Hitler Youth

During this essay I shall be explaining the Hitler youth movements and how it worked, I shall then go on to explain why the Hitler youth was set up along with the organizations, and then explain how it worked for both boys and girls.

The Hitler Youth was organized as Hitler believed the future of Germany laid within the younger generation, Germany's children.

Hitler portrayed this to be just as important as school if not more so. 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 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."

Hitler made sure the Nazi education systems fitted this but Hitler didn't think this was enough; he wanted to engage the minds of the young in nazi Germany even more.

Movements for the young people were part of Germany's culture, the Hitler Youth had been created in the 1920's by 1933 membership had grown to 100,000. All other youth movements were abolished after Hitler came to power as a result of the Hitler youth growing quickly. Then in 1936 (three years later), the figure rose rapidly to 4 million young members. This is when it became compulsory to joining the Hitler Youth.

Hitler Youth catered for 10 to 18 year olds. There were separate organizations for both boys and girls.

Boys had to be prepared for military service and girls were prepared for motherhood.

Boys

Boys at the age of 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.

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