15. The Mass Indoctrination of German Youths
At the end of 1932, the Hitler Youth numbered 108,000. By the end of 1933, the Nazis’ first year in power, their ranks had shot up to 2,300,000, or roughly 30% of Germans aged ten to eighteen. Hitler’s regime wanted the Nazi Party to take charge of all of Germany’s youngsters, and saw other youth organizations as competitors. Early on, within its first year in power, Hitler’s government either incorporated or suppressed openly political youth organizations, depending on their compatibility or incompatibility with Nazi ideology. Apolitical and religious youth groups were allowed to linger on, and many of them lasted until the late 1930s. However, the writing was on the wall, as the Nazis kept up the pressure to unify all youth movements under their control. It was part of a society-wide process called Gleichschaltun, or “coordination”, which sought to impose conformity with Nazi ideology on all of Germany.
