Hitler's Youngsters

Schools were riddled with propaganda like a disease, it controlled people instead of just influencing them. “The youth organizations, particularly the Hitler Youth, have been accorded powers of control which enable every boy and girl to exercise authority backed up by threats.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) Even as the kids were being controlled, adults who worked in certain areas that refused to respect the Nazi Party ultimately became fired. “Teachers who did not support the Nazi Party were sacked.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) Most of all, almost everyone became submissive and obeyed the Nazis. “Gradually, the old teachers were replaced with younger ones, those with Nazi orientations.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) As so, the new teachers that had been radicalized conformed with and embraced the new curriculum. This new school curriculum was not very overwhelming but, most of the commands shaped the German children. The Holocaust Explained argues that, “Hitler and the Nazis wanted all young Aryans to be physically fit and perfectly obedient.”(The Holocaust Explained, n.d.) As more people and children submitted to the Nazis, commands that were made out of the bounds of an average school’s limits were enforced. Children were bribed out of their freedoms for money, unknowingly and

German children, on the other hand, lived free of worry that their government would condemn them for their race. Starting as early as the 1920s, German children were the targets of Nazi propaganda in schools and extracurricular activities. The Hitler Youth, an organization that taught young German children Nazi beliefs, officially began in 1926. The Hitler Youth possessed only 50,000 members in early 1933. By the end of 1933, the Hitler Youth gained around 2 million members. In 1936, when membership became mandatory for all children between the ages of 10 and 17, the Hitler Youth peaked at 5.4 million members across Europe.

The Nazi party manipulated the education and upbringing of many German youths, garnering their loyalty, strength and numbers through the concept of racial unity. The Youth began as the very first and essential step in creating a new generation of Nazi’s who would eventually come to inherit Germany. The German education system had been hijacked and transformed in order to encapsulate an entire generation of youths into fighting for one cause, the Nazi Cause. Especially at an age, were children were susceptible to the vigour and power of authority. Simple things such as children’s picture books and bedtime stories had been altered to portray Jewish characters as villainous and sinister, and Aryans as heroes and legendary. School subjects

Although the notorious Nazi party is ridiculed more than feared today, it was once the most formidable political group in Europe. Until the ending of the World War II, the full extent of its malicious intentions and actions remained unknown to the world. When soldiers uncovered the death camps, files and citizens the true horror came out. The governments of the world asked how this could have happened? Adolf Hitler’s nightmarish political ideas consumed an entire nation. The Nazi party assumed complete control of not only Germany, but almost the entirety of Europe. More importantly however, was its control of the youth of Germany. Together these elements set the stage for a war machine like no other.

People in all countries have always been attracted to youth groups because they can identify with the activities of that group. This paper will demonstrate how the Hitler Youth movement created a place to belong for many German youth after World War I. The idealism and propaganda used by the Nazis resulted in many members of youth groups volunteering for the Hitler Youth. The paper will argue that the Nazis exploited a generation of young Germans and gave them an identity that reacted against a common enemy in the years leading up to the war (1922-1939). The Youth of Germany were challenging the status quo; reacting against an older generation of Germans that were accused of the country’s social problems after World War I. This paper will

From the 1920s to 40’s, a hatred of Jews was developed in millions of young German people as more and more youths were won over to Nazism. This happened through Hitler Youth, an organization lead by Adolf Hitler. Hitler greatly valued the youths of Germany, therefore making organizations for both boys and girls.

Adolf Hitler began one of the most influential and vicious fascist regimes known in history. If the First World War had not happened, along with the humiliation and defeat Germany suffered, Hitler and his messages riddled with hate would not have been popularized. Hitler promised change and was seen almost as a redeemer of Germany to his followers. His speeches were a form of manipulation that enlightened individuals on his motives, some of which he concealed from them. The three most important things one should know in order to understand the context of my document, "Speech of August 1, 1923", by Adolf Hitler to the National Socialists, are the debilitating Treaty of Versailles, the community of National Socialists, and Hitler's rise to power to develop control over the movement.

In Germany during the time of 1933 through 1945 the role of the Nazi Policies toward women and youth carried a significance toward the the society. It is shown that Hitler treated and taught society to treat women a stereotypical and unfair way. The education was used to corrupt the youth in an attempt to control the future . He wanted youth and women to be perfectly up to his standards and fit into his uniformed personalities. People of Germany looked up or had to look up to Hitler due to his control. They thought and agreed with many of his points therefore they did not see this as a problem because Hitler did not see it as a problem.

The Hitlerjugend was a youth group run by the Nazi party and in 1937 it was made the only youth group allowed in German controlled areas. The Nazi's methods for molding and controlling the minds of German children in the Hitlerjugend, abbreviated HJ, were extremely effective as was their use of them for the war effort. German youth were ready and willing to give up anything, including their lives, for Hitler and his ideals. The youth played an important role during World War II and were, in many cases, Germany's last defense. I am going to focus on the period of time after the war started and discuss the Nazi methods for conditioning the children and how they were used to try and win the war.

During the World War II under the command of Adolf Hitler, before The Nazi Party began a strong youth movement already existed in Germany. The Hitler Youth, known in Germany as Hitlerjugend was founded in 1926. Its origins come from Adolf Hitler. He created a Boy’s StormTroop, an army of the storm troopers founded in 1922. It was originally the youth movement of Germany Party founded in 1919. The Jungendism Adolf Hitler collapsed in 1923 with the failure of the beer hall putsch and Hitler’s imprisonment. A number of youth groups were then founded to try to fill the gap. Longed for a Jugendkultur, a culture of youth led by youth that was created.

Young people were very paramount to Nazi Germany in order to preserve Hitler’s ideals to the posterity. Hans Schemm, the leader of the Nazi Teachers’ League, stated, ‘those who have youth on their side control the future’. Therefore, Nazi Germany went to many lengths by utilizing youth programs and controlling education in order to achieve the loyalty of the youth. Nazi youth organizations were governed by two basic intentions: to train boys for war and girls for motherhood. The most recognized youth organization was known as Hitler Youth. Hitler Youth was created to educate and train male youth in Nazi principles. According to Britannica.com, on a German male’s 10th birthday, he was registered and investigated (especially for “racial purity”) and, if qualified, inducted into the Deutsches Jungvolk (“German Young People”). At age 13 the youth became eligible for the Hitler Youth, from which he was graduated at age 18. Throughout these years he lived a Spartan life of dedication, fellowship, and Nazi conformity, generally with minimum parental guidance. From age 18 he was a member of the Nazi Party and served in the state labor service and the armed forces until at least the age of 21. Furthermore, in these youth organizations there was persistent activity and competition; through this,

Hitler Youth was an organization created by Adolf Hitler during the time period of World War II, to teach the young children of Germany Nazi ideology. According to Adolf Hitler’s speech in Reichsparteitag, “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future!”. Indoctrination began at age ten and prepared youth for the army and molded perfect citizens completely in tune with Nazi beliefs. This military based youth organization encouraged racism and extreme nationalism as well as absolute loyalty to Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Officially beginning in 1926, Hitler sought to win the children of Germany to his side through the enticing program Hitlerjugend, or Hitler Youth. As its popularity grew, the Nazi Party initiated new groups. The Bund Deutsher Mädel (BDM) for girls aged 14-18 began in 1930. The Jungvolk and Jungmädel provided a place for boys and girls aged 10-14 years old. Only sworn in on April 20th as a birthday to Hitler, children entering the Jungvolk chanted “QOUTE”. To enter these programs, the Nazi party required children to be proven “Ayran” and could not be burdened with physical defects, disease or mental disorders. Physical fitness remain a high standard during the course of the Hitler Youth for both young men and women. They competed in sporting

To Hitler, the youth in Nazi Germany was the future. He wanted an army he could control and people that would believe what he would say and what other than children. As he once said, “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” Hitler felt young men and women wanted to be recognized, admired, liked and also feared in their community. Which was extremely attractive to many of the youth in Nazi Germany. Attitudes toward children in Nazi Germany were derived mainly from Adolf Hitler. Even during his early years as NSDAP leader, when leading the nation was a distant dream, Hitler placed great emphasis on the importance of children. Unlike other political leaders, Hitler did not disregard young people or underestimate their political value. His vision of an enduring Third Reich was based not just on the loyalty and obedience of adults, but also of their offspring. Hitler wanted the National Socialist movement to appeal to all levels of society, including the young.

Though Hitler was officially named Chancellor in 1933, Hitler’s influence began a movement among children and adolescents as early as 1923, when he was arrested and jailed for attempting to stage a coup d'etat. This appeared to be the end of his antics, however, his movement grew exponentially throughout his imprisonment, and intensified with his release and reentry into politics in 1925. This is where the youth movement of the Nazi party, known as Hitler Youth, known as Deutsches Jungvolk in der Hitler Jugend, and in 1926, a Hitler sympathizer named Kurt Gruber first chaired this group at the age of 22. This is revealed in the Yale University Law School translation of "THE HITLER YOUTH" by Baldur von Schirach, who succeeded Gruber and chaired the group during the 1930s, where he proclaims, “The idea for the foundation of a National Socialist youth organization came from the Fuehrer himself … The name of the man who deserves the credit for having set up the first groups is Kurt Gruber,” (Schirach 2). Thus, it is noteworthy to observe how Hitler was appealing to teenagers and young adults who would have been disillusioned with the economic state of Germany, which dramatically deteriorated between 1918 and the advancement of Hitler into the ranks of the Weimar Republic and eventually his dictatorship. According to Walter Galenson, the author of the volume of the National Bureau of Economic Research, states, “The remaining countries suffered unemployment levels which