Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'SS Daggers', 'Waffen SS', 'SS, Nazi Uniforms', 'Nazi Helmets'.

Hitlerjugend leader Otto Duscheleit - Collect stories of former Nazis before they die off
In 1943 Otto Ernst Duscheleit, a Hitler Youth leader, got the call: Join the Waffen-SS or be sent to a penal battalion. He would spend 2 years on the front, setting Russian villages ablaze during the retreat of German forces. 40 years later, Duscheleit had a dream in which he was called an "SS pig." The former Nazi began to reflect on his past. Overcome by shame, he started sharing his story. He is often confronted by right-wing youths. "One young man came to me and said, 'How can you speak that way as a former SS man and Hitler Youth leader?' I answered, 'I have learned something since then.'"     [ jewishsf :: 2008-05-03 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

A child of Hitler: Growing up in the Third Reich - Blood and Honor
In Nazi Germany childhood ended at the age of 10, with admission to the Jungvolk, the junior branch of the Hitler Youth. From that time on we children became the political soldiers of the Third Reich. On April 20, 1938, Hitler's 49th birthday, I joined the Jungvolk. I could hardly wait to give my oath of eternal loyalty to the Führer and get the dagger with "Blut und Ehre" (Blood and honor) engraved on it. Even more exciting, I was one of two 10-year-olds who would represent our district Jungvolk at the Nuremberg Party Congress. ... The Panzer officer who inspected our Hitler Youth formation was a Colonel Erwin Rommel; 5 years later he would be a field marshal.     [ thephoenix :: 2008-01-31 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

The Reich's youngest Nazi Mascot in miniature SS uniform with insignia
Alex Kurzem has kept a lonely secret. As a 5yo boy he had witnessed the massacre of villagers, among them his mother, baby brother and sister. He escaped into woods where he lived by scavenging from dead bodies, until he was found and handed to Latvian police who "adopted" him as a mascot. When the battalion was changed to a Nazi SS unit, it had a miniature uniform made for him, complete with the SS insignia and pistol. He was paraded for newsreels as "the Reich's youngest Nazi" and taken to the Russian front with his squad watching atrocity after atrocity. "The Mascot: The Extraordinary Story of a Young Jewish Boy and an SS Extermination Squad" by Mark Kurzem.     [ telegraph :: 2007-06-15 :: Children of WWII Wartime ]

English boy in the Hitler Youth - "one of the happiest of my life"
Abandoned in Nazi Germany English boy Paul Briscoe joined the Hitler Youth. Only when he came to Britain did he confront his guilt, and discover his mother's was even greater - Besotted with Nazism, she returned to Britain to spy for the Nazis. "I joined the Hitler Youth. I was the proudest boy alive when I first put on my black shorts and brown shirt and made a solemn oath that dedicated the rest of my life to the Fuhrer." In a box are happy memories: An old photograph of a little boy in lederhosen, his Hitler Youth registration book with its faded ink stamp of the Miltenberg Nazi Party. "even now I think the day I was issued with it was one of the happiest of my life".     [ dailymail :: 2007-04-21 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

An autobiography by former Hitler youth soldier Hilmar von Campe
"How Was it Possible?" is an autobiography by Hitler youth and German soldier Hilmar von Campe, describing his life and remorse as an active participant in the greatest tragedy of the twentieth century. Von Campe lived through years of Nazi power and brain-washing. After WWII he came to grips with his own contribution to the Nazi atrocities, and why something like that could have happened, while the world looked the other way. "I had thought that as a soldier I was fighting for my country, but I came to realize that in reality I was fighting for the immoral purposes of a bunch of gangsters," von Campe says.     [ mmdnewswire :: 2007-03-28 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

Fury at Hitler Youth uniform sale - with a swastika-daubed sword
The Royal British Legion has criticised an antiques shop for selling a Hitler Youth uniform and displaying it in the window. But staff have hit back, saying that the outfit was "harmless" and had attracted a lot of interest. The store is offering the genuine black cloth uniform, complete with a swastika-daubed sword, for £1,850. It is one of many items of Nazi memorabilia on sale. Behind the cash desk hangs a portrait of Hitler - also for sale. The Hitler Youth (HitlerJugend) was a paramilitary organisation that paved the way for German youngsters to join the Nazi party.     [ thisislancashire :: 2007-03-08 :: Nazi Uniforms ]

Investigation: Czech soldiers killed 5 HitlerJugend boys post-war
Czech police have started the investigation into the murder of 5 German boys in Postoloporty, that took place after the end of World War Two in June 1945. Five members of the Hitlerjugend youth organisation were standing an honorary guard in the Postoloporty barracks. However, the boys aged 14-15 left the barracks. According to one version, they intended to escape and according to the other they just wanted to pick up fruit in an orchard behind the fence. However, the boys were caught and shot dead. They were evidently killed by Czech soldiers. In May 1945, 700-800 German men were shot dead in Postoloporty.     [ praguemonitor :: 2007-02-21 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

Manfred Schmellenkamp: In Hitler's army in the last days of Reich
"When I was 10, I joined the Hitler Youth like all boys did. Hitler Youth was comparable to Scouts. We camped... But we were indoctrinated politically. We were told that Germans are 'the' race, the English were all high-lipped, the French were all lovers and the Americans were all gangsters... We wore uniforms and worked on projects. ... When I was 18, everyone was drafted into the infantry, and I volunteered for the air force. I was shipped to the Mediterranean with the Luftwaffe. ... Our company commander said if we died, we were going to die for Fuhrer and Fatherland. I thought, not me."     [ wvgazette :: 2007-02-06 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

Neatly dressed and disciplined, Hitler Youth were a hit in Japan
The Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth), a paramilitary youth organization of Third Reich's Nazi Party, sent a delegation to Japan on the eve of World War II. The group stayed for 3 months and received a passionate welcome as it toured the nation, which strengthened its ties with Nazi Germany. On the morning of Oct. 7, 1938, members of the Hitler-Jugend stood in front of Yamada Station. The German youths raised their right hands in a Nazi salute in response to a throng of spectators who welcomed them with waving flags, and marched on to the shrine in perfect order. The Hitler-Jugend visited Japan again from Oct to Dec 1940.     [ asahi :: 2007-02-02 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

Man hid his true identity by enlisting in the Hitler Youth
An 81-year-old Jewish man who hid his identity by enlisting in the Hitler Youth was honoured at the German factory where he saw out the war. After fleeing to Russia from Lodz following the 1939 invasion of Poland, Solomon Perel was captured by the Nazis in 1941. But he was able to join the youth movement and secure employement at a plant which made military vehicles for the Third Reich. A plaque was unveiled at the VW factory commemorating his bravery. He said: "In the daytime, I acted like an enthusiastic member of the Hitler youth."     [ tj :: 2006-11-03 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

Nazi brainwashing started with Germany's youths
Hitler proved it. An organization can have a profound influence on what people believe. "Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow" shows photographs, facts, a number of stories and the means that the Nazi party used to mold the German youth through youth organizations, special activities and propaganda. One of the many means the Nazi party used to influence young people was the organization known as the HitlerJugend, formed in 1926 with 6,000 members. In a mere 13 years, it influenced a generation to an unbelievable degree. By 1939 HitlerJugend 7.3 million members had contributed greatly to the Nazi Army and Waffen-SS.     [ tucsoncitizen :: 2006-08-16 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

Story of Anton Geiser - assigned to the Nazi Waffen SS
Geiser has lived quietly in the US for 47 years. Nobody knew that he was a camp guard for the German army during World War II. Geiser, assigned to the Nazi Waffen SS, was so ashamed of his service that he kept it to himself. As a teenager he joined the German Youth: "If you didn't join the rest, you wouldn't be respected." He was 17 when he got a letter: The Nazis had ordered that all ethnic Germans serve in the German military. He traveled to Breslau and was issued a uniform and an 8 mm rifle with bayonet. Infantry training included use of a rifle, machine gun, pistol and hand grenades, and marching. The new soldiers also attended classes in Nazi ideology.     [ sharonherald :: 2006-06-05 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Massacre in Velke Mezirici - A commando from Hitlerjugend
South Bohemian police have ascertained the circumstances of a massacre that occurred at the end of WW2 in Velke Mezirici. The findings would help police uncover persons responsible for the massacre. However, this will not be enough putting the perpetrators to trial since it is still necessary to question possible eye-witnesses living in Germany. During the massacre that happened on May 7, 1945, 63 people died. At the time when the war ended at most places in Europe a commando of young people from Hitlerjugend decided to punish people who joined the new local authorities.     [ praguemonitor :: 2006-03-04 :: Wehrmacht: German Armed Forces ]

Hitler Youth: An Interview with Michael H. Kater
The media reported that Cardinal Ratzinger had been a member of the Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugend). Is it significant that he was a member? Not as such, because after 1939 every child above 10 up to 18 was forced to join. -- Why did Hitler create the Hitler Youth? He was persuaded before 1933 that in order for the Party and the National Socialist movement to continue they needed recruits. Those had to be reared in good time and systematically. -- Did anybody refuse to join the Hitler Youth? In severe cases, when they did not join and went in for physical attacks on the Hitler Youth (Edelweisspiraten) they could be arrested and put in a special youth concentration camp.     [ hnn :: 2005-05-23 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

From HitlerJugend to the Vatican
The first German pope for nearly 1,000 years comes from Bavaria. His father was a police officer whose career suffered because he refused to become a Nazi. The young Ratzinger served briefly and unenthusiastically with the Hitler Youth and later with a German army anti-aircraft unit guarding the BMW factory in Munich. Ratzinger has defended himself from criticism of his war record by claiming - not strictly truthfully - that he could not have avoided military service in the circumstances. Others did and maybe he could have used his training in a seminary to dodge the call-up. In April 1945 he deserted, briefly becoming a prisoner of war.     [ guardian :: 2005-05-20 :: Secret History of Vatican & HitlerJugend Pope ]

HitlerJugend Messenger - Memoirs From Hitler's Bunker
He was a high-flying member of the Hitler Youth, just 16 years old and one of the youngest, proudest occupants of the Fuhrer's bunker. Armin Lehmann, brought up to idolise Hitler, revelled in his duties as a courier for the German High Command in the WW2. In April 1945, he was chosen to run messages between the radio room below the party Chancellery and Hitler's secret underground bunker in Berlin. He had distributed Hitler's last orders not to surrender. "It never entered my mind, even then, as the bombs rained down, that we would lose," said Lehmann, whose frank memoirs In Hitler's Bunker: A Boy Soldier's Eyewitness Account of the Fuhrer's Last Days have been published in Germany.     [ rense :: 2004-02-28 :: Last days & final hours in Berlin führerbunker ]

Hitler Youth Movement
Immediately after Adolf Hitler was given dictatorial powers he ordered that either youth organizations join the Nazi's or disband. Hitler Youth Movement were under the power of Baldur Von Schirach. He set up age brackets as well as a Hitlers youth for girls called the BDM (Bund Deutcher Madel - League of German Girls). The age brackets for boys were from 10 to 14 in the jungvolk, and the boys from 14 to 18 were in the HJ (Hitler Jugend). The girls had their age brackets as well: the young girls from 10 to 14 were in the Jungmadel, and the girls from 14 to 18 were in the actual BDM.     [ wowessays :: 2000-07-30 :: HitlerJugend - Hitler Youth ]

See also

'SS Daggers'

'Waffen SS'

'SS, Nazi Uniforms'

'Nazi Helmets'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2008. All rights reserved.