Adolf Hitler was convinced that the existence of the “thousand-year-old Reich” can only be ensured through appropriate education of the younger generation. To achieve this goal, the Hitler Youth was created. An organization that every German child who reached the required age had to join.
You no longer belong to yourself
The development of the organization went along with the strengthening of the influence of the party, already since 1926, members of the movement everywhere participated in the pre-election campaigns of the NSDAP: they distributed leaflets, pasted up posters, wrote slogans. Actually, during the years of the Weimar Republic, there were repeated attempts to limit the activities of the "Hitler Youth". For example, in 1930, the Hanover authorities banned schoolchildren from joining the organization, similar measures were taken in other federal states, but they were all unsuccessful. As soon as the authorities banned any cell of the Hitler Youth, it was revived under a different name, for example, Friends of Nature. With the coming of the Nazis to power in 1933, the organization thoroughly strengthened its position, becoming a full-fledged part of the Nazi party. The leader of the Hitler Youth was Baldur von Schirach, a loyal follower of Hitler, who promised to rally all German youth together.
One party - one youth
Just as the NSDAP became the only party in Germany, the Hitler Youth was to become a one-of-a-kind organization. Since 1933, the party leadership has been trying to concentrate all work with German youth on their own organization. The total number of "Hitler Youth" in 1934 was about three million people. In 1936, the Hitler Youth Act was issued, which established the compulsory membership of almost all German children in the organization.
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Youth Lead Youth
The Hitler Youth was organized according to the principle of a real military order. Junior group: boys from 10 to 14 years old - "German Youth"; from 14 to 18 years old - the "Hitler Youth" itself. Women's organization in the "Hitler Youth": girls aged 10 to 14 - "Girls' Union"; from 14 to 18 years old - "Union of German girls". In fact, participation in the organization began at a very early age. Every year, on March 15, every boy who reached the age of ten was required to register at the Imperial Youth Headquarters, where information about the child and his family was studied. Particular attention was paid to his "racial purity." After medical examinations and physical tests, the candidate could be accepted into the organization.
Advanced mode frames
After the adoption of the law "On the Hitler Youth", its members automatically became the future cadres of party organizations and the army. The Hitler Youth focused on such topics as race theory, German history and political geography. However, the most important process was physical fitness. All kinds of competitions were the basis for sports development. Since 1935, sports competitions have been held annually. Children competed in track and field athletics, hand-to-hand combat and team sports. Since 1937, shooting from firearms was introduced. The pupils themselves have always dreamed of fulfilling their "duty to the motherland." Each of them wanted to serve the Reich and the Fuehrer on the battlefields. Considering the fact that many of the instructors of the Hitler Youth educational institutions were military officers, the desire to “pay off one's debt” increased at times.
The collapse of German hopes
Young people who "think and act in German" faced the harsh reality at the end of the war. The regime could hope for the willingness of people to make sacrifices, because death for the Fuhrer was considered an honor. By 1944, the party elite was actively using this "value", calling members of the "Hitler Youth" into the army. By the end of the war, sixteen-year-old soldiers appeared in the army. Moreover, in the last weeks of the war, even twelve-year-old volunteers came to the army with the desire to "save Germany."
“We were born to die for Germany,” was one of the typical slogans of the Hitler Youth. But the front-line experience of the "volunteers" was zero, and most of the front-line soldiers did not even consider them to be their "brothers in arms." Many of the members of the organization died immediately in the first battle.