From the outside looking at the countless images of the Hitler Youth and Balilla, they certainly look very similar. Despite their varying effectiveness had many of the same trappings, goals, methods, and activities. They were both uniformed youth groups. They adopted similar salutes. Both were mass organization in which the children were required to participate. Other youth groups were banned. They both participated in civil events and partriotic events as part of the pagentary of the regime. Both groups had summer camps that promoted para-military activities which extoled military values and war. Both engaged in ultra-nationalistic Fascist ideological education. Both idealized their national leaders, Hitler and Mussolini. Both attempted to create the ethos of a united, unified national enterprise. And in group activities the children were theoretically treated the same regardless of their social background. (Here we are more sure about the HJ than the Balilla.)
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