Davis Felder Totalitarianism in Europe November 17, 2008 Hitler Jugend The Hitler Jugend or Hitler Youth, the

Nazi partys youth movement, indoctrinated young Germans to perpetuate Hitlers 1,000 year Reich. The Hitler Youth movement focused on physical training, Nazi ideology such as racial concepts, premilitary training, and most importantly absolute obedience to Hitler. The totalitarian dictator understood that without a strong youth organization the social, political, and military resiliency of the Third Reich was impossible. Hitler was able to capture an already flourishing youth movement and propel it in the direction of the Nazi government. It was Hitler who said in 1935 at the Reichsparteitag, He alone, who owns the youth, gains the Future!1 Furthermore, indoctrination of Nazi ideology was essential to ensuring the Third Reich and its Aryan race lived on forever. 2 Nazi leaders and propagandist realized it would be nearly impossible to convert all adults to the National Socials ways. With the youth, however, the situation was much different. With the impressionable youth the Nazis could build from the ground up. Instead of focusing on immediate aims such as the gaining the support of adults for the Nazi Partys rise to power, the youth could be inculcated ultimate aims such as antiSemitism and elitism. Dr. Ley, the executive leader of the Labor front, summarized these

Hermand, Jost, A Hitler Youth In Poland: The Nazis Program for Evacuating Children during World War II. Illinois: Nothwestern University Press, 1993. Pg. 99. 2 Rempel, Gerhard, Hitlers Children: The Hitler Youth and the SS. London: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Pg. 2-4

aims saying, What the church has succeeded in doing in a thousand years, we will accomplish in ten.3 As envisioned by Hitler, the youth will replenish the Nazi party as time goes on. Goring, Goebbels, and even Hitler knew that they will die and planned to select men and women to fill vacancies in the hierarchy of leaders when they occur. These selected men and women had to be eligible and up for the task of leading the Third Reich successfully into the future. Harwood L. Childs clearly explains this in the preface of the Nazi Primer , They called this system of selection socialist because it aimed to skim from the population the cream of the youth to create a supply of leaders imbued with the ideals of National Socialism, capable of assuming positions of authority and responsibility on all ranks and spheres of life. 4 The Hitler Youth program had many aspects, but the replenishing of the Nazi hierarchy seems to be a founding goal of its creation. Before the Hitler Youth organization was implemented, a Youth movement in Germany already existed. In 1901 a nineteen year old boy, Karl Fischer, got four of his friends together and started an organization called Wandervogel; Committee for School boys Rambles. Although this group fragmented from the beginning and turned into various groups both political and apolitical, the reason for the movement and actions of the groups were relatively the same in the beginning. There was an emphasis within these groups to escape from the city out into the beauties of nature. But, the most important

Childs, Harwood, The Nazi Primer. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1938 Pg. xv-xvi. 4 Childs, xvi.

feature of the youth movement was the deep sense of community the member derived from being together with his friends, especially when on a ramble.5 These groups varied and advocated peripheral causes such as abstinence from alcohol to nudism. The common theme in all the early youth groups between 1901 and 1926 was their characteristic activites and their form of leadership, which was always by a person only slightly older than the others. The central activity of the groups was long expedition, which took place during the summer.6 It is evident in the activities of these youth groups that a major youth movement was occurring in response to the modernization and industrialization taking place in Europe in the early 20th century. These youths were lashing out against a society that was moving into the future all around them and leaving pieces of culture behind. Walter Laqueur in his book, Young Germany: A History of the German Youth Movement, exquisitely describes the atmosphere that attracted these youths away from urban life: The experience of walking at night and at sunrise, that atmosphere of the camp fire, the friendships that sprang up. There was much romantic exaltation. Very deep emotional chords were struck; the genuineness of this experience cannot be doubted.7 Unfortunately, Hitler took these movements and replaced them with his own version of extremely political and regimented groups, whose only goal was the furthering of a violent anti-Semitic political movement.

Walker, Lawrence, Hitler Youth and Catholic Youth 1933-1936. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1970. Pg. 5-6. 6 Walker, 6. 7 Laqueur, Walter, Young Germany: A History of the German Youth Movement. London: Toutledge and Keagan Paul, 1962. Pg. 19.

There were many reasons the Hitler Youth was attractive to the young Germans of the era. Michael Kater expands on these different reasons as well as explains how the regime leaders took advantage of these reasons. In the struggle for ultimate authority over the children that sometimes took place among the church, schools, parents, and Hitler Youth, the young Germans essentially enjoyed being the center of attention and the object of adult desires. These youths tended to side with the Hitler Youth more often than not because it seemed to be more modern and forward-looking than any of the other institutions. The Nazi regime supported the youth in terms of granting autonomy from parents and allowing liberal relations with girls of their age. Unlike family, church, and school the Hitler Youth was not weighed down by tradition and taboos and seemed to offer an exciting opportunity for young people to be respected and responsible. 8 It is hard to image a child that would not immediately pledge allegiance to powerful organization that gave them freedoms that had been restricted throughout their adolescence thus far. The Hitler Youth focused attentively on physical training and the perfection of individuals. This was done through various outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, sports, and even military type training. These activities easily motivated the youths hunger for adventure, daring and risk, a love of flirting with danger. Furthermore, young Hitler Youth leaders experienced and even higher feeling of elation when given command of hundred of younger Hitler Youths.9 Kater explains how the authoritarian nature of the Nazi regime, coupled with its merciless ideology of the survival of the fittest, constituted a major point of attraction for adolescents who were searching for
8 9

Kater, Michael, Hitler Youth. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2004. Pg. 1. Kater, Pg. 5.

certitudes in a swiftly changing and newly structure world, however harshly regimented.10 It was this authority that made them stronger than a number of their charges, and gave them a sense of superiority over the German citizens of any age11. These authoritative attitudes of young men were exactly what the German totalitarian regime needed to be up and coming to fill the vacancies soon to occur in the ranks of the Reich. The rise of the National Soclialsit German Worlkers Party (NSDAP), Hitlers political party, included a heavy emphasis on propaganda appealing to the younger Generation. The NSDAP liked to describe itself as a movemet of youth, and the seizure of power was depicted as the victory of young Germany against the gerontocracy of the Weimar Republic.12 In July 1926 Hitler created the Hitler Youth under the control of Kurt Gruber. After the failure of the Munich Putsch, Hilter recognized the importance of winning power though the constitutional framework of the state, in which he needed popular support among the electorate. In order to broaden the appeal of the NSDAP and transced the party from a elitist revolutionary movement to a mass-based evolutionary movement specialized formations like the Hitler Youth.13 In 1926 the Hitler Youth, under Gruber, went from 1,000 members to 10,000 members in two years. And in 1929 the Hitler Youth experienced a 30 percent increase, followed by a 62 percent and 76 percent influx in the next two years.14 However, the

10 11

Kater, 3. Kater, 9. 12 Stachura, Peter, The German Youth Movement 1900-1945: An Interpretative and Documentary History. New York: St. Martins Press, 1981.113. 13 Rempel, Gerhard, Hitlers Children: The Hitler Youth and the SS. London: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. 10. 14 Rempel, 9.

Hitler Youth was rivaled by some of the current youth organizations, which is why in 1933 Hitler abolished all party youth organizations. To further this plot, an armed group of Hitler Youth occupied the Reich Committee of German Youth Organization, which was the business office for many of these current youth organizations.15 After all of the rivaling youth organizations were gone, Hitler introduced in 1936 the Hitler Youth Law, which made membership a requirement for all youths. Although, 100 percent participation in the Hitler Youth was never accomplished, an impressive 82 percent of all the German Youth actually put on HJ uniforms.16 The Hitler Youth movement had many aspects involved in its program, but physical training and the perfection of the body was the central goal in order to maintain the Aryan perfection. Hitler said to Hermann Rauschning, the National Socialist chairmen of the Danzig Senate, concerning the importance of physical perfection and mental invulnerability: My pedagogy is hard. All that is weak must be chiseled away. In my Ordensburgen a new type of youth will grow up who will shock the world. I want a brutal, domineering, fearless, and cruel youth. My young people must be all these things. They must endure pain. There must be nothing weak or soft about them. The free, magnificent beast of prey must once again flash from their eyes. I want young people to be strong and beautiful. I shall have them trained in all forms of physical exercise. I want athletic youth. This is the first and most important thing. That is how I will eradicate thousands of years of human domestication. I dont want them to have an intellectual education. Knowledge would spoil my young people. I prefer that they learn only what they pick up by following their own play instinct. But they must learn self-control. I will them master the fear of death through the most difficult trials. That is the stage of heroic youth. Out of it will grow the stage of free man, a human being who is the measure and the center of the world.17 Hitler based his political ideology on the idea that equality was a sin against nature, and the Nazi Party should follow a natural political system. It was Darwinian ideology that influenced Hitlers natural system. The idea that the survival of the fittest would

15 16

Walker, Pg. 17. Rempel, Pg. 11. 17 Hermand, Pg. XV.

triumph over the weaker was indoctrinated upon the Hitler Youth, who were forced to recognize the principle of biological superiority and the basically aristocratic laws of nature. 18 This biological superiority was incorporated into the Hitler Youth program, and through competitive sports the differences between leader and follower surfaced. On the field of play it was natural for one or two boys, who began to tire of the disorganization or failure of a team, to step up and begin to try and lead the group to victory. There were also boys who naturally did not step up and try and turn a loss around, but instead obediently listened to whomever might be giving direction, whether it be correct or not. These activities in which natural leaders surfaced, came in the form of premilitary training. There were camping and hiking exercises, which were far more rigorous than Wandervogel or German Scouts had been. Hitler Youth groups played war games against each other, in which many of the boys were roughed up or injured. The camps involved military features such as roll calls during flag ceremonies, trumpet fanfares, and rifle practice.19 There was high emphasis on reading maps, recognizing typical landmarks, judging distances, describing terrain characteristics, using varied types of camouflage, and learning orientation in all types of natural environments.20 These sort of skills would have impressed any regular infantrymen at the time, and would prove to be beneficial in preparing these youths for an inevitable war of German expansion. Enthusiasm was maintained throughout all of the activities by focusing all physical feats on official

18 19

Hermand, XVIII. Kater, 29. 20 Rempel,179.

competitions. By staying enthusiastic and competitive the youths could not help but begin to develop into extremely fit human beings. The premilitary training was an excellent way for masses of HJ to attain military preparedness. However, there were specialized units in which elite youths could be apart of such as the Fliers HJ. The Fliers were a glider where youths learned flying techniques in simple gliders. Obviously, Gorings Luftwaffe coveted this group of young pilots as the war moved on. There was also a Marine HJ, where youths became familiar with naval life in sailboats and kayaks. There was a Motor HJ that specialized in motorcycle and even automobiles, which was crucial to ground forces later on in the war as well. Furthermore, Communications HJ was another imperative sector for ground forces. These communications youths were trained in Morse code and transmitting messages in the field. 21 Although there was a large percentage of German youths that participated in the Hitler Jugend, there was plenty of opposition to the racist ideological and regimented ways of the Nazi party and its youth organization. This opposition spread from adults such as parents, preachers, and teachers. Youths also opposed the Hitler Youth, such as some of the remaining youth organizations from pre-Nazi Germany that continued to roam the countryside independently. Unfortunately, in each of these situations the Nazis were able to ultimately repress many of these counter revolutionaries22 Beginning with educators, which always seem to be the most liberal, many teachers encountered difficulties teaching subjects that went against the current Nazi ideology. Unreliable teachers such as social democrats and Communists were dismissed after the
21 22

Kater, 32. Rempel, 185.

proclamation fo the Law for the Reconstitution of the Civil Service.23 Furthermore, parents that resisted the Hitler Youth program by forbidding their children to go had restrictions placed upon them. In certain circumstances, young children in the Hitler Youth had the chance to tell on their parents or threaten their parents if any subversive conversation or political undertaking was occurring. The Catholics and Catholic priests also were included in the opposition to the Hitler Youth. One of the main principels of the Hitler Youth was the idea that youth should be led by youth24. This was in sharp contrast to the ways of Catholic youths, who were used to adults and priests as leaders. Priests warned parents that heathenism was promoted within the HJ. In a semi-repsonse to the issue, the Catholics were forbidden to wear identifying apparel, go on outings, publish periodicals, or engage in any but purely religious activity.25 Some of the youth groups such as the Christian Boy Scouts did not disband after the Hitler Youth Law and the incorporation into the Hitler Youth. This group called them selves the Black Band and existed from 1934-1945. The Hitler Youth patrol groups called the Streifendienst or SRD did not discover this group for over two years. The Black Band was accused of taking flags from the HJ camps and successfully offered physical resistance when attacked by Hitler Youth groups.26 Although their actions were no more effective that those of ideological groups, they did make an impact by spreading pamphlets, songbooks, and opposition periodicals throughout Nazi Germany.

23 24

Kater, 40. Walker, 99. 25 Rempel, 56. 26 Hermand, 107.

Furthermore, the Black Band were not just a hit and run group, they openly attacked the Streifendienst whenever the opportunity arose.27 Not necessarily on the same page politically as the Black Band, a group called the Swingers rebelled against many of the restrictions on music and culture inside Nazi Germany. Made up of mostly youths from well-to-do families these Swingers met together to party and dance. The term Swingers was coined because of the American style clothes and jazz music for which they indulged in. Although police raided many of these dance clubs arresting as many as 408 in one Hotel28, they were unable to stop the dancing movement from popping up everywhere. Swingers emerged in cities such as Berlin, Saarbrucken, Hanover, and Vienna. 29Music was for all of them a way of defying the regime and protesting an unbearably restrictive life within the Hitler Youth. In Conclusion, the Hilter Youth understandably were major assets for the Nazi regime in implementing many of its ideologies and having them accepted. Gerhard Rempel emphasizes this point when mentioning in his book, Hitlers Children, how as a mass organization, incorporating nearly the entire younger generation in the twelve years of Nazi reign, the Hitler Youth sustained the movements vitality. Furthermore, Rempel strengthens the importance of the Hitler Youth because of its ability to successfully implement30 the policy of social integration. We have already answered why many of these children were so engulfed by the prowess of the Hitler Youth, but to explain why the cimes committed in the Nazi partys name in modern society it is necessary to realize

27 28

Rempel, 58. Kater, 45. 29 Rempel, 92-94. 30 Rempel, 256.

the amount of success attained in creating a sense of nation communal solidarity among the young, which inhibited such violent acts by children.

Works Cited 1. Hermand, Jost, A Hitler Youth In Poland: The Nazis Program for Evacuating Children during World War II. Illinois: Nothwestern University Press, 1993. 2. Kater, Michael, Hitler Youth. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2004. 3. Rempel, Gerhard, Hitlers Children: The Hitler Youth and the SS. London: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. 4. Laqueur, Walter, Young Germany: A History of the German Youth Movement. London: Toutledge and Keagan Paul, 1962. 5. Walker, Lawrence, Hitler Youth and Catholic Youth 1933-1936. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1970. 6. Childs, Harwood, The Nazi Primer. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1938. 7. Stachura, Peter, The German Youth Movement 1900-1945: An Interpretative and Documentary History. New York: St. Martins Press, 1981. 8. Bartoletti, Susan, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitlers Shadow. New York: Scholastic Inc, 2005.