How successful was Nazi Policy towards Children and Youth

The re – enforcing of gender stereotypes and roles gave the authorities more predominance over the youth. This allowed them to influence them easily and to control them by offering exciting activities and holidays away on camping trips/weekends. The role of girls was extremely different to the role of boys. Girls were taught traditional values such as housekeeping and child bearing whilst boys were taught combat and fighting. This is seen as extremely stereotypical and sexist in today’s society but in Nazi Germany it was seen as moral and right. In terms of how successful Nazi policy was here, boys attended the Hitler Youth regularly and the girls BDM was on the increased in membership figures as well.

Another Nazi policy was to replace existing Youth organisations with the Hitler Youth and the BDM (League of German Girls). By doing this the Nazis reduced competitors and thus establishing the only major Youth organisation throughout Germany. Before the Hitler Youth and the BDM (League of German Girls), there were only church based youth organisations. This also gave the Nazis to kill two birds with one stone. They were able to displace the church youth organisations and replace it with the Hitler Youth and BDM, as well as to politically attack the church. In terms of how successful Nazi policy was here, they were successful in ridding other youth organisations and successfully replaced them with the Hitler Youth in 1923 and the BDM (League of German Girls) in 1930.

Nazi policy was vital to the success of the Hitler Youth and the BDM. It allowed the Nazis to manoeuvre freely and to control and displace people or party members that they feel were not committed enough to the party. Without policies or any aim/goal, the Nazis would have been disorganised and unable to control the Youth as effectively as they had the ability to.

The Nazis also “used” the children to their knowledge for internal surveillance in and around their social lives at home. They were given tasks in that anyone that goes against the Nazi party goes against the state and had to be arrested. In the majority of these cases, the children did not know who to believe. Their parents who brought them into the world, or the excited lives they had been living up until now controlled only by the Nazis.

The Nazis introduced the Hitler Youth and the girls BDM (League of German Girls) for two – main reasons. One was to get the youth on their side to increase their popularity and support within Germany, and the other was to prepare them for war. The Hitler Youth was established to help develop aggression in boys who would eventually become men. Women were taught to serve their future husbands and to stand by them at all costs.

In terms of how successful Nazi policies were towards children and youth, I think that they were very successful. Membership figures rose in the Hitler Youth and the girls BDM, the Nazis penetrated other distinct youth based organisations and displaced them leaving little or not other competition. Of all the Nazi policies that they introduced, the majority of them were successful.