The History Place - Hitler Youth: Chapter Index

The History Place - Hitler Youth

Above – Hitler Youths perform in the Hour of Commemoration in front of the town hall in Tomaszow, occupied Poland in 1941. Their flags bear the ancient Germanic Sig-Rune 'S' symbolic of victory.

"My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be hammered away. In my castles of the Teutonic Order a youth will grow up before which the world will tremble. I want a brutal, domineering, fearless, cruel youth. Youth must be all that. It must bear pain. There must be nothing weak and gentle about it. The free, splendid beast of prey must once again flash from its eyes...That is how I will eradicate thousands of years of human domestication...That is how I will create the New Order." – Adolf Hitler, 1933.

The Hitler Youth
Complete History in 5 Chapters

Related Audio Clips

Hitler Youth Anthem excerpt

The Fahnenlied (Banner Song) written by Hitler Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach, is sung here by Berlin Hitler Youth members, ending with the final refrain...

Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran
(Our banner flutters before us)
Unsere Fahne ist die neue Zeit
(Our banner represents the new era)
Und die Fahne führt uns in die Ewigkeit!
(And our banner leads us to eternity!)
Ja, die Fahne ist mehr als der Tod
(Yes, our banner means more to us than death)

Hitler speaks to top Nazi leaders about his Youth at the 1934 Nuremberg rally.

Translation: "It is our wish and will that this State and this Reich shall endure in the millenniums to come. We can be happy in the knowledge that this future belongs to us completely. (Applause) While the older generation could still waver, the younger generation has pledged itself to us and is ours, body and soul!" (Applause with shouts of "Hail Victory")

Schirach introduces the Führer to Hitler Youths assembled at the 1934 Nuremberg rally.

Translation: "At your command, my Führer, stands here a youth – a youth that does not know class and caste. Behind you, follows the young generation of our people. Because you are the greatest example of unselfishness in this nation, this young generation wants to be unselfish too. Because you embody the concept of fidelity for us, we want to be faithful too. Adolf Hitler the leader of the German youth and people." (Applause with shouts of "Hail")

Hitler then speaks to his Youths at the rally.

Translation: "We do not want this nation to become soft. Instead, it should be hard and you will have to harden yourselves while you are young. You must learn to accept deprivations without ever giving in. Regardless of whatever we create and do, we shall pass away, but in you, Germany will live on. And when nothing is left of us you will have to hold up the banner which some time ago we raised from nothing. (Applause) And I know it cannot be otherwise, because you are flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood, and your young minds are filled with the same will that dominates us. (Applause) You cannot be but united with us. And when the great columns of our movement march victoriously through Germany today I know that you will join these columns. And we know (Applause) that Germany is before us, within us, and behind us."

On another occasion, Hitler exhorts his Youth to be tough.

Translation: "In our eyes, the German boy of the future must be slim and slender, as fast as a greyhound, tough as leather and hard as Krupp steel."

Schirach at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (1946)

Translation: "I bear the guilt for having trained the young for a man who murdered millions. I believed in that man. That is all I can say in my defense."

Begin Reading:
The History Place - Hitler Youth: Chapter 1 - Beginnings to 1923

See also: The History Place - Adolf Hitler (62 chapters)
Part I - The Rise of Adolf Hitler
Part II - The Triumph of Hitler
Part III - The Defeat of Hitler
See also: The History Place - Personal Histories
From Hitler Youth to U.S. Air Force - Personal History of Hubert Schmidt

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