Prince Harry,
drink in hand
proudly
wearing the
Swastika.
January ‘2005
The Hitler Youth (Hitler-Jugend, HJ)
was established by the Nazi party in 1926
to create a new youth-training system for
young Germans to gain militarized training
and develop their understanding of and
obedience to Nazi ideology.
The Hitler
Youth
Youth serve
the leader
(master)
(All 10 year olds to join)
Auch Du (also you)
Officer of Tomorrow
This was the membership card for the Hitler Youth
In the 1920’s the Germany’s
youth were involved in many
organizations. The most
popular was the Wandervogel,
which engaged in sports. But
in 1926, the Youth Group
organization leaders were
invited to attended a
convention held by the Nazi
Party on July 4th. They agreed
to form a Nazi sponsored
youth group called "The
Hitler Youth" or "HJ."
HJ Member
practicing throwing
grenades
The basic motivation of the
Hitler Youth was to train
future 'Aryan supermen' and
future soldiers who would
serve the Third Reich
faithfully when they grew
up. Physical and military
training took precedence
over academic and
scientific learning in all
Hitler Youth organizations.
1936 Hitler Youth award
Youths in HJ camps learned to use weapons, built up
their physical strength, learned war strategies, and
were indoctrinated into anti-Semitism. They typically
wore uniforms composed of light brown shirts and
brown shorts, similar to children in a military camp,
with some high-ranking boys wearing black shirts.
--This Deutsche
Jungvolk boys
wears the winter
uniform with the
blue or black
jacket. Older boys
might wear long
pants.
--This Hitler Youth
wears the summer
uniform with black
lederhosen, a
popular choice for
boys involved in
outdoor activities.
--This Deutsche Jungvolk
file leader wears the
summer uniform without
the blue or black jacket.
Notice the lanyard leading
to a whistle in his pocket.
That indicated he was a
DJ youth leader. Boys of
all ages wore short pants
with the summer uniform.
--Many of the older
DJ members wore
long pants with the
winter uniform.
--Hitler Youth
boys from the
very beginning
learned military
drill and as they
got older more
and more
military training
was added to the
program,
including
handling fire
arms.
--These boys
are wearing
the uniform
caps common
in the early
1930s.
Campaign
caps became
more
common as
the War
approached.
--This young boy in an
early Deutsche Jugend
uniform makes a
presentation to Hitler
himself at the annual
Nurreburg NAZI Party
ralley. The movement
had a mesmerizing
impact on hundreds of
thousands of German
boys, many of which
identified personally
with Hitler's leadership.
In her book, "A
History of the
Holocaust: From
Ideology to
Annihilation", author
Rita Botwinick claims
that "...the greatest
influence on the
development of
German youngsters
was not the parents,
not the schools, but
the Hitler Jugend."
THE HITLER YOUTH (HJ)
The Hitler Youth were to Hitler and the Nazi Party
the future of Germany. Hitler’s dream of "A
Thousand-Year Reich" could only be made possible
through its youth.
"The future of the German nation depends on its
youth, and the German youth shall have to be
prepared for its future duties," Hitler said.
Hitler knew that young people wanted recognition.
They were energetic, full of life, and had a strong
love for Germany. Hitler recognized these qualities
and made it part of his plan to control the future
world. He planned to mold Germany’s youth into a
force that he controlled. Hitler’s direct and personal
involvement became a great inspiration for the
German youth.
HJ being instructed in class
(From the Movie: "Swing
Kids")
Membership in the HJ
was required by all
young people by
March of 1939.
Children were torn
away from parents and
sent to houses and
orphanages. If parents
tried to keep their
children out of the HJ,
they had to go to
prison.
The boys learned to respect
the Nazi Party and to live by
the Nazi Primer (the official
handbook of the HJ). They
were taught that the Aryan
race was superior to all
others. In the Nazi Primer,
it said "when considering
bodily form, the HJ have
to take into account above
all things, size and shape
of body, skull, color of
hair, the eyes and the
skin, as well as the texture
of the hair." to determine
how they were superior.
He alone, who owns the youth, gains the Future!
-- Adolf Hitler, speech at the Reichsparteitag, 1935
Flag of the Hitler Youth
In 1932, just under 107,956 youths were enrolled
in the HJ. By the end of 1939, over 8,000,000
were enrolled.
Hitler said, "He alone,
who owns the youth,
gains the future!"
Children could join this
program as young as 6
years of age. At 10 years,
they graduated into the
Jungvolk. They had to
swear an oath saying
that they will give their
lives to Hitler and
Germany. At 15 they
were in the HJ.
Hitler Youth
Snowman
Hitler Youth build a
snowman with Jewish
features and a star.
Photo Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Bildarchiv
Preussischer Kulturbesitz
Date: 1938 – 1939
Place: Locale: Berlin
Region: Berlin
Country: Germany
--Knives,
compasses, and
other gear were
made for the
Hitler Youth,
including this
board game. Note
the swastika arm
band with the
white stripe, the
official symbol of
the Movement.
Der Pimpf was
the “monthly” for
young boys in the
Hitler Youth
organization. The
first issue
appeared in 1935
under the title
Morgen. The title
changed to Der
Pimpf with the
April 1937 issue.
The Hitler Youth was a logical extension of Hitler's belief that
the future of Nazi Germany was its children. The Hitler Youth
was seen as being as important to a child as school was. In
the early years of the Nazi government, Hitler had made it
clear as to what he expected German children to be like:
"The weak must be chiselled 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.“
Nazi education schemes part fitted in with this but Hitler
wanted to occupy the minds of the young in Nazi Germany
even more.
Translation - "Fight the Danger!
Harm Prevention is a Duty!"
Movements for youngsters were
part of German culture and the
Hitler Youth had been created in
the 1920's. By 1933 its
membership stood at 100,000.
After Hitler came to power, all
other youth movements were
abolished and as a result the
Hitler Youth grew quickly. In
1936, the figure stood at 4
million members. In 1936, it
became all but compulsory to
join the Hitler Youth. Youths
could avoid doing any active
service if they paid their
subscription but this became all
but impossible after 1939.
Indoctrination of youth began early in the Third Reich.
Boys at 10, joined the
Deutsches Jungvolk (German
Young People) until the age of
13 when they transferred to
the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth)
until the age of 18. In 1936,
the writer J R Tunus wrote
about the activities of the
Hitler Jugend. He stated that
part of their "military athletics"
(Wehrsport) included
marching, bayonet drill,
grenade throwing, trench
digging, map reading, gas
defense, use of dugouts, how
to get under barbed wire and
pistol shooting.
The
compulsory
training and
conditioning of
Germany boys
into an army
of unfeeling
Hitler youth
demanded the
sacrifice of any
vestige of
personal
identity
--The Hitler Youth
Movement
succeeded in
mesmerizing an
entire generation
of idealistic
German boys with
the NAZI ideology
of racial and
national
superiority. These
boys were the ones
who carried out
without question
the barbarities of
the Holocaust.
Above -- Hitler Youth perform in the Hour of
Commemoration in front of the town hall in
Tomaszow, Poland in 1941. Their flags bear the
ancient Germanic Sig-Rune 'S' symbolic of victory.
Girls in the Hitler Youth
"Every girl belongs to us" states this
League of German Maidens poster
--The Hitler Youth movement
included girls, but they were
enrolled in separate units--Bund
Deutscher Maedchen. The goal
was to prepare them for home and
motherhood, quite different then the
training provided the boys. This
legend reads, "All 10 years
olds ???".

IMAGE:
'Build youth
hostels and
camps'
(lithograph), circa 1933-39
publisher unknown, printed by
Offesetdruck Langebartels and
Jung, artist: Witte, Hamburg.
Shirley Smith Family Trust
Collection
Girls, at the age of 10, joined the Jungmadelbund (League of
Young Girls) and at the age of 14 transferred to the Bund
Deutscher Madel (League of German Girls). Girls had to be
able to run 60 meters in 14 seconds, throw a ball 12 meters,
complete a 2 hour march, swim 100 meters and know how to
make a bed.
The Nazi League
of German Girls
(Bund Deutscher
Mädel), a branch
of the Hitler
Youth, trained girls
as physically fit
future mothers and
homemakers.
Poster, September 1934,
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin, Germany
The League of German
Girls was a compulsory
youth organization for
German girls formed in
the early 1930s. The
purpose of the
organization, along
with the Hitler Youth
for boys, was to
indoctrinate young
people into the politics
and culture of the Nazi
Party. Shown here, girls
waving swastika flags
wait to greet Adolf
Hitler on the
Wilhelmplatz in Berlin
on August 13, 1938.
The girls spent two thirds of their
time playing sports and one third
of their time learning the Nazi
youth ideology. The main goal for
which the German girls were
trained was to become mothers of
genetically healthy children, whom
they would in turn educate in the
spirit of Nazism.
The member of the German Girls
League were taught to shun any
contact with the Jews, this a belief
that they would later pass on to
their future children.
Cover of League
of German Girls
publication, "The
German Girl"
‘Youth serves
the Führer’
propaganda for
HJ
Being in the Hitler Jugend gave children a
sense of comradely, and a sense of
belonging. Children entered into the Jugend
as young as six years old as a 'Pimpf'. Right
from the start political indoctrination was a
main agenda of the Hitler Jugend making the
young pledge their allegiance and lives to
Hitler himself, rather than Germany. By the
time a Jugend was 18, he was ready to enter
into the military as a brown shirt, or
depending if they were hard working, the
elite SA forces.
At left, the Youth sing songs
of Praise to Hitler and
Germany. Hitler stated many
times that the future of
Germany lie not with the old,
who were incapable of
furthering Germany any
more, but in the hands of the
illustrious and infinitely
capable young. Whether or
not the Hitler Jugend was to
succeed, it is clear that they
were essential to Hitler's
plans and in the unification
of the German ideologies.
Planting the seeds of Nazi
thought at a young age made
for a fanatic group of
Germans who at the drop of
a dime were willing to die for
Hitler and his beliefs.
"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." - Adolf Hitler.
"one people, one
government, one
leader!"
Hitler understood propaganda
well. He said simplification and
repetition were the key to
persuading the masses. In
German propaganda you see
complex ideas turned into
simple easily remembered
slogans which were repeated
again and again until they
entered the unconscious of
the German people.
The End
a quote from Hitler regarding his Youth and The New Order
“My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness
must be hammered away. ….I want a brutal,
domineering, fearless, cruel youth. Youth must be all
that. It must bear pain. There must be nothing weak
and gentle about it. The free, splendid beast of prey
must once again flash from its eyes...That is how I will
eradicate thousands of years of human
domestication...That is how I will create the New
Order.”
-- Adolf Hitler, 1933.