"My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be hammered away. In my castles of the Teutonic Order a youth will grow up before which the world will tremble. I want a brutal, domineering, fearless, cruel youth. Youth must be all that. It must bear pain. There must be nothing weak and gentle about it. The free, splendid beast of prey must once again flash from its eyes... That is how I will eradicate thousands of years of human domestication... That is how I will create the New Order." -- Adolf Hitler, 1933.[1]
Naziism had a huge impact on German youth during Hitler’s reign of power over the state. The life of a German child changed dramatically during the 1920’s and 30’s, especially for those who were to no longer be regarded as German (but that’s a whole different topic). They were forcefully united under the swastika by the Nazi’s, they were brainwashed into complete loyalty to the Nazi’s through what they were taught by the schools and the Nazi’s education system. The system was extremely effective and managed to gain the complete loyalty and support of the German youth by the 1930’s as anyone who didn’t was dealt with severely. The Nazi’s created youth organizations for boys and girls and for different age groups, for boys aged 10-14 there was the Deutsches Jungvolk and the Hitler Jugend for boys aged 14-18 years old, for girls aged 10-14 there was the Jungmädel and the Bund Deutscher Mädel for girls aged 14-18 years old. These organizations and the Nazi education system brainwashed the youth to the Fuhrers command. Despite all this most of the youth enjoyed the activities they did and the pride of representing their nation.
Before the age of the Nazi’s, there was already a strong youth movement in Germany. It started in the 1890’s and was known as the Wandervögel, it was a male-only movement that featured a back to nature theme. Wandervögel had an idealistic notion of the past, desiring for the simpler days
Bibliography: Source 1: Book Lacey, G (1997) Source 2: www Last Updated March 15, 2008 Berwick, M (1971). The Third Reich. Wayland Publishers Ltd. Source 4: www thecounterpunch (2007) Brooman, J (1985). Hitler Germany. Longman Group Ltd. Tames, R (1986). Nazi Germany. Batsford Academic and Educational. Source 8: www Gavin, P (1999) Source 9: Book Williams, S (1986) Source 10: www Nasuti, G (2006)