One major step that the Nazis took to indoctrinate the youth was to change every lesson that was taught in schools. Hitler thought that if the children grew up being taught about the Nazis, they would support and grow loyal to them. Instead of being taught the same history lessons that had been taught before the rise of Hitler, schoolchildren would now be taught about great wars and victory of Germany, and the great services and goodness that Hitler had bought to Germany. Biology lessons would inform students that the Aryan race was far superior to others, and maths lesson would set questions such as this from a German Nazi text book in 1933, “The Jews are aliens in Germany. In 1933 there were 66,060,000 inhabitants of the German Reich of whom 499,862 were Jews. What is the percentage of aliens in Germany?”
Hitler also had special school for students in which leading Nazis felt excelled others. These were called “order castles” or “Adolf Hitler schools”. These would train boys for military situations in order to keep a strong and eager army. In these schools the boys would take part in exciting parades and learn how to be the perfect Nazi. They would also learn how to look after themselves, to use teamwork, salvage work, Nazi theory, Sport, fixing bikes, and Morse code/tactics of war.
There were many aspects of the youth movements that appealed to the young people. They loved being a part of something, and having a position to live for, as they were given a sense of authority. The youth movements gave the young people a way of channelling their natural rebelliousness. In 1932, the amount of Hitler youth members was 100,000 people, but by 1939, 8,000,000 people had joined. This was the largest youth movement the world had ever seen.
In 1939, it was compulsory to join a youth movement and so there was no other option. Other youth organisations had become illegal, and after its original major popularity, the novelty had worn off and anti-Hitler groups formed. Many freedoms were lost in the groups, for example they even forbade other teenagers to meet informally with their friends. An example of an anti-Hitler youth group is the “Swing” movement. They wanted to live freely and they went to parties filled with English and American music and dancing. They would dance to music that had been banned after Hitler had come to power. They also invited Jews to their clubs. They enjoyed free sex, and went against everything that the Nazis had taught them. This could be because these teenagers still had their natural rebellion instincts, and when the Hitler youth groups were compulsory, it was the obvious thing to rebel against.
In conclusion, young people did originally react well to the Nazi regime, as many were enthusiastic about Hitler and his youth groups. However popularity did fade as the war progressed and the first anti-Hitler groups began to appear.
