Hitler Youth

The Hitler Youth Organization was founded on 3-4 July 1926 in Weimar as a national socialist youth movement.

In the last years of the Weimar Republic, the Hitler Youth contributed to the escalation of violence on the streets of German cities. Organized groups of the Hitler Youth attacked movie theaters, where the screenings of the anti-war film “ On the Western Front, Without Changes ” were shown. Violence against movie theater owners and spectators has led the film to be withdrawn from distribution in many regions of Germany.

Sometimes officials tried to calm the raging youth with prohibitive measures. So, in January 1930, the mayor of Hanover and former Minister of War Gustav Noske (Social Democrat) forbade schoolchildren to join the Hitler Youth. His example was followed in other lands of the country. However, it was impossible to cope with such measures with the Hitler Youth. The Nazis used the reputation of popular fighters driven by the authorities to promote and attract new members to the youth organization. The punished brown movement activists posed as “victims” who suffered for the truth. The authorities hardly banned any cell of the Hitler Youth, as it revived under a different name, for example, “Friends of Nature” or “Young Folk Philatelists”. Fantasy knew no bounds. In Kiel , for example, a group of butcher shoppers marched through the streets in their blood-stained aprons, when authorities banned the wearing of the Hitler Youth uniform. “Enemies fluttered when this group appeared. They knew that everyone had a hefty knife under his apron, ”one of the eyewitnesses recalled ^[5] .

The Hitler Youth everywhere participated in the election campaign. They distributed leaflets and brochures, pasted up posters and wrote slogans on the walls. Many parents worried about the health of their children, since their participation in campaigning on the street was an unsafe affair. From 1931 to the end of January 1933, more than 20 members of the Hitler Youth were killed in skirmishes in the performance of "official duty in the name of the Fuhrer".

The name of the Hitler youth from Berlin, who fell at the hands of the "red youth" in the Moabit region, quickly became known - Herbert Norkus . At one time, his widowed father was forced to sell a small food store as a result of the economic crisis. He soon joined the NSDAP. On the morning of January 24, 1932, fifteen-year-old Herbert and his comrades handed out leaflets to passers-by. They were attacked by a group of similar teenagers from a communist organization. The members of the Hitler Youth rushed to flee, but the pursuers caught up with Norkus and stabbed several times. The young man died of blood loss. The killers fled ^[5] .

The Nazis turned the funeral ceremony at the Pletzensee cemetery into a propaganda campaign. Pastor Wenzl, who served at the funeral, said in a farewell that “Herbert Norkus is an example for all German youth” ^[5] . The then Nazi Gauleiter of Berlin, Joseph Goebbels, called on the audience to take revenge:

During the congresses of the NSDAP Hitler Youth Day was held. During this day, party rallies took place at Frankenstadion , which is located on the territory of the NSDAP congresses .

On December 1, 1936, upon the adoption of the Hitler Youth Act ( Gesetz über die Hitler-Jugend ), and then on March 25, 1939, upon the adoption of the Youth Official Debt ( Jugenddienstpflicht ), previously formally voluntary participation in the movement became mandatory. With the assumption of the post of head of the organization, Baldur von Schirach, the Hitler Youth became part of the NSDAP.

In December 1937, Baldur von Schirach traveled to Iran to support the establishment of an Iranian Boy Scout organization. The visit was widely covered by the Iranian press. During the trip, an official meeting was held with the Shah Reza Pahlavi . Since 1939, the Boy Scouts created according to the German model became mandatory organizations in schools, and Crown Prince Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was appointed their supreme leader.

After Baldur von Schirach, this post was taken by A. Axman . The organization was dissolved after the defeat of the Third Reich .

Organized according to the military model and on the principle of “Youth leads youth”, the organization covered German youth aged 10 to 18 and was divided by age categories. Younger group: boys from 10 to 14 years old - “ Deutsche Jungfolk ” (“German Youth”); from 14 to 18 years - actually the Hitler Youth . Women's organization of the Hitler Youth : girls aged 10 to 14 years - " Jungmedelbund " ("Union of Girls"); from 14 to 18 years old - “The Bund Deutscher Medel ” (“Union of German Girls”).

The Hitler Youth was led by the Reichsjugendführer ( reichsjugendführer ) (or Reichsführer), who was appointed chairman of the NSDAP.

Territories

Until 1932, the territories ( gau ), headed by gauführer, geographically corresponded to provinces, lands, groups from the provinces and small lands, along the party line - the NSDAP gau.

Headed by gebetsführer. Each of the territories consisted of 20 banns.

Banns

Until 1929, from districts ( bezirk ) led by bezirksführer ( territorial bezirksführer ), territorially corresponded to urban areas or non-district cities with territories adjacent to them.

Led by the bannführer. Each of the banns consisted of 4-6 strains.

Strains

Until 1938 - unterbann, until 1929 - a similar link was absent. Geographically corresponded to urban areas, non-district cities, districts or small lands, along the party line - to the NSDAP districts.

Headed by the strainfuhrer ( stammführer ). Each of the strains consisted of 3-5 squads.

The friends

Geographically corresponded to amts, earlier - to districts.

Led by gefoglshaftsführer ( gefoglschaftsführer ). Each of the squads consisted of 4 balls.

Balls

Geographically corresponded to cities, communities and districts, along the party line - to local groups of the NSDAP, earlier geographically corresponded to Amts.

Headed by scarfs ( scharführer ). Each of the balls consisted of 4 partnerships ( kameradschaft ).

Partnerships

Geographically, they corresponded to villages, streets, groups of apartment buildings, along party lines to NSDAP blocks, earlier territorially to cities and communities, along party lines to local NSDAP groups.

They were headed by kameradschaftsführer cameras . Each of the partnerships consisted of 10 members.

The leadership of the Hitler Youth tried by any means to attract young people. Solemn processions, propaganda marches and parades, war games, sporting events, hiking, youth gatherings, international meetings with members of fascist youth associations in Italy and other countries were organized. Living together made the Hitler Youth very attractive to young people. Regular pilgrimages were held to Braunau am Inn , Hitler's homeland. Any young man could find something interesting for himself in the activities of the Hitler Youth: classes in art or folk crafts, aircraft modeling , journalism , music , sports , etc. In addition to paramilitary activities, evenings were organized on Sundays at which small groups of Hitler Youth gathered to work out plans for further action, listen to propaganda broadcasts. On the other hand, a young man, not a former member of the Hitler Youth, seemed to separate from his comrades, who were such.

Participation in the Hitler Youth began at the age of 10. Every year on March 15, every boy over the age of ten was required to register at Imperial Youth Headquarters. After a careful study of information about the child and his family, where special attention was paid to his "racial purity", he was considered "free from shame." To be accepted, it was necessary to undergo the so-called "Testing of the boys" and a medical examination. Then followed the ceremony of admission to the younger age group - Jungfolk . The ceremony was held on the Fuhrer’s birthday (April 20), in the presence of high party leadership. The transition to the next age group was also solemn and pompous.

In the Hitler Youth the most important attention was paid to such topics as racial theory, population policy, German history and political geography. In the foreground were the “Dominant Race” and politics in relation to other races, in history - Hitler’s biography, the history of the NSDAP, political geography, with the greatest attention being paid to fascist countries. But much more important than mental education was physical education. The basis of sports development was competitions. Since 1935, the Reich sports began to be held annually. Competitions in athletics, hand-to-hand combat and team sport were held. Since 1937, firearms were introduced.

With the outbreak of World War II, members of the Hitler Youth were collecting blankets and clothes for soldiers, sending parcels to the front.

Every hour the members of the Hitler Youth were busy to the limit, and the youth barely had time for their families. Most parents did not mind such a routine.

Hitler, giving a speech in Reichenberg (the city of Czech Sudeten, now annexed to Germany, now Liberec ) in early 1938, spoke as follows about the fate of German youth:

This youth - she does not learn anything else but to think in German, to act in German. And when these boys and girls at the age of ten come to our organizations and often only there they get and feel the fresh air for the first time, after four years they get from Jungfolk to the Hitler Youth, where we leave them for another four years, and then we don’t give them away the hands of old parents and school teachers, but we immediately accept them in the party or the Workers Front , in the SA or SS , in the NSCK , etc. And if they stay there for a year and a half or two and do not become perfect National Socialists , then they will be called to "Labor service" and will be polished within five to seven months with the help of some of the character - the German shovels. And the Wehrmacht will take up what remains after six or seven months from class consciousness or class arrogance. And when they return in two, or three, or four years, we will immediately take them to the SA, SS, etc., so that they in no way take up the old. And they will never be free again - all their lives ...

- Manfred Seifert: Kulturarbeit im Reichsarbeitsdienst. S. 173.

Preschoolers were brought up in kindergartens, and already there they began to educate them in the national socialist spirit. The school was divided into three parts. First, all the children attended a public school for four years. Then it was possible to choose: either study for another four years in a public school, or six years in a high school, or eight in a full high school. After some time, the senior level of the public school was introduced, in which especially gifted students of the public school could study. In addition, elite schools, national-political educational institutions and a secondary school of NSD were created. These schools could be attended already in the third or fourth year of study, but they were paid and, in addition, to study in them, membership in the Hitler Youth was required. Already at the first lesson in their lives, children received primers, which prepared them for entry into jungfolk and gave an idea of ​​racial theory. An example of racial education is, for example, the following episode: In a mathematics lesson, the teacher asks: "How much will 2 + 3?" They answer him: "Six." Then the teacher says in response: "This is not true, only Jews think so, the Germans have 2 + 3 = 5."

Music

The NSDAP leadership considered music as an important means of ideological influence on youth ^[6] . In particular, the group performance of songs of ideological content was encouraged in the cells of the Hitler Youth. The internal instruction for the leaders of the organization called group singing “the strongest way to strengthen the collective spirit” ^[6] .

• In 1933, director Hans Steinhoff made the film “ Quex from the Hitler Youth ”. An irreconcilable conflict between a communist father and a son who dreams of joining the Hitler Youth.
• In 1993, the film " Children of the Swing " was released. Students Peter, Thomas, and Arvid are crazy about swing music. And this is a big problem, because the heroes live in Hamburg in 1939, Hitler banned swing as an American ideological infection, so their hobby can bring them big trouble: they can be expelled from the Hitler Youth and from the institute. Alas, the guys are too young to appreciate the risk of playing rebels: in the afternoon - members of the Hitler Youth, in the evening they selflessly dance swing and scornfully talk about the Fuhrer. The game comes to an end when the Gestapo grabs Father Peter for sympathizing with the Jews, and the heroes themselves fall into the field of vision of an SS officer. For jazz lovers, the time has come for trials - as for the whole world, in connection with the outbreak of World War II .

• Education in the Third Reich
• Pimp
• Jungfolk
• Union of German Girls
• Union of Girls
• Werewolf
• Vanderfogel
• Swingyugends
• Pioneer Organization
• Scout movement
• Komsomol
• Yunarmia
• Hunweibins

• Knopp G. "Children" of Hitler. - M .: Olma-Press , 2004 .-- 288 p. - ISBN 5-224-04809-5 .
• Kormilitsyn S.V. III Reich. Hitler Jugend. - SPb. : Neva, 2004.
• Kormilitsyn S.V. Youth policy of the Third Reich, 1933-1941. (Dis. Candidate of Historical Sciences: 07.00.03.- St. Petersburg, 2000.- 188 pp., ill. RSL OD, 61 01-7 / 595-9)
• Shagalova OG State policy of the Third Reich in the field of upbringing and education of German youth (dis. Candidate of historical sciences: 07.00.03: Tyumen, 2005 177 p. RSL OD, 61: 05-7 / 572), abstract

• Hitlerjugend im besetzten Polen (1939-44) und Deutschland (über 400 Bilder). [in:] Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (Eine Bilddatenbank zur polnischen Geschichte). Hitler Youth in occupied Poland (1939-1944).
• Encyclopedia of the Third Reich - Hitler Youth
• Hitler Youth - children of the Nazi Fuhrer (on German posters 1933-1944)
• German history database
• Hitler Youth - historical background
• Men's haircut - Hitler Youth