*** Hitler Youth objectives

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Hitler Youth Objectives

Hitler Youth physical conditioning
Figure 1.--These boys are doing amassed javenile throw at a NAZI event, part of their physical conditioning program.

The Hitler Youth program stressed 1) physical conditioning, 2) skills training, especially military or para-military training, and 3) ideologiacl preparation. Von Schirach wrote, "I am responsible to the Reich that the entire youth of Germany will be educated physically, morally and spiritually in the spirit of the National Socialist Idea of the State." HJ activities were centered around achieving these objectives. Some of the HJ efforts were crude propaganda, but there were also many sophisticted approaches. The HJ program proved remarably effective in accomplishing these objectives. Scholars today debate as to just to what extent the NAZI program was enbraced by the German people. No one questions the fact that young people were among Hitler's most devoted followers.

Physical Conditioning

Hitler's anti-intelcualism was reflected in the Hitler Youth program and its activities. The Hitler Youth program stressed physical, rather than mental superiority. Outdoor activities dominated the program and many of the activities, especially for the older boys delt with skills which the military would find of value. Hitler from the beginning saw the Hitler Youth movement as a tool to hardening boys for their future role of soldiers. He wanted a generation of "victorious active, daring youth, imune to pain." Hitler wanted them to be "quick like greyhounds, tough like leather, and hard like Krupp steel." There was to be no "intelectual" training for the boys of the New Order, he saw intelectual pursuits as damaging to German youth. Sone of this was similar to Scouting which extolded the benefits of healthy outdoor activities. Scouting almost exclusively, however, dealt with outdoor activities. The Hitler Youth not only pursued outdoor activities, but physical consition and exercises as well.

Military and Para-military Training

Some of the Hitler Youth activities were the kinds of ourdoor activities that were common to Scout groups. Camping and outdoor skills were stressed by the Hiter Youth. But there were many activities that were not commonly pursued by the Scouts. The activities included both physical and psychological preparation for war. The Hitler Youth put a great emphasis on military skills. Some were camping skills that Scouts might have pursued. But in addition to these activities of indirect military value, there were other skills of direct value, including firearms training, laying communications cables, and many other activities. The Hitler Youth leadership on August 11, 1939, entered into an agreement with Keitel under which the Hitler Jugend agreed to carry out its pre-military activities under standards laid down by the Wehrmacht and the Wehrmacht agreed to train 30,000 Hitler Jugend instructors each year. The Hitler Jugend placed particular emphasis on the military spirit and its training programme stressed the importance of return of the colonies, the necessity for Lebensraum and the noble destiny of German youth to die for Hitler. The program even included mock funerals for fallen heros. In the years before the war, the Hitler Youth incorporated more military style drill in the training of its members. All boys were given firearms training, starting with small caliber rifles and then moving up to regular infantry pieces. They sent those who excelled to sharpshooter and sniper school. The services of these boy snipers were offered to the army and the Waffen-SS. The army snatched them up and placed them in reserve units. All of this military training fostered an aggressive spirit that could be realized only in actual combat. The Hitler Youth was in essence providing Germany with cannon-fodder for the war.


Figure 2.--These Hitler Youth boys are conducting a mock funeral. The goal was to build warriors who saw war as a legitimate pursuit of a nation and death in battle as glorious.

Ideological Preparation

Not only did the Hitler Youth pursue physical military skills, but they developed a full pschological program to prepare German youth for war. Besides intensive indoctination in NAZI ideology, German nationalism, Germanic mythology, and racial superiority, camp programs included rituals such as mock burials. Hitler Youth members were taught to respect the NAZI party and live up to their creed by learning from the NAZI Primer, which was the group's official handbook. Mein Kampf, Hitler�s bibliography, was considered their Bible. They learned of the superior race: the Nordic race. According to the Nazi Primer, when considering bodily form, the HJ have to take into account above all things size and shape of body, skull, color of hair, the eyes and the skin, as well as the texture of the hair. Upon reading the section entitled the German races, one can clearly see the intention that the Nordic race is above all the best in the German region. The Primer gives example after example of why one race is inferior to another.








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Created: November 15, 1998
Last updated: 6:19 AM 6/15/2005