Hitler's Children

by Guido Knopp

Hitler's Third Reich was responsible for the betrayal and exploitation of an entire generation. Even today, some former members of the Nazi youth organisations are unable to come to terms with the part they played in Germany's dark past. This book is the first comprehensive history of the youth organisations used by the Third Reich to indoctrinate the young people of Germany.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Germany, 20th Century, War

291 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Guido Knopp is a German journalist and author. He is well known in Germany, mainly because he has produced a great number of TV documentaries, predominantly about the Nazi era, but also about other topics, such as Stalinism.

Reviews

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting insight into how Hitler conned a nation and easy to see how there are still lasting effects of the regime today. However, the style makes it a hard read.

[Ushan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As is well known, children in the Third Reich were brainwashed with Nazi ideology starting from the kindergarten. They were taught to love Hitler more than anyone; after the Fall of Berlin, a file cabinet was found in the Reich Chancellery with letters to Hitler from ordinary Germans; many were from women who asked the Fuehrer to marry them or offered to have a child by him. There was much brainwashing in ordinary schools, but even more in special elite boarding schools, which concentrated on building the character and leadership skills of the children at the expense of the academics; many of their graduates went on to have excellent careers in the Federal Republic of Germany, both in the Bundeswehr and in the private sector. In addition to schooling, National Socialist consciousness of the youths was upheld by the Hitler Youth; a phrase "I don't want to join the Hitler Youth because I want to be a free human being" could land a young man in a concentration camp. In Hamburg, there were some "swing kids": children of rich parents who wore hats, scarves, vests and neckties, played jazz music, danced and kissed girls; after they were caught, they were tortured by the Gestapo and sent to concentration camps or penal battalions. And of course much effort was expended on making good soldiers from German youths: as the war wore on and Germany was losing it, the draft age was progressively lowered, so by the end many 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds fought. They fought bravely, being too young to fear death. In February 1945, two Hitler Youths, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, were dropped behind the American lines with a radio; the next day the Americans captured them and in June 1945, executed them.

When I was a kid, we called the Soviet Young Pioneers "Breschnewjugend"; I wonder if, had Germany won the war, as she very well could have, the Hitler Youth would have degenerated into something as insincere as the Soviet Young Pioneers of the 1980s.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. As I always found interesting how our minds react towards what we believe is correct or what we love, this book could not be any better for me.
Politics have always been , and will always be in my opinion, a dangerous field. Throughout this book, Hitler's goal was clear and he knew exactly how to achieve it. "Kids are the future" could not be better portrayed. Hitler "educated", more like trained, kids as young soldiers, giving them privileges that not even adults had, making them feel important. In that way he bought their loyalty, allowing his ideal to endure long after his death.
I found it bit hard to read because the book contains testimonies of people from that generation. I had to put the book down and process the information a couple of times, not believing the fascination those kids had for his "God".
It is easy to judge other people's decisions without putting yourself in their shoes. By reading these kind of books you can't help but reflect, learning from Hitler's generation.

[Ptichka_schebetunya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Эта книжка написана известным немецким писателем. Наверное, он в Германии известен, я еще книжек этого автора не читала)В ней он описывает иторию и деятельность Гитлерюгенда. 

Когда видел кадры из Аусвенцима, Бухенвальда, Аушвица,  видел эти тракторы, ворочащие тела, мерзкие рожи надзирателей, читал про опыты над беременными девушками, о зверствах солдат над мирным населением,  уже трудно чему-то удивляться.  Было страшно читать про то, что людей спешно везли в лагеря смерти, уже зная о проигранной войне. 
Как же им хотелось уничтожить, растоптать... 

12-летние дети, идущие в атаку, с криками о смерти во славу гитлера*...Удивительно было читать воспоминания людей, которые прошли через промывку мозгов нациских палачей. Дети, которые "стали подарком гитлеру". Которые маршировали на плацу до потери сознания, доносили на родителей, ходили босиком летом для экономии, хотели умереть за Родину.  Дети, которым внушали,-если любишь, то умри за своего вождя.  А любить его было обязательно. 

Это так отвратительно!!!Многие взрослые только после окончания войны стали воспринимать действительность адекватно, чувствуя себя обманутыми,несчастными... ну а дети чувствовали себя обманутыми еще больше. 
У них не было альтернативы выбора, не было радости детства.  Только лишения и фанатизм.  В школе учебная программа ограничивалась малым набором предметов. Самыми важными были физкультура и история НСДАП, великии легенды и саги имперской Германии, строевая подготовка. Все предметы (георграфия, биология, немецкий язык) корректировались с учётом нужд нацистов. Школьные учителя проповедовали антисимизм и расписывали учеников на "арийский тип номер один, номер два, фальский, нордический тип"...Одной из тем для сочинений была:"как путём стерилизации уничтожить элементы крови, грозящие расовой чистоте".
Думать не следовало. Только выполнять. 
Сколько ненависти, злости, жестокости. Дети, рождённые для войны. Взрослым же внушали, что нужно рожать как можно больше детей, которые станут солдатами. Не людей и не личностей хотел видеть гитлер. Солдат.
Я читала и содрагалась. 

*знаю, что именна/фамилии пишут с большой буквы) Категорически не хочу так писать фамилию этого духовного урода и психопата.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Con la lectura de esta obra uno puede conocer cómo se formó y educó a los futuros superhombres de la raza aria, y cómo fue ser joven esos años en Alemania, es decir entre 1933 y 1945. Se detalla cómo funcionaban las juventudes hitlerianas, la liga de Muchachas Alemanas y otros organismos o asociaciones que servían para adoctrinar y preparar a esa generación para formar parte en el futuro del ejército.

El relato es ameno, matizando el análisis con la transcripción de recuerdos de los jóvenes y los niños que tuvieron que vivir/sufrir aquel período histórico. Por momentos uno se pierde con la cantidad de datos que se facilitan: nombres de ciudades, personajes, nombres de colegios, asociaciones que existían en ese momento, etc. Pero es comprensible cuando se tiene entre manos una obra rigurosa que detalla en profundidad esta materia de La Segunda Guerra Mundial.

[Purple Osprey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Познавательно, но не понравился стиль изложения, все как-то сумбурно и взахлеб.

[Iida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tämä oli vaikea lukea. Enimmäkseen sisältönsä puolesta, mutta teksti oli kyllä paikoitellen vähän sekavaa sitaattien kanssa.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is not that this book is bad, it is just limited, although it may not have been written as a tie-in for a tv show it might as well have been. I don't want to say that the only thing worth reading about the Nazi's and their world, or rather the world they created, are books by proper historians, but there are so many good books, very readable books, by authors, to name but one, like Michael Burleigh, who strip bare the reality of the Nazis so brilliantly, so devastatingly, so shockingly and so well written, that it is a shame to waste time on this sort of book. But if you aren't going to try something, maybe a tiny bit challenging, or if this is your introduction to the horrors of that period then go ahead. It is neither completely bad nor is it misleading - but you could get so much more from so many other books.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into the use of Youth Organizations to indoctrinate children into the national socialist fever.
This is not a text books. It gives personal, moving, and interesting stories.
Read this. It brings sympathy and understanding to a generation entrenched in a cause it only later understood. This book is sad, but anyone who doubts the influence of youth groups on young people should read this.

[Declan Huerta · Rating 4 out of 5]

La manipulación de los niños y los jóvenes en el nazismo. Cuando el estado desprecia al hombre y la familia, arrancándole la educación de sus hijos con un fin aterrador. Es una monografía centrada en las Juventudes Hitlerianas, de muy interesante lectura.

[Cristhian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las juventudes y los niños que daban la vida por el führer, por su nación, aun cuando no tenían idea de lo que pasaba, pero eran instruidos por padres, familiares, escuela y sociedad para pensar y actuar así.

Debe ser uno de los experimentos sociológicos más grandes de todos los tiempos.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A revealing book about the nazi programme of brainwashing children, based on interviews of former Hitler youth. Suffers from repetition.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to further my understanding of Hitler and the German nation of the time. Really interesting, especially the views of those children now.

[Trilce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro testimonio del reclutamiento de jóvenes que sirvieron a un ideal colectivo, en especifico, al movimiento Nazi.