History Essay Topic: Hitler Youth Movement – Discuss the nature and purpose of the Hitler Youth Movement. How did it promote Nazi ideology? How effective was the Hitler Youth Movement as an institution promoting the Nazi ideology? In 1933, after World War I and the Treaty of Versailles put Germany in a devastating position, Hitler and NSDAP took control of Germany. The Nazis led campaigns and rallies to show their hatred towards the treaty and what they could do to help. The Nazis soon became very liked by everyone except for the Jews, as they were blamed for the problems Germany had faced up to this point in time. 933-1938 was a period of time which was most influential to The Hitler Youth Organization as it was to determine how much power and support it would get. Hitler Youth was started in 1933 with the aims of replacing all the other youth organizations. This was achieved as the youth saw The Hitler Youth Organization as more new and exciting as compared to the other youth organizations. The Hitler Youth showed a different perspective of gaining peoples support through the, be with us or be against us, strategy.
In 1936, for Hitler’s birthday, his present was for every child over ten will join the Hitler Youth Movement or be put in jail. The effectiveness of the Hitler Youth Movement was shown while it lasted as the children were given fun activities as well as speeches and songs that absorb them into the anti-Jewish propaganda. Since children were recruited from a young age, they would be part of the perfect Aryan race being, “slim and slender, swift as the greyhound, tough as leather and as hard as Krupp Steel” by the time they were 18.
This meant that the children were being lined up for war and ahead of them the death of millions of Jews, this is what happened during the reign of Hitler. Gleichschaltung is the German word for “synchronization”. 1933 was known as the beginning of the Gleichschaltung stage for Hitler and the NSDAP (Nazis), as this was the year that Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany, giving him the power to control and make things his way. With his power he had received, he made the Hitler-Jugend “in charge of educating Germany’s youth when outside parental or school supervision”.
Hitler used this to his advantage by implementing his regime into the youth so that when they are older they will have been brainwashed with Hitler’s views on the world and other races. The Hitler Youth showed rapid growth from 2. 3 million in 1933 to 7. 3 million in 1939, which suggested the increase in supporters and power. By controlling the education system, Hitler was able to create propaganda on Jews, which helped with the Nazi ideology. Hitler-Jugend was aimed at replacing all the other youth organizations.
This was so that Hitler could have more control over the population’s youth to train them into soldiers, as most of the soldiers died in WWI. The Hitler Youth program was very appealing to all children, giving boys the opportunities of camping, cycling, war games and brawls – the Nazis encouraged this as they believed it was toughening them up – and giving the girls the opportunities of camps, tradition, sports and how to be a good wife or mother. More people joined the youth as they found it more new and exciting, but eventually anyone who didn’t join were forced to by 1936 (for boys) and 1939 (for girls).
By replacing all youth organizations with one, it meant that all other ideas were cut off except for the Nazi ideology which in theory promotes it. Propaganda was widely used during this time of confusion. Radios, media and posters were used mainly to broadcast the Nazi ideology. For one example, there is a poster called, Youth Serves the Leader: All 10 year olds into the Hitler Youth. There is a faint black and white picture in the background of Adolf Hitler looking strong and mighty, in the foreground there is a child that is roughly around 10 years old, who is giving the same pose as Adolf Hitler, strong and mighty.
At the top of the poster, there are large bold letters saying: Jugend Dient Dem Fuhrer which means Youth Serves the Leader. At the bottom of the poster, there are also large bold letters but they read, Alle Zehnjahrigen In Die HitlerJugend which means All 10 year olds into the Hitler Youth. This poster shows is a symbol that represents not only the control that the Nazi’s had over propaganda but it also shows what they expect and how much power they hold. Another example of propaganda is in the Hitler-Jugend where they go for marches and they sing: “Yes, when the Jewish blood splashes from the knives, things will go twice as well. Children as young as 10 would sing this cheerfully as a group, even though they have no idea what the meaning is behind it. It is not until they are older, that they start to realize what the meaning is, but by then they would’ve already been brainwashed by the anti-Jewish propaganda. By having control over what people think, Hitler was able to program the children into channeling all their rage and hatred towards the Jews and other people. The perfect Aryan race was, blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and fit, this was the race that Hitler was trying to build.
In the Hitler Youth, with the help of propaganda, Hitler was able to send the message across about how he wanted the boys to be strong, fit and tough whereas he wanted the girls to be healthy and strong mothers who knew about the importance of blood purity. All the people in the Hitler Youth were part of his perfect Aryan race that he believed would one day become the better race. This meant everyone in the Hitler Youth was, “slim and slender, swift as the greyhound, tough as leather and as strong as Krupp Steel. By the time the Hitler-Jugend was 18, they were trained to be elite at most things such as fitness levels. It was then that Hitler used the Hitler Youth to go kill the Jews; this resulted in the death of millions of Jews. In conclusion, the Hitler Youth was very successful in promoting Nazi ideology through various was such as propaganda speeches, marches, posters and education. The effectiveness of the Hitler Youth Movement as an institution promoting Nazi ideology was shown through many ways such as, how there were a total of 7. million members in the Hitler Youth by 1939, or how the perfect Aryan race was used to kill millions of Jews. Bibliography Leitz, Christian & James, Harold. The Third Reich. Blackwell Pub, Europe, 1999. Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. Routledge, London & New York, 2002. Bytwerk, Randal L. Bending Spines: The propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Public. Michigan State University Press, America, 2004. http://www. historyplace. com/worldwar2/hitleryouth/hj-prelude. htm ——————————————- [ 2 ]. Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. Routledge, London & New York, 2002. [ 3 ]. According to the Google translator (www. translate. google. com/#) [ 4 ]. Leitz, Christian & James, Harold. The Third Reich. Blackwell Pub, Europe, 1999. [ 5 ]. http://www. ushmm. org/propaganda/assets/images/500x/poster-hitler-youth.jpg [ 6 ]. http://www. historyplace. com/worldwar2/hitleryouth/hj-prelude. htm [ 7 ]. Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. Routledge, London & New York, 2002.
