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Nazi youth in Germany
Child life during the holocaust
Children in the holocaust narrative essay
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Recommended: Nazi youth in Germany
Do you ever wonder what the children were thinking or feeling in the time of Hitler Youth? The Nazi Youth was noticed, treated better than the Jews, and they were difficult to discipline at times. The Nazi Youth was absolutely different from other schools in the time of 1934-1945. The education was far different. Teachers taught what the students wanted to hear, they changed history books to make the Jewish people seem awful, when they were misunderstood and treated unfairly. The children didn’t really speak up when it came to speaking of Jews. If children spoke against or disagreed with the fact that Jews were treated as prisoners, then it would have an affect on their parents because it would make it seem like the German kids’ parents were
Even today, German schools teach their students at a young age about Germany's feelings towards the events of WWII. At some point in their education, all German students are required to visit a concentration camp. Basically, German schools treat the Nazi past as a history lesson. As a responsibility, Germans keep the memory alive through school in order to prevent another Hitler-like rule. “But most- and worst- of all, as we and all the world slowly learned about the full extent of Hitler's Final Solution, we realized that all Germans, no matter what they had suffered or whether they had participated in any way in the atrocities, would bear guilt, shame and dishonor, probably forever” (Hunt 218). In 2014, a German Quora user named Rebecca Kaßner gave her experience of visiting a concentration camp when she was on a school exchange
The life of a child in the 1930-1940 was not an easy life not if you were a Nazi, not if you were Jewish. These Children lost their childhood because of a war. Their shattered childhood creates stories that seem horrific to us today. Life as a child growing up in a Nazi family is probably easier than dealing with the problems that the Jewish children have. However, every Nazi child had to sign up for the Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth was an organization to discipline young minds and preach to them about anti semitism. Hitler Youth was one of the largest youth groups in Europe at the time if parents did not have their children in it they would face fines or have charges of imprisonment. The Nazi regime brainwashed the kids, they made them aggressive and intolerable. In the group there was even a small ‘Gestapo’ that would make sure all the children were doing the correct task if not the ‘Gestapo’ would report this. This shows how much power the children were given. During the 1940s more boys were recruited to join the army or guard concentration camps and ghettos. When the allied forces surrounded Germany the Nazi’s decided everyone of he age of fifteen and above would have to fight the war. They would be given rigorous training,
“The future of the German nation depends on its youth and the German youth shall have to be prepared for its future duties”
"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children" (Nelson Mandela). If this statement is considered true, then it's fair to say that during times of the Holocaust, the German society was at an all time low. Children during the Holocaust did not have a carefree childhood, like they should have, but instead were placed under strenuous conditions. They had to go through being separated from all family and friends, being chosen the first to go to, and in most cases a permanent loss of family members. The Holocaust was undoubtedly a horrific experience for everyone involved but for children it must have been traumatizing.
After a few generations this would create kids and parents that were never going to question the fuhrer and make them completely oblivious onto what they are being taught. This helped with the war effort against basically everyone. This made the children obedient, as they were taught what Hitler wanted them to know and nothing that he didn’t want the children to know. They were forced to celebrate Hitler’s birthday and were forced to swore allegiance to him. The children were also taught that Germans were the ultimate race and that the other races and Jewish people are weak and should be crushed. The teachers where all people from the Nazi’s and were only males, the teachers even encouraged racism, and making fun of the disabled and other people with problems. They even made it seem like the Jewish people did terrible things like communism, destruction of important buildings and landmarks and even that they were terrorist that they are just bad and evil people over all. Everything from children's books to the classrooms have been changed to emphasize strength and not to pity the weak. The textbooks have been rewritten to teach them militarism, anti semitism, and to obey the fuhrer. All this taught them Nazi Ideology so the Third Reich will last forever. This also taught the future soldiers to be fearless and sacrifice themselves for
Regine Donner, a famous Holocaust survivor, once said, “I had to keep my Jewishness hidden, secret, and never to be revealed on the penalty of death. I missed out on my childhood and the best of my adolescent years. I was robbed of my name, my religion, and my Zionist idealism” (“Hidden Children”). Jewish children went through a lot throughout the Holocaust- physically, mentally, and emotionally. Life was frightening and difficult for children who were in hiding during the rule of Adolf Hitler.
Over one million Jewish children died during the Holocaust. They were ripped out of their homes and taken away from their families, and stripped of their childhoods. Innocent lives were caught in a war that they were not able to stop. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he promised Germany that he would improve life their by getting rid of the one race that caused the problems, the Jews. Jews, including Jewish children, were sent to concentration camps, inspected, and if approved, were sent to work. All others would have been sent to be killed. Being sent to work did not ensure survival, children would be given very little food and water, and beaten severely, which caused their death. None of the children of the Holocaust will ever forget the experience they went through, they will always remember.
German children would grow up under the impression that the Holocaust was “sins of their Fathers” and would be expected to deny the existence of the event. Studies show that most German children did not in fact think anything of the lack of Jewish in their environment due to the denial by their own people5. During the time of the Holocaust, the media and education was very meticulously manipulated to where it wasn’t as obvious as to what was taking place. German schools would educated pupils in a way that portrayed Hitler as good and Jews as different. Hitler also would found something known as the Hitler youth program in which the German children would attend in order to have early learning and military training. Youth were taught at a young age to respect the government and the leader, and would not be allowed to complete any action or thought that could conclude mistrust or suspicion to authority. The kids would live a life of mistrust and oblivious thinking due to events of the Holocaust, these practices have been passed down to further generations as
...ich were all Nazi-induced (ushmm.org). The experiences of the children in the Holocaust remind society of the innocence of youth and the cruelty in exposing them to horror at an early age.
Adolf Hitler was born in Austria-Hungary on April 20, 1889, to mother, Klara Hitler, and father, Alois Hitler; a German by blood.
They were forced to transition into adulthood much more quickly than those who were not victims of this genocide. As children, they had to be adults because it was dangerous to be a child. Children were often targeted groups of people to be exterminated due to the fact that they could not help the Nazi regime. Therefore these children had to prove themselves beneficial in order to survive, which for them meant becoming adults early on in age. Also because of this, children survivors have grown up and created an alter ego child who desires to live the childish life that they missed out on due to the Holocaust.
“While imprisoned, Hitler wrote, “My Struggle,” where he foretold the war that would lead to the death of many Jews.” (The Holocaust) The Jews were used as scapegoats by the Germans. They were treated terribly and lived in very poor conditions. Many of the Jewish children were put into homes, therefore having better chances of hiding.
It is understandable for a child to believe what is told to them as a child because they are easy to manipulate. By the time children were adults they should have known right from wrong and that they were actually being trained to become Nazi soldiers. They were being used to take part in a genocide. Those old enough to be Nazi soldiers and had grown up in the Hitler Youth should have seen unspeakable horror done against the Jews and should have known it was wrong. Even though this is true they still should not be held responsible because the Hitler Youth camps and schools had taught them that they are different from Jews and by far more superior than them. They were taught the difference in physical characteristics and the atrocities Jews were accused of. All these factors that were implanted in their brains while young forced them to believe that Jews deserved everything that happened to them which is why they should not be held
... thing to say if you lived in Germany that the Nazis have done the right thing killing millions of people for what just to show that they didn’t cause World War I. Even if they did not cause World War I they sure did help by causing World War II which everyone is lucky that it was not as bad as it could have been. The Nazis targeted innocent people that had nothing to do with anything that caused World War I but the Nazis were the judge, jury, and executioner for all the people they took into their concentration camp. Even if some how any of the people they took into their camps were horrible people or did cause World War I. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Which everything the Nazis have done to the people in those camps was wrong. Treating the people like they were animals killing them for fun is horrible to do to people who were going to die from starvation anyway.
Jewish children's life changed when the Nazis came on 1933. They were banned from public schools and after 1935 close friends of the children started to avoid the company of their Jewish classmates. Some children would be forced to live in the ghettos with their families, others would end up homeless. The homeless kids parents were either killed or deported to concentration camps. The first group of children to be targeted by the Nazis were the disabled children they were described as “useless eaters”. Some children were also sent to concentration camps where in some cases medical experiments were performed on them or had to slave labor. Josef Mengele was the one who performed