks and the curriculum, so that it only taught Nazi approved ideas. Hitler also made the German students pledge to him every single day, by saying, “Heil Hitler” to a poster of him and a Nazi flag. Hitler and the Nazis also forced teachers to teach the Nazi ideas to make sure that every German student would grow up to be a good Nazi.

Nazi propaganda played an important role in the Holocaust, the extermination of millions based on race, religion, and ethnicity. It successfully secured the acquiescence of the general public to the crimes committed by the Nazis. The Nazi Party used their control of the media to fuel anti-Semitic belief and to persuade Germans to support the Nazi cause throughout the Holocaust and World War II.

Hitler believed that the future of Nazi Germany was the children. He set up a program to educate the children the way he wanted. The Hitler Youth had teaching schemes to fill the youth's minds with Nazi Germany. Before Hitler came into power, the kids could avoid doing things for Hitler Youth if they

Propaganda is information of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view. Hitler was able to use propaganda successfully throughout his reign as leader to shine light on his views, the biggest one being anti-Semitism. The Nazi party spread their propaganda through art, music, theatre, films, books, radio, educational materials and the press. Hitler used propaganda as a way of persuading German people into prejudice. Propaganda was used

Action. Fun. Adventure. These were the things promised to children as young as ten, who were lured by Hitler Youth and BDM organizations. By training the children rigorously and implementing Nazi Germany’s core beliefs in them, Hitler formed future Nazi citizens that would be willing to sacrifice their lives for him and the Third Reich. In 1920, Hitler approved the founding of Hitler Youth which modeled a previous youth group who distinguished themselves through clothing and such, wanting to reconnect Germans with the land ( Lisciotto). The brainwashing of Germany’s children through the use of Hitler Youth programs was unethical: it was created to mold children into perfect Nazi citizens, implementing a deep sense of racial superiority taught by teachers: infusing deep hatred for anything the Nazis considered a threat to Germany, and due to Hitler Youth teachings of reporting adults who were not law-abiding citizens, it led to children reporting their parents out of duty to the Third Reich.

The pinnacle of the movement is embodied during the raging battles of World War II. At present, it is apparent that the entire barrage of propaganda for seven plus years was in preparation to send German youths, both boys and girls, to both fronts to fight the Allied powers. According to expert David Welch of the BBC, the Nazi usage of propaganda was so persuasive that Hitlerjugend became paramilitary troops who were sent directly to Poland to fight the Soviets as well as to the Rhine region to fend off the Americans. One such propaganda poster depicted a father with a SS armband helping his son shoot a gun, both of them in full military attire, as well as another which, when translated, says, “For Freedom and Life; The People’s Storm,” (see Appendix B) and Welch argued that such encouragement would have filled the youth on the battlefield with drive. The surprising fanaticism and reckless bravado of the Hitler Youth in battle left the Western Allied forces astonished. There were reports of accounts which detailed how the adolescent boys fought till their death without the thought of surrendering; young boys were shot by soldiers who were old enough to be their own fathers. From the D-Day and Invasion of Normandy, the Hitlerjugend lost 8000 over the course of six hours. Even boys at the age of seventeen were described as ruthless fighters, who would outfight their fellow adult Nazi soldiers, and this can be directly attributed to their indoctrination. Out of the

From the time Adolf Hitler came into office in 1933, up to the time when Germany surrendered to the Allied forces and Hitler committed suicide in 1945; the future for Germany became strongly invested in the hands of the younger generations. The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization formed in 1926. It gave kids excitement, adventure and new heroes to idolize. Hitler admired young kids drive, energy and strong love for Germany. He recognized these qualities and made it part of his plan to control the future world but the real question is why did Adolf Hitler pick children for his future? The education and the lack of schooling in independent thinking that instilled the ideology that brainwashed the Hitler- Jugend and eventually led

Speaking on the Hitler Youth, and just how violently anti-Semitic the group was, Jewish survivor Marcel Back explained, “On Sundays we like to go have a nice excursion in the forest, and then you saw a few of those so you tried to avoid to get close to them because they could beat you up (USC SFI VHA, Marcel Back).” Another survivor, Fred Berdach noted, “There were Hitler Youth on the streets […] and they became bullies. You were bullied in the streets, you were bullied in the schools, you were bullied anywhere and everywhere (USC SFI VHA, Fred Berdach).” Berdach’s account was in reference to the evolution of the Hitler Youth in 1938, just three years before the beginning of the mass killing. Many of the then Hitler Youth members would have been eligible to become soldiers in WWII, as well as the older ex-members. Perhaps the Hitler Youth members played the roles of enforcers of the killing program and pressured others into doing the same.