Figure 1.--NAZI authorities published an yearbook for boys. It was entitled "Jungen: Eure Welt", meaning "Boys: Your World". I don't think the conotation was that the world belonged to Germany, but more the world in which the boys lived, but perhaps our German readers will give a more authoritative interpretation. The sub-title was "The Year Book of the German Boy". I'm not sure just what area of the globe is pictured. Volume VI published in 1943 was the last volume. So presumably the first volume was published in 1938. After 1943 the war situation declined to the point that large books like this could no longer be published. This book is a compilation of articles of interest to the German Youth in their teens. There was a heavy emphasis on the War. Put the cursor on the image to see one of the photographs in the book, showing Hitler Youth boys learning military communications.

NAZI authorities published an yearbook for boys. It was entitled Jungen: Eure Welt, meaning Boys: Your World. The first volume appeared in 1938 and it was published annually thriugh 1943. There was no 1944 vilume as by that time the Worls War had begun to affect the domestic economy. I don't think the conotation was that the world belonged to Germany, but more the world in which the boys lived, but perhaps our German readers will give a more authoritative interpretation. The sub-title was The Year Book of the German Boy, but earlier editions identified it as the yearbook of Hitler Youth boys. There was a comparable series for girls. The articles were topics which appealed to boys. There are articles on current events, politics, the war, arts and crafts, games, sports, wildlife and similar topics. Much of the book is devoted to the military, even before Workd War II broke out. boys preparing for military service through the Hitler Youth program. We are not sure what the press run was and if this was abook boys purchased or was more likely to be read in libraries. It was published by the NAZI Central Publishing House. The book is heavily illustrated with both photographs and illustrations.

NAZI Yearbook for Boys

NAZI authorities published an yearbook for boys. The title of Volume II (1939) was Jungen: Eure Welt--Das Jahrbuch der Hitler Jugen which would mean, "Boys - Your World". The subtitle translates, "The Yearbook of the Hitler Youth". The title of Volume VI (1943) was also entitled Jungen: Eure Welt, meaning Boys: Your World. The sub-title in 1942, however, was different, Das Juugenjahrbuch, The Boys' Yearbook. Note that the Hitler Youth organization has been removed from the substitle. We are not sure why. The subtitle "das Jungenjahrbuch" has no umlauts. On the contrary; what you see on top of the letter u is an indication that there should not be an umlaut. This sign (more or less ~) was being used in the old German script to make sure that the reader would get the correct pronunciation, especially the u next to the letter n since there was no difference in a written or printed word.

NAZI Yearbook for Girls

The NAZIs published a similar yearbook for the girls in the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM), the girls division of the HJ. The title was Mädel: eure Welt: Das Jahrbuch der deutschen Mädel. That would translate as "Girls: Your World". The subtitle translates, "The Yearbook of the German Girl". Like the boys version it was published by the Zentralverlag Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH in München. I'm not sure if the girls' version was published in the same years as the boys' versions. We do note that at least on of the covers was similar.

Title Interpretation

We think the best translation is "Boys: Your World. One source translate the title as Boys - It Is Your World. We are not sure just how to translate this. I don't think the conotation of the title was that the world belonged to Germany, but more the world in which the boys lived, but perhaps our German readers will give a more authoritative interpretation. There is a heavy focus on the military in these books, in part because many were published during the War and in part because the NAZIs and the Hitler Youth lionized military heroics. There are images of conquering NAZI armies. I do not know of, however, the subsequent NAZI program of exploiting conquered peopes. But I have not been able to look through these volumes in detail.

Annual Volumes (1938-43)

We have not found a complete set of these yearbooks. We have found some scans from various volumes. We believe that the first volume was published in 1938, but we are not yet sure about that. We have not yet found the 1938 volume. We have found a 1939 volume. Hitler launched the War in 1939, but the book presumably was published earlier in the year. We note Volume V published in 1942. While the NAZIs had been stopped before Moscow, most of Europe was still in NAZI hands and the War was by no means lost. Volume VI published in 1943 was the last volume. So presumably the first volume was published in 1938. It had some color photographs. We note that the subtitle was chnged. The 1943 volume is all black and white, a small indication of the deteriorating military situation. After 1943 the war situation declined to the point that large books like this could no longer be published.

Contents

We do not have a complete set of these books. Thus our assessment of the contents is only preliminary at this time. This book is a compilation of articles of interest to the German Youth in their teens. There are sections on current events, politics, the war, arts and crafts, games, sports, wildlife and similar content. Much of the book is devoted to the War and boys preparing for military service through the Hitler Youth program. An important aspect of the Hitler Youth was to funnel boys into the various services of the German military. Of course there were countless military victories which could be used for the early volumes. This changed in 1942 when NAZI armies began to experience military defeats.

Color Photography

The volume had some rare color photographs of the War. This marked it as an expensive book. Germany in the 1930s was a industry leader in color photography. Color photographs of World War II are relatively rare. Many of the color images we have are German images. The U.S. Army in Europe used black and white film. Agfa when the War broke out was a real contender for Kodak in world markets and was in fact dominant in Europe. The War destroyed German industry and Agfa never recovered its once dominant position.

Illustrations

The Holocaust and Race

Pseudo scientific racism was central to NAZI doctrine. Race became a subject studied in school. We are not sure yet to what extent NAZI racial doctrine and anti-Semitism entered into these books.

Military Conquest

These books placed a great emphasis on military prowess and war. There arte many articles about the great military victories. What appears to be lacking is any indication that the New NAZI order would involve the exploitation of occupied countries and the reduction of whole populations to slavery. Of course boys would enthusiastically the military operations which always had a thinly veiled cover story of Germany acting in self defense. The boys were also being taught that they were members of a superior race and culture. I doubt if very many boys thought to think what Germany would do in the countries they occupied. Older boys entering the German military seem to have had no realproblem with the NAZI policies of exploitation, slave labor and genocide, even though they were not publically promoted like military prowess.

Press Runs

We are not sure what the press run was and if this was abook boys purchased or was more likely to be read in libraries. The 1943 volume was It is Hardcover in Half Linen. There are 488 pages, 221 black and white photos, and 85 illustrations. The author seems to have been Wilh. Uterm. It was published by by Zentralv., Franz E. Nachf., Gmbh., Munchen, 1943. I am not sure who Wilh. Uterm was.

NAZI Publisher: Zentralverlag

Nor do I know what government agency sponsored the book. There is a heavy emphasis on the Hitler Youth. We assume that the HJ must have been involved in some way with this project. The editor was Wilhelm Utermann. I know nothing about him at this time. The publisher was Zentralverlag Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH in München (Munich). Zentralverlag means Central publishing company. Franz Eher Nachfolger mean the heirs of Franz Eher. GmbH stands for Genossenschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, in English: Ltd. This appears to be the Central Publishing House of the Nazi Party.

Rarity

These books today are a rarity. We are not sure what the actual press runs were. We think that the the rarity now is in part because they are not the kind of thing one wanted in their homes when invading Soviet and Allied armies entered the Reich. This mist have been especially true in the Sovietv Occupation Zone.

Hitler Youth

The Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth), the NAZI party's youth movement, indoctrinated German youth to perpetuate the "1,000 year Reich." The Hitler Youth movement emphasized activism, physical training, NAZI ideology, especially nationalism and racial concepts, and absolute obedience to Hitler and the NAZI Party. Indoctrinating children in National Socialist idelogy was a key goal of the NAZI Party. Once Hitler assumed control over the German state, he used the Goverment to make the Hitler Youth the country's all encompasing youth movement. Hitler and other NAZIs leaders saw the indoctrination of young Germans as of critical importance. In the same year that they took power, the NAZIs organized German youth organizations into two branches of the Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugen), one branch for boys and one for girls. Membership was eventually made compulsory and all boys had to report to a neigborhood office to have his racial background checked and be registered for membership. There was then a typically elaborate introduction ceremony on the Füherer's birthday. The Hitler Youth was not just a German version of the Boy Scouts. The Hitler Youth were more similar to the Soviet Young Pioneers, but even with the Pioneers there were major differences.

Created: 6:17 AM 12/30/20065
Last updated: 2:24 AM 1/1/2007