Literature Review
Literature Review
Hitler Youth presents a comprehensive account of HitlerJugend by revisiting the origin of the idea of the HitlerJugend and the situation in the pre-WWII. The book describes the interwar time in the Weimar Republic. The author of this book notes that there existed numerous youth leagues of varied types that joined to change the national politics. Particularly, he argues that these leagues provided the foundation for the establishment of the Hitlerjugend, the league that caused a great impact on the national politics. Kater provides an exclusive review of the governance and the objectives of the Nazi Youth Leadership. He explains how the Nazi leadership made the youth or German Boys admire the ideas of camping, uniforms, songs, marches and the rifle-shooting practice. On the other hand, the book highlights that German girls were also nurtured to embrace the Nazi propaganda of Aryan superiority. However, in contrast to the boys of Hitler, the girls were nurtured to be good wives and friends of the boys of Hitler Youth. Kater states that the girls of Hitler were made to embrace the guideline that their major role in the Nazi regime included bearing as many children as possible with the Aryan men of German.
Hitler Youth also highlights the rise of the “dissidents and Rebels” who later worked together to challenge the Nazi regime. Besides, being aware that dissidence during the Nazi regime was suicidal, few youth groups challenged the regime and refused to embrace their ideology. The book further discusses the experience of the Hitler’s Youth during the war time. It particularly focuses on the leadership duties attained by the Hitlerjugend leaders when they aged. The author accounts that, younger and younger Hitler Boys and Girls were recruited into the war and assigned top positions as the war progressed. Accordingly, the book attributes the gross Nazi War crimes to this cultured young leadership that could go a mile in promoting and safeguarding the Nazi propaganda.
The Hilter Youth: Origins and Development 1922-1945 presents a study of the Nazi youth groups. The book discusses the ideas of the patriotism, comradeship and rejection of the industrial society that Koch experienced when serving as a Hitler Youth. The author acknowledges that these values were appallingly misused. Koch argues that Freikorps predecessors of the Nazi saved the Weimar Republic, and explains how the Hitler Youth developed during 1920’. The book defends the Hitler Youth groups by claiming that they were not political paramilitary organizations or groups of anti-Semitic Boy Scouts. Koch further explores the 19th-century anti-enlightenment aspects and the literary elements of the Nazi organizations. In essence, the book highlights how this enlightenment promoted the establishment of a powerful Nazi force that protected the Weimar Republic.
Koch notes that the Nazi groups received a lot of instruction on the racial lore and the party’s mythology. However, the groups were fed on little information regarding direct political and ideological coaching. The book focuses on the development and progression of the Nazism from the prior anti-Semitism and nationalism. The scholar, however, observes that the Hitler’s youth movements disrupted family ties and intercommunity relations. Koch apprehends the patriotism and the courage of Hitler and the Hitler Youth. Critics have marked this book as sympathetic, criticizing it for attempting to justify some ideologies and practices assumed by the Nazi regime.
Bibliography
Kater, Michael H. Hitler Youth. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2004.
Koch, H. W. The Hitler Youth: Origins and Development 1922-1945. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2000.
