Josh Rogers

Research Paper
5/12/2011

The Birth, Life and Death of the HJ

Hitler was known as many things and military tactician should be one of them.

Hitler not only created, with the help of his advisor, an extremely successful military

strategy but also an extremely well devised plan to keep the nation together as a unified

front. The Hitler Youth, or also know as the Hilterjudgden and HJ, was one of the main

ways Hitler kept his country together. This group contained both boys and girls and the

ages ranged from ten to eighteen. From the early onset of the Nazi Party, Hitler realized

that he needed to target the younger generations and make sure to spread his influence

over a large age gap. Enlisting the youth promised longevity to Hitler’s plans. It was seen

by the Nazi party the leaders were born, but all the lieutenants that surround the leader

could be trained and crooned into position from an early age. Hitler’s use of the youth

groups can be seen as one of his most important strategies. The Hitler Youth did not

start completely organized but over time Hitler realized the power he was obtaining by

manipulating the youth in creating a well trained army and brainwashed population.

The Hitler Youth was first officially established in the year 1922. It was

viewed as the youth wing of the National Socialist German Workers Part, or the Nazi

Party. As with Hitler’s rise to power, he targeted the middle class of German citizens

knowing that they were craving more from their government, especially after World

War I. Hitler’s strategy of appealing to the middle class did not keep him from

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attempting to reel in the upper and lower class, as he wanted to amass quantity is

his group:

Like Hitler’s NSDAP, the HJ sought to de-emphasize class differences among

its members by calling everyone a young worker (Jü ngarbeiter). This

deliberately vague and confusing terminology, lumping all classes together in

a common pool of “workers of brawn and brain,” concealed the fact that two

distinct social groups congregated in its ranks. One of these consisted of real

workers or proletarians. The second was comprised of young craft, shop, and

industrial apprentices, who, although functionally young workers, must be

regarded as belonging to the lower Mittelstand. (Horn 356)

This extreme vagueness allowed Hitler to attract more members, as everyone

appeared to be equal without any social class distinction. The areas of Germany

where the Hitler Youth truly strived were in areas that light industrial workers

dwelled. The working class of Germans that stayed in the truly industrialized zones

were less proactive in the Hitler Youth movement. In these areas the communist

ideal was more popular so Hitler had trouble competing. The true depth of the Hitler

Youth came from area where light industry existed and workers were more inclined

to be artisans and shop assistants. Though Hitler’s recruiting drives functioned

much better in these light industry areas of Germany, the movement on a whole was

bogged down by the radical tendencies of the group. Although the Hitler Youth was

in direct affiliation with the Nazi Party, the actions of the youth wing tended to be

much more radical and violent. The radicalism and violence of the Hitler Youth

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attracted the youth, but overall hurt the appeal of the Hitler Youth to the rest of

Germany. The working class youth were greatly attracted to the radicalism. The

Munich Hitler Youth section composed of mostly working class members lacked the

finances for uniforms and taking part of the usual Hitler Youth programs such as

hikes and excursions to the country so instead:

The HJ was compelled to adopt a cheaper and more readily available

activities such as war games conducted on city streets. Almost invariably

these resulted in a certain amount of rowdyism and violence. As

consequence, the Hj soon developed a tough and aggressive tone which even

Nazi parents found repulsive. They therefore demanded that their sons be

led by trained youth leaders with diplomas. Failing to obtain that, these same

parents withdrew their sons from the HJ and enrolled them in the better-led

and more respectable bü ndische Jugend. (Horn 358)

Given this nature of the Hitler Youth it would seem impossible to grow in size but on

the contrary it continued to grow larger and larger. Between November 1, 1931 and

January 30, 1933 the Hitler Youth nearly doubled in size from 28,700 to 55, 400. The

growth in size can be explained by the obscure arrival of the Schü lerbund or NSS.

This group was also part of the Hiter Youth but comprised of “respectable and well

educated high school students, and established a solidly bourgeois influence over

the entire organization.” (Horn 358) The growth of the Schü lerbund in great deal

had to do with the economic woes of Germany. As many well-educated high school

students faced the prospectus of not having immediate available work after the high

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school level, due to and overabundance of educated professionals, they turned to

other mediums such as the Schü lerbund. Tension mounted between the HJ and the

Schü lerbund due to the fact that much of the Schü lerbund was of the upper

middleclass families consisting of politicians, engineers, architects, statisticians and

etc. While the HJ was mostly made of families in the lower part of the middleclass

with families that had professions consisting of brewmasters, gardener and grocery-

store owners. The HJ felt threatened by this class distinction, as originally they stood

for social cohesiveness where all members were seen as equals and classes were not

acknowledged or recognized. The leader of the HJ was officially dismissed from

office in October of 1931 and leadership of the HJ was taken over by the leader of

the Schü lerbund, Adrian von Renteln. When Renteln took control of the HJ he found

it in a state of chaos and vowed make reforms. His first step was to officially

combine the HJ and NSS on December 5th by threating to take “decisive and

merciless steps against all those who disobeyed.” (Horn 372) Renteln had trouble

handling the merger of the HJ and NSS, which saw a decline in membership in early

1932, causing him to step down as leader on June 16th 1932. Baldur von Schirach

took control of both the HJ and NSS and nearly immediately removed the

Schü lerbunds independent status, subordinating it to the HJ, decreeing that all

future members were to serve in the HJ. Even though removed the NSS fulfilled its

job by making the Nazi youth movement more respectable and safe for the middle

class. On January 20th 1933 Hitler came to full power and on April 13th 1933 the

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Schü lerbund was abolished and all members were officially enrolled in the HJ. With

Hitler in power the, the Hitler Youth group started to move in a different direction.

Consolidation of all youth leagues in Germany was the main focus for the

Hitler Youth after Hitler rise to chancellor. Baldur von Schirach was appointed Reich

Youth Leader on June 17th 1933, a position that he held till 1940, and led the

consolidation movement. The growth of the Hitler Youth was impressive: over

100,000 by the time Hitler came to power, greater than 2 millions at the end of 1933

and over 5 million by December 1936. Schirach claimed that 60 percent of the

German youth between the ages of ten to eighteen held allegiance to the Hitler

Youth. Due to the Hitler Youth’s voluntary membership that the Third Reich wanted

to maintain the Hitler Youth’s growth immediately was too slow for Schirach. He

instead turned to manipulation in order to gain more members. Positions of power

were offered to those willing to join. The overall hate of the previous Weimar

political party and the love for the love for the newfound authoritarian Nazi party

made the HJ. All other political parties and any organizations affiliated with them

were banned leaving teenagers not in any groups feelings pressured to join the HJ as

“to not be left out in the cold.” (Kater 20) Communist groups were dissolved and

leaders often sent to concentration camps. The Hitler Youth group struck terror

around Germany by starting street fights attacking bourgeois leaders; while other

bourgeois youth leaders were murder outright. Protestant groups easily merged in

with the Hitler Youth where as the Catholic groups were more of a challenge. The

closing of catholic youth groups occurred in stages between 1935 and 1939. This

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shows that the growth of the Hitler Youth was based on forced incorporation rather

than voluntary memberships. The statutory provision of compulsory membership of

both boys and girls in the Hitler Youth was not instilled until March 25 th 1939. With

so many members in listed in the HJ, it would be hard pressed not believe that some

children would not lash out against the group, and punishments were dealt out for

insubordination. Lack of attending HJ meetings by the children could lead to

punishment in two different ways. If three meetings were missed the boy or girl

could be put behind bars for an entire Sunday, only being fed bread and water. If the

adult were held responsible district chiefs would threaten them with the

withholding of social benefits until their children became faithful members. This

being said the rules of the HJ and their mandatory attendance were not always

followed. Mandatory Sunday drills were often skipped for church with the support

of the parents and the village as a whole. Many young Germans resisted the HJ on

their own accord by; resisting doing the rigorous exercises, refusal to cut hair,

forging letters from doctors, altering HJ identification cards and carving humorous

art work of Hitler on wooden desks. Hitler’s third provision made his intentions for

the HJ clear, “With war in the offing, Hitler now thought it prudent to fashion the HJ

more strictly as a training cadre for the Wehrmacht, and this could not be

accomplished without coercion.” (Kater 23) Hitler increased the rigor in the training

exercises. The usual hikes started leading to significant sites such as boarders of

countries to be conquered, and war games were staged in these locations. This

engraved the paths and the military strategies in the head of the HJ members.

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Hitler even allowed the HJ to play sports with the explicit idea that the sports with

condition the future soldiers for combat and some sports for specific tasks, such as

the ability to ski during the invasion of Norway. The sports also were used demean

the youth to the point where they lost self-respect, became depersonalize and

moldable. Shooting was practiced from ages ten through eighteen for all boys. The

boys first shot air guns until fourteen then after the age of fourteen switched to

small caliber rifles. Certain units in the HJ held a higher distinction over others such

as the Fliers’ HJ, Motor HJ and the Marine HJ, which were all popular units for the

boys. Along with the military aspect of the HJ, Hitler also made a music unit for the

youth movement. The music unit was used for radio, political and disciplinary

exercises, Nazi Party rallies and propaganda. The Hitler Youth agriculture service

went to conquered territories, especially German ones that had been “corrupted” by

the area around them and re-educated them on how properly to be German. This

group had a complex job of educating, subjugating and fortified farming, which

means plow in one handgun in the other. The HJ was used to fortify the defense of

Germany as the tide started to turn on Germany. Parents were afraid of possibly

having their child denounce them and turning them into the Gestapo. The war was a

large burden on the parents, as they fear not only for their own child’s life but also

what their child could do to them. The end of the war brought much confusion and

lack of direction for the HJ who were instilled with ideologies, from a very early age,

that were crumbling around them extremely quickly.

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For the soldier of the Hitler Youth authoritarian power and a fascist

government was all that they had known. Even the schools systems before they

joined the HJ at age ten were geared towards a strong nationalistic feeling and

preparing to be a member of a system where they did not make choices but on the

contrary choices were made for them.

their totalitarian attitude of implicit and uncritical submissions to authority,

ingrained by Nazi education and German tradition.’ Untrained in democratic

procedures, ‘German youth appear to presume that the American leader will

now solve their problems in an authoritarian fashion just as the Nazi leader

proposed to do. (Kater 252)

The British and Americans attempted to teach the idea of democracy to the Hitler

Youth members realizing that the young adults and children had been corrupted

from a young age. First the British started by slowly and tactfully introducing the

idea of democracy to the youth within some of the British POW camps, specifically

to captured Germans who had high levels of education and ideals. The then moved

their efforts onto German soil through means of youth officers, orientations, cultural

meetings and organized social clubs. The Americans held larger groups of POW’s

and first attempted the re-education of the Germans with theorists who were exiled

German Jews, due to their background knowledge of the German culture. America

gave way to this system instead favoring a system that separated the youngest of the

Hitler Youth movement from the older HJ members and then had other American

POW’s teach the young HJ members democratic values and allowed them to resume

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learning school subjects that were abolished during Hitler’s reign such as

geography. America also established something known as Amerika-Haus which had

books and hosted many activities in the large cities of Germany. The German reform

was not completely smooth nor easily taken by everyone:

Die Zeit printed a statement authored by Ernst Samhaber, which contained a

collective vote of non-confidence in the newly founded United Nations: ‘We

do not trust the power which constitute the U.N. They have face in war for six

years…Neither do we trust the men who represent the U.N. They are human

beings who are subject to human weaknesses, to fear, suspicion, passions,

and to error.” (Kater 258)

These sentiments were echoed by many German citizens especially the educated

ones that did not believe that assimilating with western culture, specifically

democratic politics, was the exactly the right choice. This was not necessarily

because the German people believed that fascism was the best government but

because they were skeptical of all politics, mixed with emotions brought on by the

war such as; moral guilt to human rights, shunning of social bonds and assuming

that man evil. The reason the older HJ members felt this way is due in part to the

fact that unlike the younger HJ members they were not being taken care of by

parents and teachers, and were often left to fend for themselves. As Germany

started to accept democracy more and more the older HJ members also adjusted to

the new system and developed into mature citizens. Western Germany started to

economically thrive and almost seamlessly transition into multi-party democracy.

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Though the Hitler Youth was created in 1922, it did not reach true form until

the year of Hitler’s assumption of power in 1933. Through careful manipulation

Hitler was able to created a massive group of well-trained soldiers and a population

of people, which had been engraved with all of his fascist ideas from the age of ten.

Of all the military strategies implored by Hitler, his youth of the HJ was probably one

of the most important. Thankfully the massive group of Hitler’s Youth was able to

distinguish right from wrong with the help of Great Britain and America and

rebound from an unjust fascist autocracy, to a healthy democracy.

<Works Cited>

 Kater, Michael H. Hitler Youth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2004. Print.

Horn, Daniel. "The National Socialist 'Schulerbund' and the Hitler Youth, 1920-
1933." Central European History (Brill Academic Publishers) 11.4 (1978): 355.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Apr. 2011.

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