The Hitler Youth (HJ) movement.
Youth
The Hitler Youth (HJ) movement began in 1926 and the League of German Maidens (BDM) was started in 1930. These two groups were the youth group options for young adults ages 14-18 to join. Each group had divisions for younger children since Hitler wanted to ensure that all children were directly involved with his efforts to create his superior German race. In order for a child to join these groups they needed to possess much more than a love for their country. Children, like couples who wish to marry, had to undergo extensive medical exams to gain admittance into the groups. In addition, each person needed to prove their true German blood by tracing back their lineage as far as they could. Obviously no one with any Jewish blood was allowed to infiltrate the group. These extensive tests kept many children from joining the youth movement, which at the time was one of the only groups which offered any kind of outing events. In fact by the end of 1933 if young adults wished to join any youth groups, their only legal option was the Hitler Youth, because all other groups had been banned from existence. The Hitler Youth gave children and young adults plenty of options for leadership and time to socialize.
Despite the apparent equality of the two youth groups, there were many differences between the way the boys' and girls' youth groups were operated. The HJ mainly taught boys to be aggressive. Training included wrestling matches between the boys, as well as field combat tests, in order to prove how "manly" each boy was. They participated in paramilitary drills, went on marches, weekend outings. The aim of these activities was to develop a strong sense of camaraderie within the group. The boys sang songs to promote a sense of national pride and create devotion to Hitler. They also participated in daily rituals in order to teach them discipline and respect. In fact, the boys were trained to believe in unquestioning loyalty, brutality, and toughness of viewpoint." The HJ boys learned to pick on the weaker males within each division. If a boy lost a wrestling match or did not excel at the field combat drill they were picked on mercilessly. These weaker boys faced beatings on an almost nightly basis.
Just as contradictions existed in Hitler's treatment of women so did they exist in his Hitler Youth program. He expressly forbid homosexuality as a whole, yet homosexual acts were rampant in his HJ camps. There are reports that the older sexually developed boys would molest the weaker boys and take turns raping them. What else could one expect with boys being separated from girls while they began to have their first inklings of sexual desire? Not only was this an outlet for their sexual awakening, but it was also seen as a rite of passage and established a stricter pecking order within each division. This type of behavior occurred most often in Hitler's KLV camps. These camps moved lower class Hitler youth out of the city during air raids and into the country, where they lived and breathed Nazi ideology. However, there is not much information on these camps, besides what you can find in personal memoirs, because the Nazis wished to keep the brutalities that these boys experienced secret and all the boys wanted to do was forget about them and move on. So, boys had been taught to be as brutal as possible and to always pick on weaker people, even those within the Nazi party.
The girls on the other hand were taught how to be perfect German mothers. Many girls quickly joined the ranks of the BDM because it allowed them to escape from their oppressive home lives. In fact, many girls joined the youth group as an act of rebellion against their parents. The girls had similar camps to those of the HJ. The girls practiced paramilitary training, went on marches and outings, but the focus of the camp was on how to raise children and become more domestic. Young women learned the basics of domestic life and child rearing skills. They were also taught that their bodies were no longer private, but that it belonged to the national cause. As a result, there was a strong emphasis placed on physical fitness. Girls were taught at an early age that their place in society was to raise children and keep homes. This followed Hitler's plans for older women. He actually set up schools for young girls and older women to attend which taught them how to take care of children and keep the house in an orderly fashion.
Even though Hitler's program for women focused on domesticity, the girls still wished to join. Some of the reasons why girls wanted to join the BDM were that it gave them a feeling that they were a part of the national cause, and had some independence from their parents. Hitler was able to instill such national pride in his BDM girls that they become extremely enthusiastic towards the Nazi cause. Young women wrote love letters to Hitler, offering to have his child. The girls believed that Hitler was the epitome of the German man and wished to bring children just like him into the world. Young women worshipped him as a God-like figure, much like young girls worship movie stars today. Girls also gave their bodies up to SS officers in order to become impregnated and also wrote letters to them during the war, in order to raise their morale. Young women were willing to do anything in order to keep the Nazi cause alive.
Despite Hitler's efforts to keep the BDM inferior to the HJ, once the war began he was forced to call on the women within Germany to take over their jobs to keep the country running. The BDM girls worked in armament factories, worked on farms for months at a time, helped farm women to care for their children, accompanied Jews on the railways to concentration camps, and some even fired anti-aircraft weapons during the war. So even though there were differences which existed between the HJ and the BDM once the war began the differences had to be ...
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Despite Hitler's efforts to keep the BDM inferior to the HJ, once the war began he was forced to call on the women within Germany to take over their jobs to keep the country running. The BDM girls worked in armament factories, worked on farms for months at a time, helped farm women to care for their children, accompanied Jews on the railways to concentration camps, and some even fired anti-aircraft weapons during the war. So even though there were differences which existed between the HJ and the BDM once the war began the differences had to be overlooked for the good of the cause. However, the education in both camps was very similar. Both groups were brainwashed with Nazi ideology. They were taught about the superior race and the highly inferior race. At a very early they learned to hate. In addition, it also taught them to believe that they were better than everyone else. The Hitler youth movement gave young adults an extreme amount of power, which they abused. They were encouraged to turn in their parents for treason. They became unruly and beat people on the street who did not agree with Nazi policies. Worst of all they turned on their friends and family without batting an eye.
Although Hitler's youth movement was popular, several resistance groups formed as an alternative to the Hitler Youth. One of these groups was the Edelweiss pirates. They combined both boys and girls and placed them in the same group, which Hitler did not agree with since it put boys and girls on equal ground. They went on outings together and experimented with sex. They also changed the song lyrics of the HJ marching songs to turn them into songs of protest. They openly defied Hitler by writing graffiti on walls on buildings that read "Down with Hitler". They also came up with their own style of dress which went against the rules of fashion which Hitler had put into place. They were able to taunt the HJ and actually physically beat on the Youth patrols late at night. They ultimately offered an alternative to Hitler's youth movement which openly defied Nazi policy. In November of 1944, the ringleaders of the Cologne Edelweiss Pirates were publicly hanged in order to show other dissenting youth that their open defiance of Hitler would not be tolerated. Despite these efforts, the group continued to thrive.
The final two groups in direct resistance to Hitler were the White Rose Group and the Swing Kids. The White Rose Group's members comprised mostly university students who distributed pamphlets going against Nazi policy, and to expose Hitler for the madman that he truly was. The head of this group was a young woman named Sophie Zohl, who ironically was a former member of the BDM. She knew first hand the horrors of Nazi ideology and for that she was publicly executed for going against the Fuher. The Swing Kids were mostly comprised of upper middle class young adults, who could afford the European way of dress. Their resistance to Hitler's policy was non-violent. They were looked down upon by the Nazi party because their swing clubs were open to Jews to join. In addition their dancing was sexual in nature. The way that the Swing girls dressed showed off their bodies and made them sexual objects, which Hitler tried to discourage within the Third Reich. Two young men could be dancing together at any given point, which the Gestapo believed promoted homosexual activity. The group was basically out to have a good time listening to American Jazz music, but this was frowned upon because it allowed the young adults to think freely and resist the cause. Young adults joined all 3 resistance movements as a way to be an individual and to avoid being a part of Hitler's grand scheme.
The youth movement and the women's movement can be paralleled to one another because both groups were seen as inferior to grown men in Hitler's Germany. They were called upon to do their national duty, but Hitler never dreamed that they would play such a significant role in realizing his plans. He was forced to call upon their services because of the onslaught of the war. It is safe to say that without these two groups Hitler never would have been able to almost fully realize his plans for Germany. One must remember this and never overlook the tasks that these people were forced to accomplish during Hitler's reign.
Hitler Youth
Kurt Gruber formed the first group of young members of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) in 1926. Rudolf Hess suggested the name of the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) and later that year transferred the leadership of the movement to Franz von Pfeffer of the Sturm Abteilung (SA).
Pfeffer's main intention was to train young men to fight against members of left-wing youth groups. The Hitler Youth (HJ) were taken over by Ernst Roehm in 1930 and remained as a adjunct to the SA. After Roehm was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives the group came under the control of Baldur von Schirach, the Reich youth leader.
Schirach asked Adolf Hitler to allow him to create an independent youth movement. Hitler agreed and Schirach now made several important changes to the way it was organized. In 1936 membership of the HJ was made compulsory for all boys aged 15 and 18. At the same time all other youth organizations were banned.
In 1938 there were 8,000 full-time leaders of the HJ. There were also 720,000 part-time HJ leaders, often schoolteachers, who had been trained in National Socialist principles.
For boys aged between 10 and 14 years Baldur von Schirach set up the Jungvolk. The boys had to learn semaphore, arms drill, and take part in two-day cross-country hikes. They also had to learn Nazi dogma and once they passed the necessary tests they were given a special dagger marked "Blood and Honour". The main objective of the organization was to provide Adolf Hitler with loyal supporters
Once girls reached the age of they could join the Jungmädel. At 14 they entered the Bund Deutscher Mädel. (German Girls' League). This included a year of farm or domestic service. They were trained by female guardians and their overall leader was Gertrud Scholtz-Klink.
The Hitler Youth published a series of magazines including Youth and Homeland, The Young World, The German Girl and Girls Your World. Another magazine, Will and Power, was produced for HJ leaders and female guardians.
During the Second World War the HJ were often used in air defence work. In 1940 Baldur von Schirach was replaced by Artur Axmann, as leader of the HJ.
When Germany ran short of soldiers members of the Hitler Youth were encouraged to join the 12th SS Panzer Division, commanded by Germany's youngest general, Kurt Meyer. In 1945 members of the HJ were armed and told to fight to the death.
Josef Capek, Principles of
German Education (May 1933)
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(1) In 1936 Baldur von Schirach wrote a poem about Adolf Hitler that members of the Hitler Youth had to memorize and recite.
That is the greatest thing about him,
That he is not only our leader and a great hero,
But himself, upright, firm and simple,
In him the roots of our world.
And his soul touches the stars
And yet he remains a man like you and me.
(2) Martha Dodd, My Years in Germany (1939)
Young girls from the age of ten onward were taken into organizations where they were taught only two things: to take care of their bodies so they could bear as many children as the state needed and to be loyal to National Socialism. Though the Nazis have been forced to recognize, through the lack of men, that not all women can get married. Huge marriage loans are floated every year whereby the contracting parties can borrow substantial sums from the government to be repaid slowly or to be cancelled entirely upon the birth of enough children. Birth control information is frowned on and practically forbidden.
Despite the fact that Hitler and the other Nazis are always ranting about "Volk ohne Raum" (a people without space) they command their men and women to have more children. Women have been deprived for all rights except that of childbirth and hard labour. They are not permitted to participate in political life - in fact Hitler's plans eventually include the deprivation of the vote; they are refused opportunities of education and self-expression; careers and professions are closed to them.
(3) Baldur von Schirach wrote a prayer that had to be said by members of the Hitler Youth before meals.
Fuehrer, my Fuehrer given me by God,
Protect and preserve my life for long.
You rescued Germany from its deepest need.
I thank you for my daily bread.
Stay for a long time with me, leave me not.
Fuehrer, my Fuehrer, my faith, my light
Hail my Fuehrer.
(4) Herman Rauschning, Hitler Speaks (1939)
In my great educative work," said Hitler, " I am beginning with the young. We older ones are used up. Yes, we are old already. We are rotten to the marrow. We have no unrestrained instincts left. We are cowardly and sentimental. We are bearing the burden of a humiliating past, and have in our blood the dull recollection of serfdom and servility. But my magnificent youngsters! Are there finer ones anywhere in the world? Look at these young men and boys! What material! With them I can make a new world.
"My teaching is hard. Weakness has to be knocked out of them. In my Ordensburgen a youth will grow up before which the world will shrink back. A violently active dominating, intrepid, brutal youth - that is what I am after". Youth must be all those things. It must be indifferent to pain. There must be no weakness or tenderness in it. I want to see once more in its eyes the gleam of pride and independence of the beast of prey. Strong and handsome must my young men be. I will have them fully trained in all physical exercises. I intend to have an athletic youth - that is the first and the chief thing. In this way I shall eradicate the thousands of years of human domestication. Then I shall have in front of me the pure and noble natural material. With that I can create the new order.
"I will have no intellectual training. Knowledge is ruin to my young men. I would have them learn only what takes their fancy. But one thing they must learn - self-command! They shall learn to overcome the fear of death, under the severest tests. That is the intrepid and heroic stage of youth. Out of it comes the stage of the free man, the man who is the substance and essence of the world, the creative man, the god-man. In my Ordensburgen there will stand as a statue for worship the figure of the magnificent, self-ordaining god-man; it will prepare the young men for their coming period of ripe manhood."
(5) Hans Massaquoi was born in Germany in 1926. His mother was German but his father came from Africa. Studs Terkel interviewed Massaquoi about his experiences during Nazi Germany for his book, The Good War (1985)
There was a drive to enroll young kids into the Hitler Youth movement. I wanted to join, of course. My mother took me aside and said, "Look, Hans, you may not understand, but they don't want you." I couldn't understand. All my friends had these black shorts and brown shirts and a swastika and a little dagger which said Blood and Honor. I wanted it just like everybody else. I wanted to belong. These were my schoolmates.
In 1936, our class had a chance to go to Berlin to watch the Olympics. Not all Germans were sold on this Hitler nonsense. Jesse Owens was the undisputed hero of the German people. He was the darling of the 1936 Olympic games. With the exception of a small Nazi elite, they opened their hearts to this black man who ran his butt off. I was so proud, sitting there.
It's clear to me that had the Nazi leadership known of my existence, I would have ended in a gas oven or at Auschwitz. What saved me was there was no black population in Germany. There was no apparatus set up to catch blacks. The apparatus that was set up to apprehend Jews entailed questionnaires that were mailed to all German households. The question was: Jewish or non-Jewish? I could always, without perjuring myself, write: non-Jewish.
(6) Anna Rauschning, No Retreat (1939)
A twelve-mile march was considered a mere nothing for boys who are trained until they can make a march of fifty miles without other food than the concentrated ration they carry in their packs. Nupp was convalescing from a heavy cold but he was not excused the hike. He had a severe relapse as a consequence. I told our doctor I feared the boy would not be able to do the strenuous tasks required, and he gave me a written statement to the effect that our son must be excused from the more violent features of training. Later the doctor confided to me that often after one of these lengthy marches he had as many as thirty boys in hospital. Pale-faced little fellows sometimes made a march of thirty miles singing Nazi songs through the night, for their graduation ceremony. The 'bloodflag', one of the gory banners saved from the fighting days of the Party always figures in these rituals. The boys raise their hands and make this solemn oath: "In the presence of this bloodflag which represents our Fuhrer I swear to devote all my energies, all my strength, to the saviour of our country, Adolf Hitler. I am willing and ready to give up my life, so help me God. One People, One nation, One Fuhrer."
(7) Bernhard Rust, Germany Speaks (1938)
There is, indeed, twofold evidence to show that something was wrong with education. In the first place, the high level of popular enlightenment had failed to protect the German people against the poisonous effects of Marxist teaching and other false doctrines. Large masses of people had fallen victims to them, whilst other sections - more especially those of higher education - had been unable to take up an effective stand against the spread of the poison. If they had, the events of 1918 and the succeeding period of national disintegration and deterioration would have been prevented.
The attainment of high intellectual standards will certainly continue to be urged upon the young people; but they will be taught at the same time that their achievements must be of benefit to the national community to which they belong. As a consequence of the demand thus clearly formulated by the Nuremberg Laws, Jewish teachers and Jewish pupils have had to quit German schools, and schools of their own have been provided by and for them as far as possible. In this way, the natural race instincts of German boys and girls are preserved; and the young people are made aware of their duty to maintain their racial purity and to bequeath it to succeeding generations. As the mere teaching of these principles is not enough, it is constantly supplemented, in the National Socialist State, by opportunities for what may be called "community life". By this term we mean school journeys, school camps, school "homes" in rural neighbourhoods, and similar applications of the corporate principle to the life of schools and scholars.
(8) Schoolteacher, letter to a friend (December, 1938)
In the schools it is not the teacher, but the pupils, who exercise authority. Party functionaries train their children to be spies and agent provocateurs. 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. Children have been deliberately taken away from parents who refused to acknowledge their belief in National Socialism. The refusal of parents to "allow their children to join the youth organization" is regarded as an adequate reason for taking the children away.
(9) Isle McKee was a member of the German Girls' League, later recalled her experiences in her autobiography.
We were told from a very early age to prepare for motherhood, as the mother in the eyes of our beloved leader and the National Socialist Government was the most important person in the nation. We were Germany's hope in the future, and it was our duty to breed and rear the new generation of sons and daughter. These lessons soon bore fruit in the shape of quite a few illegitimate small sons and daughters for the Reich, brought forth by teenage members of the League of German Maidens. The girls felt they had done their duty and seemed remarkably unconcerned about the scandal.
(10) Jutta Rudiger, head of the German Girls' League, was shocked when she heard a speech given by in 1939 Heinrich Himmler in 1939.
He said that in the war a lot of men would be killed and therefore the nation needed more children, and it wouldn't be such a bad idea if a man, in addition to his wife, had a girlfriend would bear his children. And I must say, all my leaders were sitting there with their hair standing on end.
(11) Statement issued by the German government on 3rd May, 1941.
The Hitlerjugend (HJ) come to you today with the question: why are you still outside the ranks of the HJ? We take it that you accept your Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. But you can only do this if you also accept the HJ created by him. If you are for the Fuehrer, therefore for the HJ, then sign the enclosed application. If you are not willing to join the HJ, then write us that on the enclosed blank.
