Hitler was very effective in the control of the Nazi State by creating Hitler Youth. Hitler believed that the future of Nazi Germany was its children. He knew what he wanted the children of Germany to be like and he once said “The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp’s steel.” In 1933, when the Nazi’s took power in Germany, Hitler organized the youth into two groups; the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) for boys, and the Bund Deutscher Madel (League of German Girls) for girls. It was required to join the Hitler Youth in 1936, but each child had to go through an extensive racial background check to become a member. The boys and girls were separated, and the boys were trained to become soldiers while the girls were being prepared for motherhood. With the young men, the extensive training was a very crucial part in the Youth, which included: camping trips, terrain sports, shooting practice, rowing, and glider flying. By the end of 1939 more than 8.7 million children were members of the Hitler Youth program. With the creation of the Hitler Youth, Hitler was able to control and organize the future of Germany, training the children to become a clone of Hitler, and support his views. “A violently active, dominating, brutal youth-that is what I am after...”
Another way that Hitler was able to effectively control the Nazi State was to control the social life of Germans. He attempted to do this by eliminating those of the non-Aryan race. Hitler believed that the Aryan Race was superior to all races. A blonde haired blue eyed man or woman represented the highest breed of all Aryans. Starting in 1933, all Jewish people were not allowed at public services, the universities and other professions. They were seen as the opposite of the Aryan race. Their freedoms continued to decline with the addition of the Nuremberg Laws that went into effect in 1935. These laws deprived people of the Jewish race their citizenship of Germany. You were considered Jewish with at least one Jewish grandparent. Hitler’s power increased with every new addition to the Nuremberg Laws, so he could eliminate anyone that was non-Aryan. But, still after these laws, Hitler was still not satisfied with the measures he had already taken. Hitler proceeded to take everything one step further with the creation of death and work camps for all those who did not qualify as a perfect Aryan. These people consisted of Jews, political adversaries, and others considered socially and racially undesirable. The people in the camps suffered horrible conditions and were abused and starved. There were approximately 6 million people who died during the Holocaust. Hitler almost eliminated a race to achieve his goal to restore Germany.
Propaganda was a key aspect in Hitlers control and organization of the Nazi state and one that can be seen as a success. Joseph Goebbels was a German Minster and the Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933-1945. As minister Goebbels had two main tasks: To ensure nobody in Germany could read or see anything that was hostile or damaging to the Nazi Party and to ensure that the views of the Nazi’s were put across in the most persuasive manner possible. Through addressing these two key aims Goebbels set up the Reich Chamber of Commerce in 1933, which dealt with literature, art, music, radio and film. This controlled and monitored all production of these mediums and they decided the all the content. As a result of this policy, Nazi Germany introduced a system of censorship. You could only read, see and hear what the Nazis wanted you to read, see and hear. “The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it”.
In conclusion I believe that through Hitler youth, Nuremberg laws and Propaganda Hitler effectively indoctrinated the German state and that through this control he made the people believe what he wanted them to believe. Furthermore without these things I don’t think that Germany would have had the will or the determination to carry out and nearly succeed in Hitler’s foreign policy aims.
