What was It Like to Be in Hitler Youth?

Описание: A certain narrowly moustachioed political leader in 20th Century Germany had some very clear ideas on how to educate children and young adults. In his own words: ‘My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be hammered away … A youth will grow up, before which the world will tremble. I want a brutal, domineering, fearless, cruel youth.’

As per their physical characteristics, young Germans were thusly ideally: ‘As swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp steel.’

Such was the ideology behind the creation of the Hitler Youth. Like other Nazi Party organisations, it was an invasive, pervasive and persuasive force. And one of the most important to Hitler’s goals for the nation. With the man himself stating in 1935, “He alone who owns the youth gains the future.”

At its peak, the Hitler Youth counted more than 7 million children aged 10 to 18, whose hearts and minds had been shaped by constant indoctrination, propaganda and military-like drills.

But how did this movement first emerge and become one of the largest and most recognisable institutions within the Third Reich? And for that matter, what was it actually like to be in the Hitler Youth and what did they get up to in the various stages of the rise of the Nazis, and then later during WWII?

This is an abridged version of a video on our channel TodayIFoundOut which you can check out and subscribe to here:    / @todayifoundout