Most of the rerferences I can find about the Hitler Youth focus on what the group did during the period of Nazi power. After the defeat of Germany, the group was officially disbanded.
But by that point, Nazis had spent some 20 years indoctrinating young people. The youngest of them would be in their mid-70s by now. I have a hard time believing that it was so easy for them to renounce the teachings of their childhood.
So what has been the overall social effect on Germany of Hitler’s lasting legacy?
One of my father’s colleagues was a former member of Hitler Youth. He emigrated to the US, taught German, and spoke about WWII in many documentaries and on the lecture circuit. I know he felt remorseful and used. My guess is that a lot of former Hitler youth blended back into society and led normal lives.
Look for the PBS documentary “Memories of a Hitler Youth”. It features prominently a man who was a proud member of the HY and now speaks about the great evil that it caused by brainwashing children.
Unless I’m mistaken, membership of the Hitler Youth was compulsory, or virtually so, so pretty much the whole of the generation concerned would have been members. Hard to disentangle, then, the consequences of membership of the Hitler Youth from the broader consequences of growing up during the Nazi era.
My WAG, for what it’s worth, is that the long-term consequences may not have been that great. Precisely because membership was more or less universal, there would have been lots of kids who weren’t enthusiastic about Naziism, or who were from families that weren’t enthusiastic, or who were basically indifferent. There would probably have been space within the movement for kids who were happy to play sports and go camping, and let the “God, honour, Volk” stuff pass them by.
Besides, what was the commitment to the Hitler Youth? A couple of hours a week? Compared to the influences of home, school and peer-group I can’t see the Hitler Youth being <i>that</I> formative.
There are limits to indoctrination as well. Having seen the rule of Hitler lead to the death of millions of their countrymen, the desemation and division of their country, and thier people held up as the example of evil in the rest of the world for generations, I would imagine that the teachings in the Hitler Youth are pretty much discredited for most/all of the former members, even if it was very convincing at the time.
If anything, I would guess that most of them are more wary then the average person of similar tactics being used again on the youth of today. I wonder what the Hitler Youth think of the Boy Scouts, for example?
This is the experience of the father of a friend of mine. He was in Germany at the time (though he was actually Hungarian), and was “drafted” into the Hitler Youth, whether he wanted to be or not. He took it with a grain of salt, seeing it as a chance to play soccer, go camping, and do other Scout-like pursuits. Of course, the Scouts had been outlawed.
Was he a Nazi? No.
After leaving Germany in the wake of WWII, he spent the remainder of his years here in Canada, as a professional horticulturist. His son (my buddy) went on to become a member of the Canadian Armed Forces–and his Dad cheered him on every step of the way.
I think it’s better to compare Hitlerjugend with the Freie Deutsche Jugend, the East German semi-compulsory youth group. After the collapse of the East German state, all those years of indoctrination, even through those innocent, vulnerable years of youth, evaporated as if it were nothing. Speak to any middle-aged citizen who lived through the DDR’s collapse. It didn’t affect their psyches so deeply that they’re still somehow craving socialism (in a deep-rooted, psychological way, I mean) or trying to subvert their society to fit their childhood implanted ideas. I can only assume that the same could be said of the Hitlerjugend. Such propagandizing youth groups, I believe, are highly ineffective, and highly cost-<b>in</b>effective.
Have any of you heard of Wolfgang Borchert? The playwright and poet? He was in Hitlerjugend and managed to get out of it. Hitlerjugend wasn’t TOTALLY compulsory, nor was the FDJ. Borchert went on to own a bookstore and then he was drafted into the eastern front. Leaving the Hitlerjugend probably left Borchert disadvantaged, but the same could be expected from someone who wanted to leave the FDJ or Pioneers (another youth group).
Remember, though, I’m only comparing Hitlerjugend with FDJ. The natures of Nazi and East German society, Stasi and Gestapo, were TOTALLY different.
My uncle was in the Hitlerjugend. (His little brother, my father, was too young to join.) From family stories, I infer that he was an enthusiastic member, then a disillusioned dropout, then a normal husband and father, and now a basically nice person with a penchant for anti-American rants. Par for the course in Germany, I’d expect.
From what my father told about his time in the Hitler Youth (HJ) it was what you did at a particular age, like enrolling in confirmation class at about the same age. (the town my father grew up in was pretty rural and conservative, and it was expected that you entered both activities at a given age). It seems to have been activities like in the other youth organizations (which had been abolished), plus some paramilitary training which of course appealed to adolescent boys’ sense of adventure. HJ functionaries seem to have known better than to overdose the boys with boring politicial theory.
His HJ time was almost seamlessly followed by RAD (Reich Labour Service) conscription (digging for public works and such), AA gun and, at 18, and military service. For those a bit younger than him HJ led immediately to digging fortifications and such - no nice camping memories for thhem.
A classmate of mine has a german mother and his grandmother was very concerned about his joining the Boy Scouts due to its perceived similarities with the Hitler Youth.