Module 11: Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's shadow

Book Summary:

This book is about the “Hitler Youth”, a group formed in Germany before and during World War II to encourage the participation of young people. It describes what the group was and did—it actually sounded a bit like the Boy Scouts, at least for the younger ages. While the activities were innocent at first, with things such as camping and physical training, they later added weapons training and military activities. Children were encouraged to join the Hitler Youth, and later it actually became dangerous not to join. Through the group and the schools, the children were brought up to view Hitler almost as a god, and many of them firmly believed in the Nazi party ways.

APA reference:

 Bartoletti, S. C. (2005). Hitler youth: Growing up in Hitler’s shadow. New York: Scholastic.

My Impressions:

 This book was very interesting. It really showed the progression of the evil of the Holocaust; how at first for the young people it was like a fun club, and they were gradually indoctrinated in the beliefs of the Nazi party. I had always wondered how so many people could simply stand back and allow such horror to happen. This book explains some of it, at least from the perspective of young people. The young people were flooded with Nazi propaganda: it was all around them, and was even taught in the schools. The worst horrors were kept from them as much as possible, and even when they heard of it they often did not believe it. There were some youth who rebelled, and spoke out against the Nazis. They were often executed when they were discovered. Some of their stories are told in this book as well.

I was a bit disturbed at first when I was reading, as it seemed like the author was making the Hitler Youth group sound like a good thing. Further in, however, the group’s true sinister purpose becomes clear. The way this was written actually helps the reader to understand how the German young people were taken in by Hitler’s ideals.

The book was very well written, and followed a well-organized progression from Hitler’s beginnings to the end of World War II. The photographs added to text and help the reader to feel closer to the people whose stories are told, as well as a small glimpse into the horror of the Holocaust. The photographs are kept age-appropriate, without any really graphic images such as the ones that are often included in books about the Holocaust. I think that this is a good book on the subject for middle school students and up, and will help with their understanding of the Nazi regime.

Professional Review:

Heller, S. (2005, August 14). [Review of the book Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s shadow, by S. C. Bartoletti].  The New York Times Book Review, p. 16. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/index.html

So many books on the Holocaust have been published for young people, yet ''Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow'' is nonetheless an invaluable introduction to the ways that children and young adults were indoctrinated into Nazi ideology. The HitlerYouth and the League of German Maidens were compulsory organizations whose ranks swelled to millions of members -- including even the future Pope Benedict XVI, forced by law to join at 14.

The real strength of Susan Campbell Bartoletti's handsome book, which is illustrated with documentary photographs, lies in its interviews with former members, as well as with Jews and Mischling (half-Jews) who were forbidden to join the ranks.

The Hitler Youth and the German Maidens taught young people to conform to Nazi Party dictates and helped build a sanctioned community. Yet when Hitler took over the Nazi Party in the early 1920's, he wasn't particularly interested in German adolescents -- they couldn't vote, after all. It took others to persuade him that disenfranchised youth were key to the Nazis' future.

Eventually Hitler agreed, and by 1926, when the Hitler Youth was founded, he believed young people would provide a limitless supply of leaders and followers: ''With them,'' he said, ''I can make a new world.'' Membership in the group became required for all Aryan boys ages 14 to 18, and in the German Maidens for all girls 14 to 21. (Other organizations were formed for 10- to 14-year-olds.) Even so, some parents tried to stop their children from joining, fearing the loss of their parental authority to state and party control.

They had reason to worry. The Hitler Youth was, in effect, the farm team for the Nazi military. Members wore snappy uniforms, went on overnight hikes, played sports, exercised and earned badges. They were required to spend most of their free time at Hitler Youth camps learning the Nazi creed, which included honor, sacrifice, camaraderie and anti-Semitism. They canvassed neighborhoods, distributed leaflets, recruited new members and often engaged in violent skirmishes with young Communists. The girls' group, meanwhile, was like a finishing school where young German maidens learned to become loyal wives and fecund mothers.

Bartoletti, who has written about the Irish potato famine and child labor turmoil, begins this account with the story of Herbert Norkus, a 15-year-old Hitler Youth who was beaten and stabbed to death in 1932 by Communists and became the first official Hitler Youth martyr. The Nazis marked his death with a 24-hour honor guard and an elaborate military funeral.

The youth groups eventually grew from 6,000 members to more than seven million, building their members' minds and bodies and emphasizing their superiority over the Jews. Karl Schnibbe, a former member quoted by Bartoletti, says, ''We were always told that Jews were the cause of our misfortune.'' The lesson took -- Bert Lewyn recalls that he and some friends were at their Jewish school one day when they were surrounded by a Hitler Youth mob yelling: ''Damned Jews! Out! Let's see your blood!''

Bartoletti notes that not all German teenagers were compliant. Sophie Scholl, for instance, was a German Maiden who rebelled by joining the anti-Nazi student group White Rose with her brother Hans. They clandestinely produced and distributed leaflets protesting the war for over a year before they were arrested and beheaded.

But such acts of defiance were isolated exceptions. Ultimately the members of the youth groups were trained to become soldiers of the Reich. There was even a junior Gestapo, which monitored other children. During the Allied bombardment of Germany, Hitler Youth members manned antiaircraft guns and were often killed or wounded. Those who were sent to the front lines were expected to die for the Fuhrer.

''It would take years for many Hitler Youth to digest the truth about National Socialism,'' Bartoletti writes. ''They had served a mass murderer and, in so doing, had contributed to the deaths of millions of people.'' Not one member of the HitlerYouth appeared in the dock at Nuremberg, although some were tried in civilian courts and forced to watch films about the death camps. ''The films often had the opposite effect,'' Bartoletti writes. ''Despite the mountains of evidence, many Hitler Youth told themselves that the films were exaggerated, if not invented by the Allies as propaganda intended to defame the Nazis.''

For high school students studying the Nazi regime, Bartoletti's book should be essential reading. But for a redemptive ending, look elsewhere. Many of the former members she writes about believed there was no option but to serve the Reich and still excuse, albeit apologetically, being members of the Hitler Youth.

By Steven Heller

Library Uses:

This would be a book that could be included in a Holocaust awareness event. In my own library, we hosted an exhibit about book burning during the Nazi rule, which had several events scheduled around it, many of them involving school groups. This would have been a great book to discuss with the children in the school groups. Libraries could have discussions with groups of children after they read the book (this would best be coordinated with local school teachers) to get their impressions of it. I think this is an important book for children to read, to see how people can be fooled into doing terrible things.