As Hitler rose to power, he created many organizations within the Nazi Party. The groups were for many different people, including teachers, doctors, civil servants, women, lawyers, and students. The organization for students was called Hitler Youth, which became a very important part of Nazi Germany from its creation in 1922 to its disbandment in 1945. In the Hitler Youth, the German children were taught that they were better than everyone else. They were also taught that since they had Aryan blood, they were the master race and were the only ones that should be able to live in Nazi Germany. Even though the Hitler Youth members were brainwashed, they should still be held accountable for their actions because they caused just as much harm as …show more content…
the other Nazis did. The Hitler Youth group was one of Hitler’s main focuses throughout his rise to power and it played a very important role in Nazi Germany.
When it first started in 1922 it had the name Jungsturm, which was changed to Hitlerjugend by 1926. Many smaller sections divided up the organization. Bund Deutscher Mädel was a league for girls, NS-Schulerbund was for Nazi students, and Duetshes Jugvolk was for German children from age ten to fourteen (Gutman, pg. 677). Hitler’s main goal for the Hitler Youth was to create a group of future party members. He also wanted enough supporters to be ready when he overthrew the Weimar Republic (Heyes, pg. 13). His focus was on making the children better by making them stereotypical Aryans. That involved many types of athletics in the Hitler Youth and educating the children with Nazi ideals (Koch). In 1932, a law was introduced to ban the organization because the violence could not be controlled anymore, but the ban only lasted a few months. As the Hitler Youth continued to become popular, other youth groups in Germany were destroyed. By 1933, only a few Catholic groups were left (Heyes, pg. 25). Almost every German boy from age ten to eighteen was a member by the start of the war (Sax). In 1936, membership was made mandatory to all children (Heyes, pg.
26). In the Hitler Youth movement, Nazi educational doctrines and ideals that were taught to the members played a major role in raising the children to be violent. Children were taught that they were the master race and that all other races were beneath them. This led to the children having a prejudice against certain people and caused them to act on this prejudice with violence (Sax). All the lessons from the activities and training of the Hitler Youth were absorbed by the members, leading to the hatred they had for Jews and other groups persecuted by Hitler ("Hitlerjugend"). Competition was another main principle, teaching the children to be aggressive and to always be the first and the best (Heyes, pg. 34). Along with Nazi ideals, the Schutzstaffel had a part in the Hitler Youth movement and its involvement made the members behave more like the older Nazis. The Schutzstaffel was Hitler’s elite police and military force. It started to express interest in the Hitler Youth and began to take control of the group. The Schutzstaffel worked with the organization and continued to mold the members to be like the older Nazis. The influence that the Schutzstaffel had on the children turned them into a group that was used for its morbid projects (Heyes, pg. 26), leading the actions of the Hitler Youth to be just as horrible as the actions of the older Nazis. Not only did Hitler’s military force have involvement in the Hitler Youth groups, but the Hitler Youth members had involvement in the military and that involvement throughout the war shows that the children did just as much as the adults. Towards the end of the war, the Hitler Youth members were the soldiers who fought at the front. Many of the older men died in early years of the war, leaving the children to be the only ones left to fight. An example of this is the 12th SS-Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The group was created in 1943 for boys between sixteen to seventeen years old who were mostly Hitler Youth members. It fought many of the important battles at to the end of the war and very few boys survived (Heyes). An example of a battle was the defense of Berlin and this shows how the children had the same role as the older Nazis did, which was being soldiers. Another way that the the Hitler Youth’s involvement shows that the actions of the members were just as horrible as the actions of the older Nazis was during Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht means “Night of Broken Glass” and it is the name for a major anti-Jewish pogrom that took place on November 9 and November 10 1938, in Germany and Austria. The children of the Hitler Youth movement joined the Nazis in burning and destroying Jewish property. They played a major role in the violence that took place that night (“Kristallnacht”). This is an example of how the members of the organization did just as much as the older Nazis did. The Hitler Youth’s involvement in the concentration camps also shows how similar the Hitler Youth members and the older Nazis were because the children played a role in the death of many people who were killed in the Holocaust. As the children began to discover that the people being rounded up were actually being sent to concentration camps, many of the boys volunteered to guard. Some older girls in the Hitler Youth also became guards (Heyes, pg. 52). As the war progressed, the children in the Hitler Youth had a larger role in the concentration camp operations (Heyes, pg. 26) . This shows that the deaths of many in the concentration camps had to do with the Hitler Youth because they were there and participated in the procedures. In addition to playing a role in the many deaths of people in concentration camps, the Hitlerjugend-Streifendienst section of the Hitler Youth had a major role in the imprisonment and murders of many people who opposed Hitler. The actual meaning of the word Streifendienst is Patrol Service. The group consisted of children who were assigned to find any members who did anything that was against Nazi code. They were looked at as similar to the Gestapo. People who the Patrol Service found guilty of not following all Nazi doctrines were punished accordingly. These children were responsible for watching all youth and reporting any misconduct (Heyes, pg. 48-9). Just as the Hitler Youth members turned in young people for not following Nazi doctrines, the members also turned in adults for not being completely devoted to Hitler, showing a similarity between the children of Hitler Youth and the older Nazis. Children listed any parents, teachers, employers that interfered with Hitler Youth duties, getting those people in trouble. Parents began to fear what they said because their children might report anything they heard at home to their superiors. Others feared to talk in case they accidently said something that made it seem as though they were not fully committed to Hitler. Jokes were even discontinued in case they made fun of Nazi doctrines. The children who turned in adults were rewarded, and often the children who were promoted were the children who turned in their parents. This similarity is important because people in Germany came to fear the Hitler Youth members just as much as they feared the older Nazis (Heyes, pg. 50). The members of the Hitler Youth group should still be held accountable for what they did because their actions were very similar to the actions of the older Nazis. The Hitler Youth was involved in many projects, and the examples such as their involvement in Kristallnacht, the concentration camps, and the military show how large the organization’s role was in the war. It is extraordinary to think that children can have as much control and hold as much fear as adults can. This is what happened in Nazi Germany with the Hitler Youth movement during Hitler’s rise to power and World War II.
Proselytism, or the act of forcing beliefs onto others in an attempt to convert them, is exceptionally prominent during teenage years, but continues to prevail as the years advance. Propaganda used before the Holocaust convinced teenagers to join auxiliary groups like the Student’s League and Hitler Youth. Hitler convinced adults to join auxiliary groups as well, apart from the main Nazi party. Behaviors established as the norm in such groups were spread throughout all of Germany and eventually became common conduct. Each account in Voices of the Holocaust supports the idea that the Holocaust was caused by the Nazi party’s overall ignorance due to wrongful
In The Boy Who Dared, Helmuth dared to speak out for what he believed in even if it meant walking into the hands of death. Helmuth decided to spread his views on the way the Nazi Party deceived and manipulated the Germans. The Nazi Party started indoctrinating the youth of Nazi Germany by teaching the Nazi ideology at a very young age. One major ways Hitler did this was through the Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth was founded in the 1920’s. The main goal of this organization was to eliminate the inferior and strengthen the youth. In Hitler’s words, “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.” (“Hitl...
Righteous Acts Throughout humanity, human beings have been faced with ethnic hardships, conflict, and exclusion because of the battle for authority. Hence, in human nature, greed, and overall power consumes the minds of some people. Groups throughout the world yearn for the ability to be the mightiest. These types of conflicts include ethnic shaming, racial exclusion, physical and verbal abuse, enslavement, imprisonment, and even death. Some of these conflicts were faced in all parts of Europe and the Pacific Region during World War II.
Hitler Youth was an organization that Hitler created for young children and teenagers of Germany to join to help him create solutions to Germany’s problems. In order to become a part of the Hitler Youth, one had to provide the proof that they were not in any way, shape, or form have a Jewish ancestry. This organization also gave some children an opportunity to rebel against their parents views of how the Hitler Youth organization was too militaristic for them. The main character in this book is named Sophie Scholl. Sophie was a German girl who had joined the Hitler Youth organization at a young age and was excited to meet new friends and learn new tactics on how to fight in the
“The future of the German nation depends on its youth and the German youth shall have to be prepared for its future duties”
Imagine you are a thirteen year old growing up in Germany, 1938. Some of the kids at school are talking about a new program called the Hitlerjugend (or Hitler Youth). It sounds fun and exciting with its camping trips and home meetings so you decide to join. The Hitlerjugend is just as fun and exciting as it sounded and as the years pass you gain new skills; loyalty to Hitler and German; and growing hatred for Jews, Blacks, the handicapped, and other “burdens of the state”. To you this is simply a thought but to many children in the 1930’s this was a reality. The Hitler Youth was a genius yet terrible organization.
The Youth was an important asset to Hitler’s as they would complete his 1,000 year and help the Nazis last forever. Kids were taught what Hitler wanted them to know and not what he wanted them to know so once after a few generations,
He further uses propaganda techniques to change the views of the German people. His book The Mein Kompf was spread to the people of Germany and his Nazi party. This book is Adolf Hitler’s manifesto in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany such as the hierarchical status of the Aryan race towards the Jews and other inferior race. In his book he stated, that “The child is the objective of the struggle and the very first appeal is addressed to it: 'German boy, do not forget that you are a German. ' 'German maid, remember that you are to be a German mother.” Which means that Germanys race was to be kept at its purest form. He further targets young Germans to rise up to his cause because the future of their country is their hands and they have the right to claim its title. Other than his book, Hitler’s implicates fear tactics and speeches to manipulate the Nazi party. The Schutzstaffel, better known as the infamous SS, were established by Hitler, to act as protection force at Hitler’s mass meetings in public. This was due to early Nazis meeting that can turn to violent during its early rise to power because of competing factions within the party. In 1934 an event happened to which was called, “The Night of the Long Knives “; it was a cleansing of other political opponents of Hitler within the party. Hitler uses this to instill fear in the party and warns other that whoever imposed him shall suffer and die. Hitler’s speeches were also part of influencing the views of the party. In 1939 he made a speech that changes everything. This speech move thousands of people and change the views of Germany towards the Jews and other inferior race. He stated, “The peoples [of the earth] will soon realize that Germany under National Socialism does not desire the enmity of other peoples. I want once again to be a prophet. If the international Finance-Jewry inside and outside of
The Nazi Party, controlled by Adolf Hitler, ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. In 1933, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi government began to take over. Hitler became a very influential speaker and attracted new members to his party by blaming Jews for Germany’s problems and developed a concept of a “master race.” The Nazis believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jewish people were a threat to the German racial community and also targeted other groups because of their “perceived racial inferiority” such as Gypsies, disabled persons, Polish people and Russians as well as many others. In 1938, Jewish people were banned from public places in Germany and many were sent to concentration camps where they were either murdered or forced to work. Many individuals and groups attempted to resist Nazism in Germany, but were unsuccessful. The White Rose, The Red Orchestra and the Kreisau Circle all advocated non-violent resistance to oppose the Nazi regime and even with the high risk of getting caught and potentially killed, the courageous members of these groups went after what they believed was right despite the serious consequences.
During World War 2 there was a movement from Adolf Hitler to make use of the generation to come. He wanted the youth to grow into strong individuals that would promote his ideals and passionately die for them, if necessary. I have chosen to research more into this youth movement. I want to find out more about the Hitler Youth. How it began, how it developed, how they were managed, as well as its ultimate demise nearing the end of World War 2 are all facets I would like to know. Let’s begin with the first showing of a youth movement in Germany.
education, as it was likely to bring up lots of conflict, so it had to
The Nazis are infamous for their heavy use of propaganda during their reign in the Third Reich, they used many means of propaganda such as posters, cartoons, radio, film, etc. The German citizens’ constant exposure to all of this propaganda from all directions had a deep psychological and psychoanalytical impact on them, it redefined their identity and who they were as well as what they thought of the world around them. Nazi propaganda often had deep symbolic meaning usually associated with anti-semitism and German nationalism, these elements were already present in the minds of the majority of Germans so it wasn’t hard for Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Nazi party to further provoke and enrage the emotions of people concerning these things, they merely had to tap into these pre disposed emotions in a way that would have the most favourable psychological impact for the Nazis. Some of the opinions and mindsets that German citizens had may have been there even before the Nazis came into power and made it seemed like they were brainwashing people with their propaganda, but with what justification can it be said that Nazi propaganda had a psychological and psychoanalytic impact on the German population to a great extent, rather than it being the work of pre set psychological states of mind of people due to the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, Hyperinflation, and other sources which may have led the German population to support and hold anti-semitistic and nationalistic ideologies.
The Success of Nazi Policies Toward Education and Youth Hitler and the Nazi party had a range of policies to control education and the German youth. This was mainly to ensure loyalty to Hitler and the Nazi party. Some believed in these policies and other did not but it was fear and glory and the fear of social inadequacy that made most comply. Hitler and the Nazis wanted to control the education system and youth by controlling the teachers, pupils and the curriculum.
Adolf Hitler joined a small political party in 1919 and rose to leadership through his emotional and captivating speeches. He encouraged national pride, militarism, and a commitment to the Volk and a racially "pure" Germany. Hitler condemned the Jews, exploiting anti-Semitic feelings that had prevailed in Europe for centuries. He changed the name of the party to the National Socialist German Workers' Party, called for short, the Nazi Party. By the end of 1920, the Nazi Party had about 3,000 members. A year later Hitler became its official leader Führer. From this, we can see his potential of being a leader and his development in his propaganda.
the children. To get people on your side you need to get them on your