The Hitler Youth was created to mold German boys into ideal Aryan men, educated, trained, and imbued with Nazi principles. A parallel organization was set up to mold German girls into ideal Aryan women and wives. Within a few years of Hitler’s coming to power, most German children from ages ten to eighteen were enrolled in the Nazi Party’s youth organizations. Membership was made appealing, but despite the temptations, backstopped by pressure and coercion for those reluctant to join, not all kids were eager to toe the totalitarian line and goose step alongside their peers. Below are eighteen fascinating facts about the Nazi youth organizations, most notably the Hitler Youth, and the brave children who refused to go along with the indoctrination program.
18. The Brainwashing of Children
Among the many crimes of the Third Reich, not least among them is how it went about the mass indoctrination of innocent German children, to turn them into obedient and hate-filled cogs in a monstrous machine. However, not all German children accepted accept the fare fed them by the Nazis, and some of them adamantly refused to just go along. In a mixture of youthful courage, and teenagers being teenagers and wanting to express their individuality, some German youngsters, who came to be known as the “Edelweiss Pirates”, bucked the system and defined themselves in opposition to the Nazis.
