The Hitler Youth: An Effective Organization for Total War
by Guy Nasuti
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/effectiveorganization.asp
x
Youth organizations have been a part of most cultures for generations.
Seldom have they been organized for total war. After Adolf Hitler took power
in Germany in 1933, it was decided by members of his totalitarian regime to
organize the youth of the nation so that they would one day become the
future warriors for the armed forces. These young Germans could be
manipulated and put into service for the good of the Third Reich and would
also go on to become the future warriors that would carry out the total war
policies of Hitler and his loyal henchmen. In time, many of these youthful
Germans would become fanatically devoted to the Nazi cause themselves. The
Nazis molded the Hitler Youth into an effective organization for total war
through its racist and martial education of young Germans, the pressing of
Hitler Youth members into an impressive labor force, and the creation of the
12th SS Panzer Division (Hitlerjugend), famed for its ferocity on the
battlefield.
The one man most instrumental in organizing German youth was a fervent Nazi.
Baldur von Schirach, a fawning admirer of Hitler's, and the son of an
American mother, rapidly climbed the ladder of success, and was appointed
the leader of the Hitlerjugend (HJ) organization. Schirach was a great
organizer and quickly began educating his new charges. One way he educated
the young masses were by holding youth rallies, the first two occurring on
October 1 and 2, 1932 at Potsdam, near Berlin. The thunderous marches,
speeches, drills, and other fanfare were what moved the crowd and also added
new recruits into the HJ. That single occasion in Potsdam drew "an
impressive 70,000 boys and girls from all over Germany, all of whom paid for
the journey themselves." The organization grew remarkably up until the start
of the Second World War. By the end of 1933, 2 million young Germans had
become members. Three years later that number more than doubled to 5.4
million. Schirach soon claimed to "have the allegiance of 60 percent of all
young people from ages ten to eighteen." And yet, Schirach would not be
satisfied until membership hit the 100 percent mark.[1]
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, also had a hand in educating
budding young Nazis. Propaganda was the most effective tool used by the
Nazis for brainwashing its citizens. With complete control over the press,
speech, education, and the relatively new medium of the radio, the Nazis
were able to influence young boys and girls in a way which had never been
done before in history. Hitler, Goebbels, von Schirach, and other party
leaders were able to speak directly to the youth of Germany, to exhort them
to give their all for the good of the Fatherland. In a speech given on 29
September 1940, a year after membership in the Hitler Youth became
mandatory, Goebbels tells his fellow Nazis:
"Educating the youth during war can only be done successfully by
working closely with the youths themselves.. The war is not only a great
equalizer, it is a great educator..War once involved only a small part of
the population, whereas today it requires heroic work by all. Since our
enemy is waging war even against children, children too must play their
part.. When a nation is fighting for its future, which after all is the
future of its children, the youth have to be involved, they have to support
the battle with their full energy.. It is a good thing for the German youth
to fully experience these great days. They should do their best for the war,
giving their courage, their idealism, and their faith.[2]
What Goebbels neglected to add, was that the youth should also give their
lives.
Many German youth thus joined the HJ because of speeches such as Goebbels',
and because of other various reasons. During the early years, before the
war, the Hitler Youth held camping trips where they would sing songs devoted
to the Fuhrer, athletic competitions, and the camaraderie that is found in
being a part of a team. In the 1930s, at the height of their power, the
Nazis often held mass rallies that celebrated not only their Fuhrer, but the
new Reich as well. These rallies became almost religious in scope, with all
the pageantry that attends large rituals. The swastika, which had been used
as a symbol of peace in other cultures, came to stand for the strength of
the German state. Mystical runic symbols were used to provide the youth with
a connection to the Aryan race, and the Teutonic knights of old. Alfons
Heck, a young German boy from the small town of Wittlich, described what
drew him to the HJ:
"The party had made a fine art of staging enormous spectacles that
inspired a new sense of national pride. Each September in Nuremberg,
seemingly all of Germany went on a seven-day nationalistic binge that
inspired the nation and stunned the rest of the world..it was a jubilant
Teutonic renaissance with the unmistakable message that Germany had regained
its rightful place among the great powers of the world."[3]
Karl Schnibbe joined the HJ at the age of twelve. He remembers that he
"could hardly wait for the ceremony to begin." When Nazi leaders came
recruiting eligible children in his neighborhood, he could not wait to sign
up. His father did not approve, but it did not stop young Karl. "It was very
exciting. The overnight trips, campfires, and parades sounded like a great
deal of fun." The boys and girls who joined the HJ had to prove not only
that they were healthy, but also that they were "true Aryans."
Interestingly, physically disabled children were allowed to join a special
section called the "Disabled and Infirm Hitler Youth," so long as they
passed the racial tests. Blind and deaf children could join as well,
provided their disability was not inherited. Mentally challenged children
were not allowed to join the HJ, even if their parents were loyal party
members. Jews were strictly forbidden from joining, although some did,
hiding the fact that they were Jewish and living constantly in fear of being
found out. In the trial period of membership, boys were required to
demonstrate their physical fitness: They ran races, swam, and performed
gymnastic routines. The boys had to undertake a three-day cross-country hike
and, to prove their courage and devotion, were also "required to dive off
the three-meter board (about ten feet high) headfirst into the town's
swimming pool." After the completion of this, the youth leaders presented
their eager charges with the coveted HJ dagger, which bore on the blade the
militaristic inscription "Blood and Honor." All of these physical
activities, racist indoctrinations, and brainwashing were intended for one
simple reason: the education of German youth into believing they were a
master race which would subjugate all other races after winning a global
war.[4]
The Hitler Youth was not just an organization for educating young boys
however. Young German girls between ages ten and eighteen were able to join
the Bund Deutscher Madel, or BDM (League of German Girls). The purpose of
the BDM, in the patriarchal movement of Nazism, was to train girls in "three
important interrelated functions." The first was to "serve as helpmates to
the men," the second to "bear them children and rear them according to Nazi
values," and the third was "to be faithful homemakers." Hitler needed these
German girls to understand that they must procreate to continue the Aryan
race and move it forward. The girls also participated in the same activities
as the boys, such as hikes in the country, campfires, theatrical plays, and
folk dances. The attractive uniforms were designed, much as the boys'
officer-like outfits, to subliminally impart conformity and sameness. A few
of these girls, once they were older, became female SS guards in Nazi
concentration camps. Having been taught anti-Semitism from their time in the
BDM, women such as Irma Grese, a former fanatical member of the BDM, entered
the SS Female Helpers' training camp. She watched and learned how to
practice cruelty on inmates and engaged in promiscuous sex with male SS
guards. Such discipline "was designed to rob the girls of any vestiges of
conventional morality." Grese shortly thereafter became the "Beautiful
Beast" of Auschwitz and was later hanged by the British for crimes against
humanity. The BDM, like its male counterpart, was extremely effective in
educating girls for life in Hitler's Germany.[5]
Hitler Youth School's were set-up around the country, to further
indoctrinate Youth Leaders, but a "normal" education could not be had at
these institutions. Instead, they were indoctrinated in Nazism and learned
about race, religion, and duty. The Nazis' devised a new standardized school
curriculum, which was called Weltanschauung, or "worldview." The Nazi flag
and Hitler's portrait hung in every classroom throughout Germany. "In the
morning, we stood at attention, and there was the Nazi flag," remembers Karl
Schnibbe. "We always had to start class with 'Heil Hitler!' There was no
more, 'Good morning, children.'" Any teachers who refused to teach the
National Socialism agenda were dismissed. HJ students were also more than
happy to harass and intimidate teachers who "did not espouse the Nazi
worldview." The Nazis' did little to stop their young charges with this
outlandish behavior, until Schirach became embarrassed and ordered the boys
in his organization to obey the law.[6]
Alfons Heck, who had been educated in a prestigious Gymnasium, an education
that was "still largely the privilege of middle-and upper-class children,"
despite the eradication of class distinctions by the Nazis. Heck was able to
learn English at the Gymnasium, despite having "history lessons depicting
the Communist-Jewish infamy beginning even during World War I," that
"prepared me well, long before the Hitlerjugend knew I existed." The Nazi
education system was effective in its propaganda against the Jewish
population. The hatred instilled in many young Germans became intense enough
to allow the horrors of the Holocaust to happen. Few Germans questioned what
they were being taught, even if they had had personal relationships with
Jews prior to their re-education by the Nazis. Heck remembers pestering his
teacher, Herr Becker, to describe "how and why" the Jewish children were so
different. Herr Becker did so in his weekly "racial science" instruction,
which contained such observations as the "shape of their noses..[being]
shaped like an upside-down 6." Yet, Heck admits that his childhood friend
Heinz looked "more Germanic than I with my French blood." When Heinz and the
other Jewish children were kicked out of the Gymnasium, Heck later has to
undergo "character interviews in the Hitler Youth prior to promotions," and
"always denied having associated with a Jew even at the age of seven." Heck
was hardly the only HJ member to formerly have, and then later deny having,
Jewish friends. The Nazi education system brainwashed an entire generation
in its racist policies.[7]
Twisting education in order to brainwash students was not the only effective
way the Nazis were able to exploit the HJ. Every HJ member, male or female,
were required to spend time in a labor force, working for the good of the
party, as well as the land. Heck remembers that:
"When he [Hitler] came to power in 1933, there were six million
people unemployed in a population of 64 million. By 1938, that number had
sunk to a miniscule 200,000 out of a work force of 25 million. It was an
impressive achievement, even if it depended on conscription.. Finally, there
was the introduction of compulsory labor service for all young Germans,
regardless of their social status."[8]
The HJ-Landdienst, or agricultural service, often spent summers helping
peasants work the land. These strong, exuberant, and healthy young Germans
helped in "harvesting, cutting wood, or milking cows." Such field activity
"helped serve the purpose of keeping the youths physically fit, while at the
same time honored the Nazi dogma of "Blood and Soil," while also attempting
to "put a stop to the current exodus from the land to the cities." There was
also a more sinister reason that the Nazis kept sending HJ members to go
help on the farms in the eastern territories-once the war machine came
sweeping down to conquer these lands, the HJ "would know those territories
and how to exploit them." During the war, this mission was put into effect,
and teenagers "were sent to the newly conquered western areas of Poland..The
mission of German youth was to re-educate those ethnic Germans, or
Volksdeutsche , and lead them back to the proper ways of the life and
livelihood of their forefathers." This "re-education" also occurred in
occupied parts of Belgium, and the Alsace-Lorraine area, which had been
reconquered from France. The HJ also "gave German lessons to ethnic Germans
who had lost or adulterated their language." They also spread Nazi-specific
culture, such as that "derived from traditional German music or folk dance."
By 1942 this colonization work had "become mandatory for members of the
Hitler Youth, and they were typically deployed during the summer or fall for
a period of six weeks," when entire classes were sent to the job. HJ members
also became the guards of other youth in the conquered territories, being
"taught the techniques of subjugation," learning and becoming effective in
making the indigenous populations slaves on their own land.[9]
Also during the war, the HJ became extremely helpful to the wartime effort
at home.
"The Hitler Youth went from door to door collecting valuable raw
materials, such as rags, paper, and scraps of metal for recycling, an
activity that was essential for the war economy. HJ members also had to
participate in the search for mushrooms and for herbs, used for tea and
medicinal purposes, as well as helping out in town and country in various
auxiliary positions, such as tram conductor, ersatz-coffee dispenser at
train stations, or letter carrier."
In addition to these duties, HJ members also assisted soldiers who were home
on furlough or sick leave, "many exhausted or disabled, some of them maimed
beyond recognition." The boys and girls of the HJ also helped in building
fortifications in the streets or near the frontlines and were on call for
emergencies and catastrophes such as fire and flooding. Many teenagers also
served as air raid wardens and helped pull civilians out of their bombed
homes and shelters. With many of their brothers and fathers off at war, the
young members of the HJ made a valuable contribution to Nazi society.[10]
Many of these same HJ children became so infatuated by their Nazi education
and work ethic, that they became hostile towards anyone who did not share
the Nazi view of the world. Often, this included members of their own
families. Since it adversely affected whether or not they could become HJ
members, these young Germans demanded that their parents tow the party line
or at least act like Nazis for their sake. The appeal of the HJ was clear to
all Germans, including the parents. In one of the great ironies of history,
parents suddenly became afraid of their own children, especially if their
sons were HJ members. The adults found themselves living in fear that their
son or daughter could report anti-Nazi talk or behavior to the Gestapo,
whereby they would end up in a re-education or concentration camp. Alfons
Heck, who during the war would end up commanding 800 Hitler Youth soldiers,
was completely devoted to the Nazi cause. In his memoirs he writes that he
occasionally heard other Germans, both soldiers and civilians, make
derogatory comments about Hitler or the Nazis and debated whether to report
them or not. He claims never to have done so, but it is telling that Alfons'
father once told his younger brother Rudi that he thought his son was "an
utter fanatic." The two never spoke about politics throughout the war years.
Even while the Allies were closing in on Germany, Heck claimed that he
continued to believe that Hitler would see them through, and that German
forces would push the Allies back.[11] Schirach, the Reich Youth Leader,
"issued patriotic appeals and used psychological ploys such as invoking peer
pressure, which would serve as a powerful incentive for non-organized German
youths to join." But up until 1939, he did not have the power to force
anyone to join, and there were those who resisted, either because of
religious reasons, their parents not giving their consent to join, or simply
out of not wanting to conform. A popular example of one such group of
non-conformists was the Swing Youth, a group of music-and-dance loving
German youngsters who refused to join the HJ. Other groups consisted of
young toughs who battled the HJ in the streets and delighted in taunting and
bloodying any Hitler Youth they caught in their neighborhoods. By March
1939, on the eve of war, Schirach finally got what he had been craving for
years. 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." It was thus decreed that all adolescents from age 10 to 18 were
"obligated to put in service to the Hitler Youth." This pool of adolescents
served as reserves for all the soldiers that the Nazis would lose during the
course of the war, with the majority being lost on the Eastern Front. Within
a few years, these young boys would become the unquestioningly loyal and
brutal soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division, the Hitlerjugend.[12]
In 1943, hundreds of thousands of young German lives had been lost on the
Eastern Front, with huge casualties in and around Stalingrad. According to
Hubert Meyer, who was the chief of staff of the 12th SS "Hitlerjugend"
Division, "these events led to extraordinary measures on the German side
which can most easily be summed up with the expression 'Total War.' The
Hitlerjugend Division was created from volunteers from the HJ born in the
year 1926. The division "was to be a symbol of the willingness of the German
youth to sacrifice itself and of its will to achieve victory." On 10
February 1943, Hitler gave his agreement to its formation in principle.
Reichsfuhrer SS Henrich Himmler, in a letter to Reichsjugendfuhrer Artur
Axmann (who replaced von Shirach in 1940), wrote:
"I have submitted to the Fuhrer your offer, on behalf of the youths
born in 1926, to form a division of volunteers for the Waffen-SS, and of the
same value as the "Leibstandarte." I have also informed him of your desire
and request that this division be identified in a manner which would clearly
emphasize its origins and its simultaneous membership in the HJ. The Fuhrer
was highly pleased and has directed me to convey to you that you should
immediately begin the recruiting of volunteers.. I have further proposed
that the name "Hitlerjugend" be conferred on the division."
Much like the strict requirements needed to be a member of the 1st SS,
Hitler's Praetorian Guard unit, it was stated that volunteers for the
Hitlerjugend Division must be "recruited from those born during the first
half of 1926." Minimum height for the infantry soldier was 170 cm and 168
for Panzer, motorcycle, and communications units. By comparison, minimum
height for a 1st SS "Adolf Hitler" trooper was 180 cm. The youth had to be
fit for service and "should have been, preferably, in possession of the HJ
achievement badge." Once recruited, members had to attend a pre-military
training period of six weeks. This training was allowed to replace the
national labor service. The man who was put in command of the Hitlerjugend
was a highly decorated Russian front veteran named Fritz Witt, former
commander of the 1st SS. Because the 1st SS had taken so many casualties
fighting the Russians, it was also ordered that a number of officers and
noncoms be transferred to the new unit as well. Within a few months after
its formation, the HJ had a total available strength of 20,540 fanatical and
fiercely loyal soldiers.[13]
The HJ soldiers, contrary to widespread relief, had not had military
training in peacetime. Instead, their prior education in all things Nazi,
coupled with their strong work ethic during summers spent in labor units,
made them predisposed to become good soldiers. Field Marshall Erwin Rommel,
a liaison officer of the army to the Reichs-jugend leadership for a time
said of these young men:
"There is no trace of mindless drill. Rather too much spontaneity
than too little. It is surprising that the boys adapt to the discipline as
recruits without any friction."
HJ leaders who had been wounded in other units, and then sent to the HJ to
once again become instructors to these teenaged warriors conducted the
training. Three priorities were set during training. The first was physical
fitness, which many if not all were already extremely well fit, due to the
hikes, sports, and games played by them while in the HJ. Interestingly, the
recruits were not allowed to smoke, and were not issued cigarettes, but
received candy instead. The second priority was character development.
Because of the lack of noncoms, many HJ recruits were encouraged to show
initiative and leadership abilities so that they may become noncoms. Those
that succeeded were sent for additional training to a special noncom course,
where others would be chosen as officer cadets. The third and probably most
important training priority was weapons and combat training. The youthful
soldiers were trained in firearms in open terrain. Often, they trained in
battlefield conditions, with live ammunition. This training would later lead
to combat effectiveness on the battlefield.[14]
In April 1944, the HJ Division was redeployed to Normandy, between the lower
Seine and Orne rivers. The division began to dig in and make its defenses
ready, camouflaging its tanks, artillery, and anti-aircraft guns. They had
endured nine months of training since officially being formed, and according
to Jochen Leykauff, a volunteer born in 1926, "was waiting for the attack
across the Channel..we were looking forward to it." Leykauff's determination
and confidence in throwing back the Allied attack can be gleaned from his
memoirs:
"The Allies planned to take apart the "baby milk division," as they
called us. But we were not afraid. Sometimes we even got carried away a bit,
and big-headed..We trusted our officers and noncoms who had been hardened in
battle..During combat training with live ammunition we had enjoyed seeing
them in the mud together with us.."
On 6 June 1944, the Allies invaded Normandy, France. The HJ Division was
finally going to have its chance to prove itself in battle, fighting for the
Fatherland and their Fuhrer.[15]
With the confusion that accompanied the paratroop airdrops and the
successive landings of the Allied forces from the sea, the 12th SS was
ordered to do reconnaissance duties in the area of Caen, France. On 7 June,
the HJ Division was ordered to attack the right flank of British and
Canadian forces near the Caen-Luc sur Mer railroad line and drive the enemy
into the sea. Close to 20,000 HJ soldiers were ready for battle and
twenty-eight Canadian tanks were promptly knocked out of action. One former
HJ member said, "Our division fought valiantly." By the middle of July, the
division had lost 3,000 soldiers and replacements were becoming more
difficult to find. Many of these youthful soldiers engaged in suicide
missions that seasoned Wehrmact soldiers would never have dared to attempt,
such as allowing tanks to roll over them and then detonating a grenade.
Their commanding officer, Kurt Meyer, proudly claimed,
"I know every single one of these grenadiers. The oldest is barely
eighteen. The boys have not yet learned how to live, but by God they know
how to die!"
But they became more hated for their war crimes than their utter fanaticism.
In the late summer of 1944, the HJ Division shot sixty-four British and
Canadian prisoners-of-war (which led to the sentencing of death of their
commanding officer Kurt Meyer after the war). Other sources put the number
of POWs killed outright at one hundred and sixty-four. Many Allied soldiers
came to hate the young fanatics, but they also earned grudging respect. One
Canadian soldier said, "They're a bad bunch. But are they ever
soldiers!"[16]
After being pushed out of Caen, the HJ became encircled some twenty miles
south with only 600 men fit for duty and no tanks. The Allied air attacks
had helped destroy the division in Normandy, and the 12th SS regrouped as
part of the 6th SS-Panzer Army. During twelve weeks of fighting in France,
they lost 8,626 personnel, with at least 1,951 confirmed dead, including
their beloved general Fritz Witt. As tenacious as they were, the teenaged
soldiers could not counter Allied airpower or the massive amounts of
soldiers and materials of the Allied war effort.[17]
The HJ Division also played a role in the Ardennes Offensive, Hitler's bold
but ultimately useless plan to push the British and American armies out of
Germany, as well as being redeployed to Hungary, before being pushed back by
the Russians. Towards the end of the war, the HJ was refitted and were
fighting American troops in lower Austria. Near the river of Enns, the
Americans arranged for the unconditional surrender of the division. A
general of the division thanked his boys for "their valor, loyalty, and
comradely spirit." They had fought until they could no longer hold out, long
after their beloved Fuhrer committed suicide. With a heavy heart, the
Brigadefuhrer closed with the words:
"..We set out on the bitterest journey of our life as soldiers with
our heads held high. In quiet composure, we will march toward our destiny.
We have fought bravely and with integrity on all theaters of war, still, the
war is lost. Long live Germany."
When the HJ entered captivity on 8 May 1945, 328 officers, 1,698 NCOs, and
7,844 men, a total of 9,870 men of the 12th SS "Hitlerjugend" were going
into American POW camps. The war for the Hitlerjugend division was over. But
other members of the Hitler Youth swore to continue to fight on against the
Allies approaching Germany from all sides. They called themselves,
"Werewolves."[18]
Joseph Goebbels had created the Werewolves, a desperate gamble to continue
the war through guerilla warfare. It would rely on German youth that had
been reared in Nazi doctrine. These young guerilla fighters, some younger
than twelve, would hold out and strike at the Allies behind the lines.
Author Michael Kater states "in order to inure HJ adolescents to inhuman
acts, to make them complicit in the crimes of the Third Reich, and to bond
them to their murderous reputation, its leaders ordered them to commit
atrocities." Escaped concentration inmates were hunted and killed, Allied
soldiers were sniped at, and wire was strung across roads in order to
decapitate soldiers driving down German roads. Kater claims: "Werewolves, by
the more narrow and technically correct definition, were small suicide
commandos of boys and sometimes even girls who were dropped behind enemy
lines on what was already foreign-occupied German soil, to reverse the
conquest.." Werewolf commandos of the HJ were organized and trained by the
SS. The most successful Werewolf attack was the assassination of the
anti-nazi lord mayor of Aachen, Franz Oppenhoff. An SS man, two HJ boys, and
a BDM girl parachuted into Aachen, entered the mayor's home, and shot him to
death in March 1945. All were killed on their way back to Germany after
stepping on land mines. Many other young HJ members were parachuted behind
enemy lines, either Russian or American, to wreak havoc. Two Hitler Youths
were captured by the Americans near Brunswick, and were executed on 1 June
1945. They were sixteen and seventeen years old. The Werewolf program was
ultimately a failure and never really got off the ground, due to lack of
weaponry and coordination, but not because of lack of will on the part of
the HJ. Many of the most fanatical HJ members were regrouping towards Berlin
for the final battle.[19]
As the Allies approached Berlin, SS squads, including young HJ members, were
rounding up every available man and boy that could fight. Anyone who failed
to show up for training or report for duty was considered a traitor and was
hanged or shot on the spot. Karl Damm's Hitler Youth battalion was sent to
the front lines to dig trenches thirty miles east of Berlin. He stood guard
duty one night and heard rifle fire. The next day he counted fifty Russian
tanks drive past his unit's position. He later found his comrades dead in
one of their freshly dug trenches, all shot down by the Russians. Still, the
youth continued to fight. At the Havel River in Berlin, five thousand Hitler
Youth were ordered to defend the Pichelsdorf Bridge so a relief army could
arrive from the south. The relief army never came, as the Russians had
destroyed it. The HJ held the bridge for two days and nights against Russian
tanks until 4,500 of them lay dead or wounded. One of these wounded boys,
carried into a hospital was told by a doctor, "You dummy! Look at what this
has gotten you!" The boy straightened up, spit in the doctor's face, and
said, "Long live the Fuhrer!" Such was their fanaticism, even at the
end.[20]
Their Fuhrer however, did not live much longer. While his youth were making
the Russians pay a heavy price for entering Berlin, their leader had
committed suicide, rather than suffer the humiliation of surrender. He would
leave that for his own people. With the war finally over, many young Germans
had to come to terms with the horrors they had unleashed on the world. Like
Reinhold Kerstan, who was indoctrinated as a young boy into the HJ, later
serving as a flak-gunner in an adolescent anti-aircraft crew, many would
take years to admit that the man they admired most had wronged them:
"Adolf Hitler, my beloved Fuehrer, had died. Crushed with grief..[I]
started to weep. Yes, I cried, great wracking sobs that had built up in me
for years. The old admonition, "A Hitler Youth never cries," meant nothing
to me now that he was gone. I was no longer a Hitler Youth. It was over, the
dream, the fantasy. No one could ever take his place. The tears,
unstoppable, poured down my face."[21]
Some would never admit that they had been wronged or had done wrong. Such
was the awesome hold that Hitler had had on their young psyches. A few, like
the former BDM-turned-SS guard Irma Grese, who never showed any remorse for
her murderous deeds, were held accountable for their war crimes and were
executed by the Allies. But most former HJ members were forced to live on
with the desolation and despair that the Nazis had inflicted on Germany.
Their education and work ethic, dictated and enforced by the Nazi regime,
had been a way to control and use them for Hitler's own evil purposes. The
creation of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Division was deemed necessary by an
army losing thousands of soldiers to the Allied war machine. The fact that
they were adolescents barely of high school age was unimportant. They had
been the recipients of a Nazi education and were raised to believe that they
owed their lives to Hitler and the Fatherland. Many of them were fanatical
followers who fought until the bitter end. The 12th SS had amassed an
impressive war record against the Allies for having existed for such a short
time. One of the most tenacious, fanatical, and effective fighting units in
Hitler's army, the Hitlerjugend slowed the Allied advance in Normandy,
giving the Allies an enormous amount of difficulty in securing its flanks
and making progress towards Paris. They later held the Russians for a time
and inflicted a steep price upon them for entering the Fatherland. While the
Werewolf program never got off the ground because of poor planning and lack
of materials, the will of the adolescent Nazis was there to continue
fighting on for the Fuhrer and the Fatherland. The Nazis, while unsuccessful
in their claims for world domination, were successful in creating the means
of an effective fighting force to unleash total war.
* * *
<http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/effectiveorganization.as
px#> Show Footnotes and Bibliography
Footnotes
[1]. Michael H. Kater, Hitler Youth (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
2004), 18-19.
[2]. Randall Bytwerk, 1998. "Die Jugend und der Krieg. Ansprache zur
Eroffnung der Jugendfilm stunden in Berlin," Die Ziefohne Beispiel (Munich:
Zentral verlag der NSDAP., 1941), 324-330. Downloaded from website:
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb33.htm. Accessed 12 November
2006.
[3]. Alfons Heck, A Child of Hitler (New York: Bantam Books, 1985), 24.
[4]. Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow
(New York: Scholastic Inc., 2005), 26-27.
[5]. Kater, 70-85.
[6]. Bartoletti, 37-39
[7]. Heck, 12-18.
[8]. Ibid., 19.
[9]. Kater, 33-35.
[10]. Ibid., 35-36.
[11]. Heck, 36.
[12]. Ibid., 23.
[13]. Hubert Meyer, The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer
Division., vol.1 (Mechanicsburg, Pa: Stackpole Books, 2005), 2-10.
[14]. Ibid., 12-17.
[15]. Ibid., 47, 54.
[16]. Bartoletti, 136.
[17]. Kater, 214-215.
[18]. Hubert Meyer, The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer
Division ., vol.2 (Mechanicsburg, Pa: Stackpole Books, 2005), 500-50
[19]. Kater, 226-229.
[20]. Bartoletti, 141-143.
[21]. Reinhold Kerstan, Blood and Honor (Minneapolis: David C. Cook
Publishing Co., 1980), 101.
Bibliography
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow. New
York: Scholastic, 2005.
Bytwerk, Randall, 1998. "Die Jugend und der Krieg. Ansprache zur Eroffnung
der Jugendfilm stunden in Berlin," Die Ziefohne Beispeil . Munich: Zentral
verlag der NSDAP., 1941. Downloaded from website:
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb33.htm. Accessed 12 November
2006.
Heck, Alfons. A Child of Hitler. New York: Bantam Books, 1985.
Kater, Michael H. Hitler Youth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.
Kerstan, Reinhold. Blood and Honor. Elgin, IL: David C. Cook Publishing Co.,
1980.
Meyer, Hubert. The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division.
Volume 1. Mechanicsburg, Pa: Stackpole Books, 2005.
___________. The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division.
Volume 2. Mechanicsburg, Pa: Stackpole Books, 2005.
* * *
Copyright C 2006 Guy Nasuti.
Written by Guy Nasuti. If you have questions or comments on this article,
please contact Guy Nasuti at:
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About the author:
Guy Nasuti was raised outside of Detroit, Michigan, and is a veteran of the
US Navy, having served in the Iraq War. A gradute student seeking his
Masters in Military History with a concentration in World War II, Guy
currently attends American Military University and is also attempting to
write his first book about his grandfather, Guy I. Wetherell, a veteran of
the Second World War. He currently resides in historic Martinsburg, West
Virginia.
Published online: 12/03/2006.
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