Modern World History: Pages 167-168

How did the Nazis deal with young people?

Hitler wanted to have control over every part of German life – even the everyday life of ordinary German people. If you had been a 16-year-old living in Germany at this time you would probably have been a strong supporter of Hitler. The Nazis had reorganized every part of school life to make children believe that they were good leaders.

At school, in history lessons, students learned about how Germany was 'stabbed in the back' by weak politicians who had made peace in 1918 at the end of the First World War. Some students might have remembered how hard life was in the 1920s but now the Nazis told them how this was all the fault of the Jews. The Jews, they said, had taken all the profits from the Germans. By the time you were a senior student, you might have believed that the Fuehrer (Adolf Hitler) was right and good.

In biology, students were taught that they were special because they were from the Aryan race. They were told that they were better than 'Untermenschen' (sub-humans) like Jews and Slavs of Eastern Europe. They were told that they were stronger and more intelligent than these other races.

Lots of German children joined the Hitler Youth or League of German Maidens. These were organizations or clubs for young people. They marched in exciting parades with loud bands playing. They were very fit and strong. All their free time was given to Hitler and the Nazis. They were taught to be very good cross-country runners and to be very good at reading maps. They went on lots of summer camps so they were comfortable camping outdoors. The boys were taught how to clean a rifle (gun) and how to keep it in good condition.

Some children in Nazi Germany might have felt a bit different to their parents. Perhaps their parents didn't like the Nazis as much as they did. Parents expected the children to love their family more than anything else but the Hitler Youth leaders told them to love Hitler more. If children heard their parents complaining about anything the Nazis did, they couldn't understand why. The children had been taught to believe that anything Hitler and the Nazis did was good. The parents might have thought it strange that Nazis were checking up on teachers and making sure they taught the 'right' things. However, the children thought this was normal.