Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth, known in German as Hitler-Jugend (HJ), was founded in 1926, though its roots stretch back a few years. Its origins come from the Jungsturm Adolf Hitler (Adolf Hitler Boy’s Storm Troop), an arm of the storm troopers founded in 1922. It was originally the youth movement of the German Workers’ Party, founded in 1919, which, in 1920, Hitler renamed the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. In 1931, Baldur von Schirach was appointed Reich Youth Leader and one of his primary goals was to unify all of the different Nazi youth organizations. German youth could join the Hitler Youth beginning at the age of 10. Hitler was a firm believer in the need to indoctrinate Nazi ideology early and the power of young people in ensuring the continued vitality of the “Thousand Year Reich.” Young German women were indoctrinated with the values of obedience, duty, self-sacrifice, discipline and physical self-control.
Hitler Youth Kurt Gruber formed the first group of young members of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) in 1926. Rudolf Hess suggested the name of the Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugend) and later that year transferred the leadership of the movement to Franz Pfeffer von Salomon of the Sturm Abteilung (SA). Pfeffer's main intention was to train young men to fight against members of left-wing youth groups. (1) The Hitler Youth organisation was taken over by Ernst Röhm in 1930 and remained as a adjunct to the SA. Schirach asked Adolf Hitler for permission to create an independent youth movement. Cate Haste, the author of Nazi Women (2001) has argued: "The leadership immediately set about organizing youth into a coherent body of loyal supporters. In 1933 Hitler took power in Germany. At the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, described as the Rally of Youth, Hitler told Germany's young people: "Regardless of what we create and do, we shall pass away, but in Germany you will live on. R.
Indoctrinating Youth Shaping the Future: Indoctrinating Youth “These boys and girls enter our organizations [at] ten years of age, and often for the first time get a little fresh air; after four years of the Young Folk they go on to the Hitler Youth, where we have them for another four years . . . And even if they are still not complete National Socialists, they go to Labor Service and are smoothed out there for another six, seven months . . . And whatever class consciousness or social status might still be left . . . the Wehrmacht [German armed forces] will take care of that.” —Adolf Hitler (1938) From the 1920s onwards, the Nazi Party targeted German youth as a special audience for its propaganda messages. Education in the Nazi State Education in the Third Reich served to indoctrinate students with the National Socialist world view. In the classroom and in the Hitler Youth, instruction aimed to produce race-conscious, obedient, self-sacrificing Germans who would be willing to die for Führer and Fatherland.
Hitler Youth: Chapter Index Above – Hitler Youths perform in the Hour of Commemoration in front of the town hall in Tomaszow, occupied Poland in 1941. Their flags bear the ancient Germanic Sig-Rune 'S' symbolic of victory. "My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be hammered away. Related Audio Clips (Windows Audio Format) The Fahnenlied (Banner Song) written by Hitler Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach, is sung here by Berlin Hitler Youth members, ending with the final refrain... Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran (Our banner flutters before us) Unsere Fahne ist die neue Zeit (Our banner represents the new era) Und die Fahne führt uns in die Ewigkeit! Translation: "It is our wish and will that this State and this Reich shall endure in the millenniums to come. Translation: "At your command, my Führer, stands here a youth – a youth that does not know class and caste. Translation: "We do not want this nation to become soft. Begin Reading: The History Place - Hitler Youth: Chapter 1 - Beginnings to 1923
Hitler Youth: Hitler's Boy Soldiers 1939-1945 On September 1st, 1939, Hitler's armies invaded Poland. Six years of war would follow with the full participation of the Hitler Youth eventually down to the youngest child. At the onset of war, the Hitler Youth totaled 8.8 million. But the war brought immediate, drastic changes as over a million Hitler Youth leaders of draft age and regional adult leaders were immediately called up into the army. Terms of use: Private home/school non-commercial, non-Internet re-usage only is allowed of any text, graphics, photos, audio clips, other electronic files or materials from The History Place. Hitler Youth: Prelude to War 1933-1939 On the night of January 30, 1933, Nazis in Berlin celebrated the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany by conducting massive torchlight parades. Hitler Youth units were among those in the columns passing under the watchful gaze of Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg, the elderly president of Germany. Within two months, Hitler acquired dictatorial powers resulting from the Enabling Act passed by the Nazi-controlled Reichstag. Hitler's acquisition of power meant the Hitler Youth and all other Nazi organizations now had the official power of the State on their side. The period of Nazi Gleichschaltung (forced coordination) immediately began in which all German institutions and organizations were either Nazified or disbanded. Hitler Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach now sought to eliminate all 400 of the other competing youth organizations, large and small, throughout Germany.
Hitler Youth: Beginnings to 1923 Before the Nazi Party was founded, a strong youth movement already existed in Germany. It began in the 1890s and was known as the Wandervögel, a male-only movement featuring a back-to-nature theme. Wandervögel members had an idealistic, romantic notion of the past, yearning for simpler days when people lived off the land. They rejected the modern, big city era and took a dim view of its predecessor, the industrial revolution, which had been started by their fathers and grandfathers. Terms of use: Private home/school non-commercial, non-Internet re-usage only is allowed of any text, graphics, photos, audio clips, other electronic files or materials from The History Place.
Hitler Youth: Timeline and Organization Info Beginnings to 1923 April 20, 1889 - Adolf Hitler is born in Austria.November 9, 1918 - The Weimar Republic is proclaimed in Germany.November 11, 1918 - World War I ends with Germany defeated.June 28, 1919 - Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles.September 1919 - Hitler joins the German Workers' Party.April 1, 1920 - Hitler renames the German Workers' Party as the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nazi Party.March 1922 - Hitler proclaims the first Nazi Party youth group.November 8, 1923 - Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch ends in failure. He is soon sent to prison. Jungvolk Oath (taken by ten-year-old boys on first entering the Hitler Youth) "In the presence of this blood banner which represents our Führer, I swear to devote all my energies and my strength to the savior of our country, Adolf Hitler.
Hitler Youth: Road to Power 1923-1933 Following the failed Beer Hall Putsch and Hitler's arrest, the Nazi Party and Youth League of the NSDAP had been outlawed. Gustav Lenk, former leader of the Nazi Youth League, then founded a new group, the Patriotic Youth Association of Greater Germany. However, German officials soon disbanded this group, believing it was just another name for the Nazi Youth League. Lenk was arrested and briefly imprisoned, but upon his release, founded yet another group, the Greater German Youth Movement. He was arrested again and sent to Landsberg Prison where Hitler was confined. Terms of use: Private home/school non-commercial, non-Internet re-usage only is allowed of any text, graphics, photos, audio clips, other electronic files or materials from The History Place.
The Hitler Youth www.HolocaustResearchProject.org The Hitler Youth Jungsturm Adolf Hitler In 1920, Adolf Hitler, authorized the formation of a Youth League of the National Socialist Workers' Party (NSDAP) based upon the principles of an earlier German youth group known as as the Wandervögel. Wandervögel members had an idealistic, romantic notion of the past, yearning for simpler days when people lived off the land. This new Nazi Youth League attracted very few members at first, competing against numerous other well-established youth groups, and following the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch and Hitler's arrest, the Youth League of the NSDAP had been outlawed. However with Hitler's release from prison and the resurgence of the NSDAP, a new Nazi Youth Party was established and headed by Gustav Lenk. The growth of the League was slow at first, and in 1922 assistance came from the party newspaper the Völkischer Beobachter which now called for new members, declaring: The Hitler Youth was born! Sources: The Holocaust Historical Society