German Society: Manners in NAZI Germany--Hitler Salute
Figure 1.--Here we see what looks like first year students who are perfectly executing the NAZI salute. The photograph is undated, but looks like it was taken early in the NAZI era, perhaps 1934-35 or so. Notice how perfectly the boys are executing the salute, meaning their hands stifffly extended, palms down. There are no perfunctory hand taising here. Actually the boys are doing it better than the teacher. It is not easy to get such young children to perform so perfectly--they have to be well drilled.
The NAZI German salute (Hitlergruß/deutscher Gruß) became the German national greeting. Itewas comined by saying 'Heil Hitler'. The NAZI salure was a straight arm salute. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the neck into the air with a straightened hand. The arm salute was not only used as part of the German Heil Hitler greeting. It was adopted in the 1930s by the Nazi Party after it became the leading German political party and then after Hitlerbseized power made a requirement for the German people. It showed obedience to the party's leader, Adolf Hitler. It was made a requirement in school and in the Hitler Youth which became mandatory for children. It was used in all orts of gtherings and to salute patriotic procesions or in stadiums. The Army, but not the Nav used it as a military salute. It was especially used in the Army after the failed Bomb Plot to assassinate Hitler (July 1944). After seizing power Hitler mandated by law the use of the salute. Special courts were established to punish those who refused to give the salute (1934). Offenders, such as Protestant preacher Paul Schneider, faced the possibility of being sent to a concentration camp. Foreigners were not exempt from intimidation if in public refused to salute. For example, the Portuguese Consul General was beaten by SA members for remaining seated in a car and not saluting a procession in Hamburg.
