Figure 1.--German children entered the Hitler Youth at age 10 years. The Balilla program began several years earlier. These Balilla boys marching here during the 1930s in a Milan parade look about 6 years old. They are very carefully unifored, only their shoes are a little different. Some of the boys wear strap shoes. Put your cursor on the image to see more of the group.

We are not entirely sure why these two youth movements have such different records. There were differencs in the two programs, but some of the differences would seem to favor the effectiveness of the Balilla. Balilla had some mportant advantges over the Hitler Youth. Mussolini and the Fascist seized power a decade before Hitler and the Nazis. In additio, children joined the Bailla at a younger age than the Hitler Youth which began wih 10-year olds. Some might argue that the differences were more a matter of the fundamental variation in the German and Italian character. We are inclined to believe that while that may have been a factor, the nature of the two organizations and programs were also important, if not more important. And there were social differences between Italy and Germany. Certainly the nature of the two regimes were different. NAZI Germany was a totalitarian state without any effective centers of power to rival the NAZI Party. Fascist Italy was a dictatorship, but totalitarian in name only. There were pluralstic centers of power, especially the Church. We do note that the Baillal, unlike the Hitler Youth, did not seek to destroy the influence of the Church and family. And the German people were more inclined to follow their political leadership. Italians peasants with a long history of exploitation were less inclined to do so. We know that the Germans took Hitler and the NAZIs vert seriously. There is some indication that many Italiand viewed Mussolini differently. This is somewhat difficult to assess. People were reluctant to speak openly at the time and often recollections after the War tended to burnish an individuals anti-Fascist credentials. A reader writes, "I have talked with people that were former Fascist youth members who said they did not take Mussolini seriously, and joked about getting dressed up in uniforms and marching around. This was very different than in Germany."