Hitler's children

Aediles Posts : 74 Join date : 2021-09-10

Ideas and attitudes towards children in Nazi Germany came mainly from Adolf Hitler, starting in his early years as Party leader, Hitler placed great emphasis on the importance of children, unlike other political leaders of the time, Hitler did not disregard young people or underestimate their political value, he wanted the National Socialist movement to appeal to all levels of society. Hitler wanted to provide children with a sense of purpose, achievement and community, his youth policies filled the minds of young Germans with ideas of racial purity and Aryan supremacy, also much mention was made regarding expansion and military conquests.

In 1933 Hitler wrote of Nazi policy “ My programme for educating youth is hard, weakness must be hammered away, in my castles of Teutonic Order, a new youth will grow up, before which the world will tremble, I want a brutal, domineering, fearless and cruel youth, it must bear pain.

Education became a vitally important tool for the Nazis, they used the state education system to spread Nazi ideology, and enhance loyalty to Hitler. During the mid-1930's the Nazis established a party controlled education system, it also formed its own teachers union. At the forefront of the Nazi syllabus was racial education, enlightening children about Aryan supremacy, they were told about the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles, and the importance of lebensraum [living space] for the German people.

The Nazis did not rely solely on schools to indoctrinate children with their ideology, the other highly effective avenue was the Hitler Youth movement, by 1930 [prior to the Third Reich] Hitler Youth already had a membership of 25,000 boys, aged between 14-18, it served as an important feeder for the SA. In 1933 when Hitler became chancellor, a significant rise in Hitler Youth membership occurred, under Baldur von Schirach the Hitler Youth adopted much of the culture and nationalism of the SA and SS. Many schools became feeder groups for Hitler Youth, with children pressured into joining. By the end of 1937, the estimated membership of the Hitler Youth was around five million [claimed by the leadership] this amounted to 64% of all German adolescent boys.

For German girls there was the BDM [ the league of German maidens] for girls aged 14-18, it prepared its members to become wives mothers and home makers, they also had sports activities, classes on grooming, hair, make-up and needlework, and of course Nazi ideology. There were also groups for younger boys Pimpf ages 6-10 and Jungvolk up to the age of 14.

Censura Posts : 1522 Join date : 2012-01-09

Some of that doesn't sound too unlike the Scouts and Girl Guides movements still going now. Not with so much overt political overtones, of course.

Subject: Re: Hitler's children Sun 26 May 2024, 11:44

But surely that's the whole point ... it was to try and make it all seem innocent, wholesome, well-meaning, christian, patriotic and well, sort-of, normal.

Also bear in mind that the whole ethos of the British Boy Scout movement - at least as initially created by its founder Baden-Powell following the Boer War - was that it would be an imperialistic, xenophobic, quasi-militaristic movement, intended to train up young boys to eventually become soldiers for later military service.

Aediles Posts : 74 Join date : 2021-09-10

Mixing the good bits with the bad made their evil goal seem more virtuous.