The Third Reich: The Hitler Youth Movement

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.

The Nazi regime created a social catalyst for genocide, and the Hitler Youth was essential to that reaction. Formal Hitler Youth education and training, as well as informal social interactions imparted concepts and values that condoned accepting and implementing genocide.

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

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,

“The Hitler Youth was founded in 1926” (“The Nazi Party”). As stated by Meinecke, “The Hitler Youth is not a boy scout or a girl guide organization… it is a compulsory Nazi formation which has consciously sought to breed hate, treachery, and cruelty into the minds and souls of every German child. It is in the true sense of the word education for death” (Conley). Hitler “based the Hitler Youth on anti-intellectualism, focusing on military training in preparation for becoming a soldier at 18” ("The Nazi Party”). The Hitler Youth was split up throughout the world, with some of the groups sent as far away as South America. “Baldur von Schirach was appointed the Reich Youth Leader” (“The Nazi Party”). There were age restrictions for the German Youth under Hitler. “German Youth could join the Hitler Youth beginning at the age of 10” (“The Nazi Party”). Hitler thought that the Hitler youth would help the “Third Reich last 1000 years” (Conley). The Hitler Youth played a major part in Hitler’s ultimate plan to eliminate the Jews, the

“ In his case, he wanted the young people to carry on the Nazi idealism.” (Hitler Youth p1). Boys were body building by age 10 and were trained to become soldiers. Girls needed to be athletic, strong, and were trained to be the perfect housewives. The Youth was also to spread propaganda and participate in many marches. Some boys went around vandalizing Jewish shops. These kids and young adults were raised to be leaders and faithful followers of Hitler. There was a lot of pressure on people to join the Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth also encouraged its members to report and non- Nazi thinking even if it was parents or

This IA will address how the Hitler Youth program effected the Nazification of Germany leading up to World War II. Hitler started the Nazi movement in 1919 and led the Nazis for some time before the whole party took control of Germany (Featherman, 1932). The Nazis officially came to power in 1933, and The Hitler Youth was made official that same year (Baldur von Schirach, 67, Dies; Head of Hitler Youth 1933–40, 1974). Hitler chose Baldur von Schirach as the head of the youth program (“The New York Times Archives”, 1974, p. 36). Schirach’s job as the head of the Hitler Youth was to lead an organization that specializes in training the aryan German youth to embody the perfect Nazi. Once the Nazi’s were in control of Germany the Hitler Youth continued to and grow and grow, and eventually became mandatory for all the adolescent aryan youth in Germany (Central Intelligence Agency, p. 14). The Hitler Youth was the main reason that race in Germany became the society and the state (Waite, p. 340), and the German military was so abundant because of the Hitler Youths ability to train kids and put them into war quickly (Central Intelligence Agency, p. 14).

Founded in the early 1920’s, as a side project of the the Nazi party, Hitler Youth was formed to educate children about Nazism and to turn them into future members, or even leaders, of the Nazi party. Hitler did this by using propaganda and manipulation which included movies and posters of Hitler being an all powerful being ( Darman 68 ), and the major power he had in Europe at that time. This went on for many years, some of the older Hitler Youth members saw combat in WWII ( historyplace.com ). Upon of the many atrocities that Hitler committed, manipulating millions of children to have nothing but hate for a whole race of people, one of the worst things Hitler, or anyone, could ever do. And because of that, the Hitler youth was truly a great

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.

Firstly, the Nazi’s used Germany’s defeat during the First World War (which began in the summer of 1914 and ended in November 1918) to their advantage. WWI claimed many lives and of course changed the lives of those in Germany forever. The years after the First World War were to see the rise to power of Adolf Hitler, the most notorious character of the twentieth century. Hitler offered to the Germans that one day he would Germany great again. Hitler also provided a scapegoat to the people of Germany, saying that the reason why Germany was in great debt and had such high unemployment was because of the Jewish people. This appealed to the German’s because it meant that they’d have an easy way out rather than taking the blame upon themselves. After Hitler was appointed as chancellor of Germany the basic democratic structure of the Germany was weakened then abolished. This then created a sense of fear the German population, and they were too scared to fight back. The lives of many millions of people across Europe would be devastated as a result of the beliefs, policies and actions of the Nazis led by Hitler.

The ages of the Nazi Youth’s started really young. The children and teenagers were put in groups of age. Hitler was expected kids to want to join by 10 or 13 years old. Start learning lessons, plus following the rules. Some parents had kids really young involled. The kids would have special haircut for boys, girls would have braids most of the time, but Hitler didn’t care about how the girls hair was. Hitler was worried about the boys he wanted them to look nice and go to training to learn how to use weapons and become soldiers like their parents. When

The 30th of January 1933 marked a time of dramatic change in the way Germany was run and governed. This point of time signified the totalitarian era of Germany. Totalitarian meaning a system of government in which power and all aspects of state affairs are in the hands of one party and that party tolerates no opposition (Mason, 1996). Hitler wanted to create a generation of young Aryans who were physically fit and obedient. They would create a new Germany that would rule the world for a thousand years. To do this, he started up the Hitler Youth. The main focus was to train young boys in military tactics. At the age of 10 boys joined the Deutsches Jungvolk where they remained until the age of 13, then they transferred to the Hitler Jugend until

The year is 1941. The Nazi party has been in control of Germany since 1933 and has taken over more territories. Their hunger for power pushes them to control and mind-wash a larger population. The nazi party forced people to follow the rules, implanting their superiority. If the rules were to be broken, then murder was imminent. Although most of the people that lived in Germany did follow what the Nazis had to say, the few that didn’t played a risky game. People lived a very stressful life because of the threat of Nazis.

The Hitler Youth was a logical extension of hitler's belief that the future of Nazi germany was its children. In 1920, Adolf hitler authorized the formation of a youth league of the national socialist worker. This new nazi youth league attracted very few members at first, competing against numerous other well established youth groups, and following the munich beer hall putsch and hitler’s arrest. The youth league of the NSDAP had been outlawed. The wandervogel were the german equivalent of the boy scouts of america and the world organization of the scout movement. From the 1920s onwards, the nazi party targeted german youth as a special audience for its propaganda messages. These messages emphasized that the party was a movement of youth dynamic resilient, forward looking and hopeful. Millions of german young people were won over to nazism in the classroom and through extracurricular activities. In january 1933, the hitler youth had only 50,000 members, but by the end of the year this figure had increased to more than 2 million. By 1936 membership in the hitler youth increased to 5.4 million before it became mandatory in 1939. The german authorities then prohibited or dissolved competing youth organizations. Hitler youth german hitler jugend organization up by adolf hitler in 1933 for educating and training male youth in nazi principles.The hitler youth included by 1935 almost 60 percent of german boys. On july 1, 1936 it became a state agency that all young aryan