Rajiv Goswami
Writing I
Hitler Youth Movement
In 1944, Anne Frank wrote in her diary, “I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains,” (Frank 157). She was murdered at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp the following year. By the time of the liberation of Auschwitz, approximately two million Jewish, gypsy, disabled, and non-Aryan children died at the hands of Hitler and his Nazi collaborators. This figure disregards almost eight million German boys and girls who were part of the Deutsches Jungvolk in der Hitler Jugend (Hitlerjugend) which translates to “German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth”. The indoctrination of these children by the Nazi regime through a plethora of means shows the dedication of such high profile Nazis
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Analyzing such a movement involves background on the economic situation that succeeded first World War I. The conclusion of the war led to the defeat of the Triple Alliance involving Germany, Austria- Hungary, and Italy, with Germany being held responsible for ceding land and rebuilding Europe according to the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, confronted with reparation payments that were unaffordable, Germany began mass printing millions of new German Marks. This drowned Germany into a state of hyperinflation, and the country reached the point where marks were worthless. Furthermore, as the United States succumbed to the great depression, they sought to retract the loans made to Germany. Thus, Germany’s already weakened economic state coupled with the collapse of their economy led to the rise of angry, ultra-nationalist orators such as Hitler, who blamed Germany’s Jewish population for being war profiteers, effectively dividing Germany into Aryans who were viewed as superior to the inferior Jews. President Paul von- Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of the Weimar Republic in 1933 believing that Hitler’s energized base would turn out for him. Hitler eventually expanded his role and assumed total power after the death of President von Hindenburg. Upon his usurpation of the position and the expansion of his powers, he became Germany’s Führer, passing the Nuremberg Laws against the Jewish populations and instigating Kristallnacht, which legalized all violence against Jews. Throughout his reign, Hitler employed persuasive propaganda to win over children primarily, such as nationalistic posters, billboards, films, and pamphlets. He also expanded the school curriculum to incorporate his ideologies, teach the Nazi agenda, and physically train the youths for warfare, many of whom fell on the front. The disillusioned youth who fell prey to defending a hate- filled ideology were programmed to via the means that Hitler and his collaborators