11. A Dark Version of the Boy Scouts
In December, 1936, membership in the Hitler Youth was made mandatory for all Aryan youth. In March of 1939, children were conscripted en masse into the organization, regardless of whether their parents consented or objected. In 1940, a year into WWII, the Hitler Youth were reorganized into an auxiliary force to perform war duties. Chapters became active in local fire brigades and in recovery efforts after Allied bombing raids, helped deliver the mail. They also directly assisted the military, such as with service alongside antiaircraft gun batteries. As the war dragged on and losses mounted, Germany faced a growing military manpower shortage. So in 1943, the Hitler Youth was tapped as a manpower reserve, and a plan was approved for the formation of an SS division comprised of Hitler Youth.
The resultant unit, the 12th SS Panzer Hitler Youth Division, fought in Normandy in 1944, where it gained a reputation for ferocious fanaticism. As Germany’s situation grew more dire, the Nazis increasingly turned to their youth organization. By 1945, Volkssturm units – the Nazi militias – were routinely drafting twelve-year-old old Hitler Youth members into their ranks. As the curtain fell on the Third Reich, Hitler Youth units played a conspicuous role in the last days of the Battle of Berlin. They fought so ferociously for their namesake that only two members of a children’s unit that manned the Nazis’ last line of defense survived.
