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HIST2125 Hitler’s Germany

HIST2125 Hitler’s Germany. Lecture 10: Hitler Youth ( Hitler-Jugend ) 5 November 2012. German youth movement. 1896 Wandervöge l ( b irds of passage) 1908 Pfadfinder (pathfinder; boy scouts) 1920s: Around 2000 youth organisations → Strong rivalries among groups

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HIST2125 Hitler’s Germany

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  1. HIST2125Hitler’s Germany Lecture 10: Hitler Youth (Hitler-Jugend) 5 November 2012

  2. German youth movement • 1896 Wandervögel (birds of passage) • 1908 Pfadfinder (pathfinder; boy scouts) • 1920s: Around 2000 youth organisations → Strong rivalries among groups → Most of them in critical distance to democratic Weimar Republic

  3. HJ 1922-33 • 1922 Jugendbund (Youth League) of NSDAP • 1926: Hitler-Jugend as SA limb > Paramilitary organisation • 1930: Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls) as female branch of HJ • 1933: HJ + BDM as NSDAP limbs > To promote Hitler’s education goals

  4. Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ) • Each March 15: Every German youngster becoming 10 this year → Register with Reich Youth Headquarters ↓ • Thorough check of record of boy & his family with special attention to ‘racial purity’ ↓ ☼ → Deutsches Jungvolk (German Young People) for boys 10-13 years called Pimpfe = HJ junior branch

  5. Graduations • Deutsches Jungvolk for boys 10-13 years • Hitler-Jugend for boys 14-18 years • NSDAP member with 18 + eventually SA member • Special education & training for HJ leaders > NS elite schools (Adolf-Hitler-Schulen, Napola) • Reichsarbeitsdienst (State Labour Service) with 19 for 6 months • Wehrmacht (armed forces) with 19/20 for 2 years = Permanent hold of NS party & state on German young men from age 10 to 21/22

  6. Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM) • Jungmädelbund (Young Girls’ League) for girls 10- 14 years = BDM junior branch • Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM) for girls 14-18 years → Campfire romanticism, folklorism, tradition, sport, community services, political activities = To educate in NS ideology = To train for roles of wife, mother, homemaker

  7. HJ 1933-45 • 1933: 110,000 > more than 3,5 million members • 1933-36: All rivalling youth organisations abolished • 1936: HJ made State Agency: Every young German to become member • 1938: ca. 8,7 million members • 1940-45: Artur Axmann as HJ Reichsjugendführer > War services: → Anti-aircraft gunners & firemen in cities → Soldiers of 12th SS Panzer Division →Last-ditch defenders of Volkssturm

  8. HJ characteristics • Image of anti-bourgeois & romantic protest movement • Precedence over any kind of formal education by parents & schools • Ideologically-based education in German history, biology, geography • Emphasis on sports & pre-military training

  9. Negative consequences • Lower moral standards: > Increase of crime rates among teenagers > More sexual intercourses & unwanted pregnancies • General decline of health • High casualty numbers in war

  10. Conclusion ☺ Youth community ≠ parents & schools = Many free-time activities, strong feeling of comradeship, appreciation of independence & responsibility ☻ NS education + pre-military training = Almost all ready to support NS regime, esp. in war = Very few attracted by anti-NS protest & resistance groups such as Edelweiß-Piraten or Weiße Rose

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