Some boys refused to join the Hitler Youth and took their youth groups underground. It took him years to step away from that indoctrination after the end of World War II. “I belonged to Adolf Hitler, body and soul,” he recalled. As he told the Boston Globe in the 1980s, he couldn’t wait to become a full-fledged Hitler Youth member and relished marching, singing and attending rallies. And all groups included hefty doses of propaganda that encouraged an almost religious devotion to the Führer.Īlfons Heck’s experience was typical. They imposed military-like order on members and trained young men in everything from weapons to survival. Though girls’ groups focused on things like rhythmic gymnastics and winter coat drives, the boys’ groups became more like a mini military than a Boy Scout den. They went to summer camps, wore uniforms, recited pledges and told stories over campfires.īut over time, the activities changed. Hitler Youth took part in typical scouting-type activities like camping trips, singing, crafts and hiking. Though the Boy Scouts were banned, the Nazis co-opted many of its activities and traditions. Jewish children were banned from participation.Īdolf Hitler with Nazi party Hitler Youth at a 1935 gathering. And in 1936, they banned all youth groups-including the Boy Scouts-and forced members to become part of the Hitler Youth instead. First, they banned children’s groups associated with political movements like Communism. And as the 1930s progressed, the Nazis waged war on the groups so popular among German youth. By the end of the year, there were more than 2 million. In January 1933, there were 50,000 members of the Hitler Youth. As the Nazis became more powerful, their youth arm grew. Since 1922, the National Socialists had had a youth arm designed to train and recruit members for its paramilitary. But there was also another powerful youth movement afoot-one invented by the Nazis. A group of boys leaving camp for a hike at a Hitler Youth summer camp in Berlin, 1933.īy the time Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, hundreds of thousands of kids were members of youth organizations like the Boy Scouts, which was invented in England in 1909 and quickly spread to Germany.
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