Back to Shoah Facts & History Children & Shoah School in the Shoah The Nazis HTL:Boy Soldiers

By their usual activities, one would think they were no more than a "Boy Scout" organization: their meetings were often and regular, they learned inspiring songs, went camping, had field trips and activities and met for large rallies. The "Hitlerjugend", or "Hitler Youth" Party was far more than just a wholesome young people's activities agency: it was the para-military training bed for a generation of soldiers and "True Believers" for the Third Reich. The Hitlerjugend, or Hitler Youth grew early out of existing German boys and girls associations. In 1926, on National Party Day, before Hitler had taken office as Chancellor and President, the formal Youth Party was founded with only about 300 members. Before the War years were out, the number would grow to close to 9 million, due in large part to the compulsory membership requirement established in 1940. This requirement mandated that all children (but particularly boys) belong to the HJ, giving the Third Reich complete control over the generation to come. Boys and Girls While there were both boys and girls in the Hitler Youth Party, there was a notable distinction in the treatment of boys and girls which was mirrored in German culture. Boys were enculturated from the first into a military mind-set: in fact, the boys division of Hitler youth was for that purpose exclusively. Girls were taught the 3 mainstays of German womanhood, "Kinder, Kirche, Kuche" or "Children (raising and nuturing), Church and Kitchen". 2 Hitler Youth Party hardly engendered feminist attitudes towards young girls. This training reflected the goals of the 3rd Reich: fertility and child-bearing among women, increasing the Aryan bloodline and foster a firm family-base in nazi ideology Gender differences provided the erase old ideologies and other political ideologies. The Hitlerjugend went far in completing their goals. A "Small" Group of Soldiers As of 1940, the Germans were training their male youth in combat and para-combat arts. A special division, the 12th Panzer Division SS was comprised of "Hitler Youth" and were nicknamed "Candy Soldiers" by the allied troops. While at first these younger soldiers often trained since 10 were put in less dangerous positions, as the war increased, their role increased also, until Hitler had even young teenagers fighting for the Reich. Known for their cruelty trained early, they participate Outcome The results of a generation of boys sent to battle was the subsequent semi-literacy and illiteracy of the same generation post-war. The HItlerjugend had formed the concept early of blind obedience and was perhaps even more rigourous in their adherence to "fuhrer-worship" and unquestioning obedience to authority. Brought up as sons and daughters of a cruel state, they were also cruel and anti-Semitic in their outlook: it had been trained in them since early. The effects of a generation trained in war, for war and in racial intolerance, meant that the post-war years would not see an immediate end to Anti-Semitism in Europe. Even as recently as 2 years ago, attempts to display publicly exhibits on Holocaust education were met with violence and protests. (See Could the Shoah Happen Again?" Training Youth for Violence & Hatred Many people wonder how Hitler could have commanded a military of soldiers and a citizenry who could perform many of most cruel atrocities known in human history. The answer is complex: it involved many factors such as high-minded promises, increased economic rewards, propaganda, and the inculcation of conscience-free decision-making through the fuhrerprinzip. But one of the more formidable factors was in the setting apart of a generation of youth, totally immersed and educated in the principles of the National Socialists. In a speech by Adolf Hitler, he acknowledged this, stating that by the end of the generation in question, he would have his '3rd Reich' and Aryan state when the ideologies and traditions of the present generation had died away.3 He spared no expense: in addition to extensive boys and girls groups and rallies, at the height of the war when monies for fighting the war were at an all time low, a large Europe wide Youth Rally was held which later sarcastically came to be called, "Baldur's Children's Party" named for Baldur von Schirach, the leader of Hitlerjugend. It was considered by the military to be a fiasco of wasted spending, but Hitler was investing in a generation that would do his bidding. The results were a confused generation at the end of the war: the promises had not held; Germany was in ruins, Anti-Semitism continued to run rampant and the effects of blind obedience produced a schizm in German society: some abandoning all respect for authority and others continuing in the training of their youth. Von Schirach parted company in philosophy with Hitler at the end of the war. Tried at Nuremberg for his war crimes of raising a generation to hate and kill, he expressed his regrets, and even deep remorse. "It is my guilt," said Schirach, "which I will have to carry before God and the German nation, that I educated the youth of that people; that I raised the youth for a man who, for many years, I considered impeccable as a leader and as a head of state; that I organized youth just as I did. It is my guilt that I educated German youth for a man who committed murder by the millions."

STATISTICS ON HITLER YOUTH Membership: 8.8 Million, Compulsory 1939 Leaders: Gruber, von Schirach Founded: 1926; National Party Day Compulsory Membership Age 10 and up. 14 Regional Offices Military Unit:The 12th SS-Panzer Division Hitlerjugend