Education in Nazi Germany by Lisa Pine

Author:Lisa Pine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berg Publishers
Published: 2010-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

5 THE HITLER YOUTH

In his speech at the Nuremberg Party Rally in September 1935, Hitler stressed his requirements for the new image of German youth. He stated that: ‘In our eyes, the German youth of the future must be slim and slender, swift as the greyhound, tough as leather, and hard as Krupp steel’.1 Hitler firmly believed that the education and socialization of German youth should not be limited to the schools, but extended to incorporate the activities of the youth groups. The Nazi youth groups were accorded a very significant task in Nazi educational aims and in Nazi society as a whole. This chapter examines the role and ethos of the Hitlerjugend (HJ) or Hitler Youth as an organization for the regimentation and socialization of German boys. It analyses the aims of the HJ and their implementation. First, however, in order to place the Hitler Youth movement into its historical context, a brief examination of the German youth movement is necessary.

GERMAN YOUTH GROUPS BEFORE NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND THE ORIGINS OF THE HJ

The Wandervogel (birds of passage) came into existence at the end of the nineteenth century. In these groups, young people endeavoured to create for themselves an alternative to the formal education and discipline in schools. They roamed the German countryside, dressed in traditional costumes and sang folk songs. They cherished the landscape, exploring forests, hills, villages and castles. Most of the groups were against authority and discipline. In 1913, representatives of the Free German Youth met on the Hoher Meißner mountain near Cassel to proclaim the aims of the German youth: ‘to mould its own life, in accordance with its own nature, on its own responsibility and in inner integrity’.2 German youth leader Gustav Wyneken stated that:

youth, hitherto merely an appendage of the older generation, excluded from the life of the community and given only the passive role of learning and with opportunities only for a dilettante form of social life, is beginning to become conscious of itself . . . It is striving for a way of life which corresponds to the nature of youth, but which at the same time will enable it to take itself and its activity seriously.3

Wyneken regarded youth not only as a time of transition, but also as a time which had ‘its own unique value’ and ‘its own beauty’.4 The Wandervogel movement reacted against suppression and lack of freedom. It proposed the right of youth to independence. As Hahn states, it was ‘both nostalgic and utopian, celebrating simple country life and folklore while working for the development of the individual within free communities’.5 It made a statement that youth should have its own sphere and, in this period, it stood against völkisch and nationalist sentiments. Not surprisingly, both the state and the Churches regarded the youth groups with distrust and dislike. The state, in particular, attempted to undermine these youth movements by expanding its own programme of youth welfare.

The approach and outbreak of the First World War stymied the attempts of the youth movement at independence, anti-völkischness and ‘youth for youth’s sake’.

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