Modern History
Modern History Assessment Task Number 1
Germany 1918-1939
Assess the role of the following groups in the social and cultural life in the Nazi State 1933-1939. Consider the impact of Nazism on these groups and any forms of resistance that may have occurred.
(c) Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was founded originally in 1926 as a male youth movement of the NSDAP, but eventuated into a compulsory society for all Aryan Germans with a parallel girl's organisation the Deutscher Maadek (BMD). It aimed to control and shape the minds and train the bodies of the entire youth of the nation to support the philosophy and aims of the Nazi State. The future of Nazism depended on the youth and Hitler therefore paid much attention to education, the propaganda and programmes prepared for German youth. Hitler once said: “the German Youth of the future must be slim and slender, swift as a greyhound, tough as leather, and hard as Krupp steel. We must educate a new type of manhood so that our people do not go to ruin.”
The Hitler Youth encouraged national pride, but most importantly militarism and reverence to the Fuhrer, demonstrated through its organisation, leadership, principles and role within Nazi Germany. It was organised by Adolf Hitler in 1933 for educating and training male youth in Nazi principles. On the 1st July 1936 all young Aryan Germans were required to join, as the group became a state agency. Boys aged six to ten served a form of apprenticeship where they faced tests based on camping, athletics and ‘Nazified’ history. At fourteen they entered the Hitler Youth where they did a great deal of drills and learned the elements of soldiering as well as camping and athletics. It was expected for the girls to be as physically involved as the boys as it was believed strong healthy bodies will produce young women capable of bearing many children. After boys had been through the Youth movements, they were expected to engage in a period of military or labour service. Girls
Germany 1918-1939
Assess the role of the following groups in the social and cultural life in the Nazi State 1933-1939. Consider the impact of Nazism on these groups and any forms of resistance that may have occurred.
(c) Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was founded originally in 1926 as a male youth movement of the NSDAP, but eventuated into a compulsory society for all Aryan Germans with a parallel girl's organisation the Deutscher Maadek (BMD). It aimed to control and shape the minds and train the bodies of the entire youth of the nation to support the philosophy and aims of the Nazi State. The future of Nazism depended on the youth and Hitler therefore paid much attention to education, the propaganda and programmes prepared for German youth. Hitler once said: “the German Youth of the future must be slim and slender, swift as a greyhound, tough as leather, and hard as Krupp steel. We must educate a new type of manhood so that our people do not go to ruin.”
The Hitler Youth encouraged national pride, but most importantly militarism and reverence to the Fuhrer, demonstrated through its organisation, leadership, principles and role within Nazi Germany. It was organised by Adolf Hitler in 1933 for educating and training male youth in Nazi principles. On the 1st July 1936 all young Aryan Germans were required to join, as the group became a state agency. Boys aged six to ten served a form of apprenticeship where they faced tests based on camping, athletics and ‘Nazified’ history. At fourteen they entered the Hitler Youth where they did a great deal of drills and learned the elements of soldiering as well as camping and athletics. It was expected for the girls to be as physically involved as the boys as it was believed strong healthy bodies will produce young women capable of bearing many children. After boys had been through the Youth movements, they were expected to engage in a period of military or labour service. Girls