Hitler Youth

Nazi-era propaganda poster.

The Hitler Youth (Hitler-Jugend in German) organization was founded by Adolf Hitler, the leader of the NSDAP in 1926 and future dictator of Germany. It was a recreation of an earlier Nazi youth movement known as the Jungenbund der NSDAP . It was designed to integrate teenage boys and young men so that they might become Nazis. There was also another organization called the League of German Girls which trained young women in domestic duties and motherhood.

The Hitler Youth was modeled on similar organizations created by other Socialist parties in Germany from the 1920s onwards. The German Communist party had founded a similar movement in the 1920s, attempting to foster opposing, albeit it still leftist, political views. However, from its conception the Hitler Youth was entirely a fascist organization.

The leader of the Hitler Youth throughout the Nazi dictatorship was Baldur von Schirach, who was a principal defendant of the Nuremberg Trials.

Beliefs Instilled

Members of the Hitler Youth were taught the official Nazi far left, racist and anti-Semitic doctrines. The future most encouraged was service in the Wehrmacht, the German army. Thus most Hitler Youth activities were based on fitness and strength, instead of intelligence. Younger boys in the Hitler Youth were occasionally physically abused by older boys; this was unofficially tolerated by the adult leaders. ^{[Who says?]}

By the end of the war Hitler Youth members were being used as soldiers, and by 1945 compelled to act as front line troops and stretcher bearers.

Well-Known Members

Most Germans of a certain age were members, some of the better known being Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Catholic Church, and Prince Claus van Amsberg (born Klaus von Amsberg) of the Netherlands, husband of Queen Beatrix.

Also See

• Adolf Hitler
• World War II
• Nazi Party
• Eugenics