What Was The Impact Of Nazism On German Youth

Nazism had a major influence on German social and political life during the years 1933-1945. This can be evident through the rules and legislations women had to abide by and by the way that people viewed women's role in society. Nazism also impacted upon the youth of Germany during this time period. The invention of the Hitler Youth organisation impacted the daily activities and role of the youth. The political life of Germany was also impacted upon once the Nazis came to power. This can be shown through the fact that Germany went from having a democratic Government and once the Nazis took over went to become an authoritarianism state. This is also evident through the role Hitler played and the rules set in place by him.

Nazism can be described
as a set of political and economic doctrines made and put into actions by Adolf Hitler and the members of his party, the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). Nazism came into power from 1933 to 1945. It is a blend of fascism, social Darwinism, and totalitarian ideology. Fascism can be described as a nationalistic, right wing form of government that puts that the state first before anything else. A fascist government has the role of making choices in almost all aspects of life. This includes political, economic, and social (BusinessDictonary, 2010). This, therefore, means that the people have very little say and have to abide by the strict set of rules put in place. This is a good explanation of what the Government was like under Hitler’s rule. In the making of the party’s racial policies, Hitler's government was influenced majorly by social Darwinism. This meant that Hitler believed he could create his ‘superior' race through the ‘survival of the fittest' theory and through selective breeding. As a result, the main aim of Hitler’s administration was to at the least prevent ‘inferior' races from mixing with the ones he believed to be superior (Bergman, 2005). A totalitarian state involves the control of every aspect of the people’s lives. Nazism overall was a combination of different ideologies which all involved a major dictatorship from the Government.

During the time of the Weimar republic, women had made many significant strides, making their way towards gender equality. These strides include the right to vote and more freedom in playing a greater role in society and take on careers that were usually done by men. However once the Nazis came to power these steps were pushed back. The Nazis were extremely anti-feminist and male-dominate. They made it very clear what their views and opinions on women were and did most in their power to express these through the women of Germany. From a very early age, all girls were taught in school that all good German women got married at a young age to a working German man and that the wife's task was to look after the house for her working husband and to have children (Trueman, 2015). Nazis encouraged women to have as many children as possible. This was to help build up Hitler's ‘superior race'. This is evident through the policies put in place during the time that Hitler ruled. One of the earliest laws put in place by Hitler once he came to power in 1933, was the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (Webb, 2011). This law allowed all newly married couples to get a government loan of 1000 marks. The birth of one child meant that 25% of the loan did not have to be paid back. Two children meant that 50% of the loan need not be paid back. Four children meant that the entire loan was cleared (Trueman, 2015). Having children was also actively encouraged with the introduction of The Motherhood Cross, given to those women who had the most children. The award was handed out on the birthday of Hitler’s mother (Webb, 2011). Women were also encouraged to marry and have children through the introduction of ‘Lebensborn'. This was a place unmarried women would go to to meet a suitable German man who were apart of the SS for the main purpose of becoming pregnant. All women who were not viewed as the Nazis thought they should be were sterilised, around 28 000 women had been in the year 1934 (Webb, 2011). Women that were not ‘racially desirable' this includes Jewish women, were often treated extremely unfairly and had specific rules that applied only to them. Aryan men married to a Jew were pressured to leave and to take any mixed children with them. Also In 1939 abortion became illegal but not for Jewish women (Webb, 2011). All of these aspects help to reinforce the idea of social Darwinism and how Hitler believe that he could build his superior race through making sure there was no kind of ‘contamination' within his master race. Job discrimination against the woman of Germnay was major during the time of the Nazis. Any women that had ‘out of the ordinary' jobs such as doctors and teachers were forced or pressured into giving up their jobs, there was also attempts to limit the number of women studying in university (Webb, 2011). Women were also not eligible to join the armed forces even during times of war. Women were restricted when it came to fashion as well. They were expected to follow traditional German fashions. This included plain typical German clothes, hair in plaits or buns and flat shoes. They were not allowed to wear make-up or trousers, dye their hair or smoke in public places. Nazis had a very clear idea of what they wanted from women and did everything they could to ensure women played a role in turning the Nazi ideology into action.

The Nazi party also had a major influence on the youth of Germany.
During 1926, the Nazi party had introduced Hitler Youth. The main objective of Hitler Youth was to appeal to young men who could be trained and then become a part of the SA, the Strumabteilung. Germany was in need of new fit and trained soldiers to help contribute to his military goals. It was believed by Hitler and the Nazis that the youth of Germany would help to achieve his dream of becoming the first leader of what would be a ‘thousand year Reich' (Webb, 2011). He thought it could be achieved by filling the minds of the young with faith in the Fuhrer. The youth program continuously filled the children with strong notions of devotion to the Nazis and nationalism. By 1931 Von Schaech took control of all youth organisations, which at this time had set ups for certain age groups and sex. All of the different segments placed much importance on being fit and healthy. They participated in many outdoors activities, some activities includes camping, hiking, boxing and drill and military and many different team sports (Webb, 2011). The girl segment of Hitler youth had just as much emphasis on being fit as the boys did. This was due to the idea that fit healthy bodies would produce young women able to have lots of children. The youth were trained not to think for themselves and to believe anything the Fuhrer said. This was done through indoctrination. Indoctrination was achieved through many different ways. This
includes long speeches from youth leaders, a strict uniform expectation and through activities such as marches and rallies that the children had to take part in. The activities that were done often disrupted normal schooling and were seen as a priority over schooling leading to a lower standard for schools. Children who had finished their time at in the Youth program were expected to, if a male engage in a period of military or labour work and if female to engage in domestic service and to marry early (Webb, 2011). The number of members in 1930 stood at 2500 and by 1933 over 2 million members. In December 1936, membership of the group became compulsory for all girls and boys over the age of 10 years old. By 1938, membership stood at around 8 to 9 million (Webb, 2011). The Nazis on a whole majorly affected the life of the youth of Germany through the mandatory participation in the youth program and the constant pressure to believe their ideology.

From 1928, Germany had been ruled by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Webb, 2011).
The party was doing well with the support of Gustav Stresemann who gained this form of government the support of the right-winged parties and held together the Government during this time. In October 1929, Stresemann died and his influence was significantly missed. Later on, in 1929, the Wall Street Crash and the current Chancellor, Hermann Muller was forced to resign. Democracy had then come to an end in Germany. Hitler came to power as chancellor on January 30th, 1933 and then in August 1934 Hindenburg died, therefore, Hitler took on the role of chancellor and president, it was clear he didn't like the way that things were being run and they were soon to change. By 1934 Hitler’s power was absolute, this even included total support of the army. There is no one explanation as to how or why the Nazis consolidated their power but it can be put down to a few things: their ability to take advantage of events, Hitler’s ability to convince Hindenburg of the danger of communism, the ruthlessness of Nazism and the extreme skill Joseph Goebbels had in representing Hitler as the Fuhrer and the Nazis in the best way possible. Hitler’s aim from the start was way beyond just having power and keeping it. Having power was crucial however his long-term goal was in the field of foreign policy. He wanted to undo the hated TOV and to restore living space. Hitler became an authoritarian leader. This meant
that he dictated all policies and procedures, was in charge of the goals that were to be reached and had complete control of all activities without any actual participation. Hitler thought that communism was a big threat the Nazi Germany and wanted to destroy it for good. He also had major issues with the Jews and wanted them too to be destroyed another thing he wanted was to get rid of the mentally and physically disabled, as they were seen as not perfect and interfered with his ‘superior race'.

Nazism was a big political movement and Hitler played a vital role in the Nazi state. However, the study of his role in the state is very much debatable and has many different interpretations. There are three main views on his role. View number one is based on the idea that Hitler was the complete centre of the whole Nazi organization. It was believed that nothing went without his permission and that the achievements and failures of the Nazi system could be blamed all on him. This view sees Hitler as a skilled politician player and a man that has good control over things (Webb, 2011). Many earlier historians took on this view. A good example is Alan Bullock's Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'. However, new studies show this view to be contradictory and have out-dated his work. Although the work still makes for useful reading that gives insight into Hitler and helps you to understand him and his views. The second view is based on the idea that the Nazi organisation was very chaotic and not efficient with a messed up structure. It is believed in some cases that this was Hitler’s whole idea to begin with; he wanted all of the people who worked with and for him to contest and argue. This idea fitted into his idea of ‘survival of the fittest' (Webb, 2011). Additionally, it made sure his place was always there and that he would make the final decisions. This idea was developed in the 1960s to 1970s when historians began to understand the real chaotic nature of the regime (Webb, 2011). Further research into the Nazi has shown that there were many deficiencies in the running. This includes rivalry between Nazi leaders, having both state bodies and party bodies, and that the economy had no clear direction and also certain organisations were about growing on their own such as the SS (Webb, 2011). Historian Karl Brancher had argued that this disorder in the organisation was Hitler’s intention because by allowing such chaos Hitler himself was able to stay above all the others as a ‘God-like' figure and then this ensured his spot as the Fuhrer. View three consists of the idea that Hitler was a weak dictator. This suggests that the disorganisation of the regime was not due to Hitler’s power and control, but because he was a weak dictator. It suggests that Hitler was fearful of making decisions for himself and had trouble committing to certain issues. An example of a historian who argues this is Martin Broszat, who wrote ‘The Hitler State' in 1969 (Webb, 2011).