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Product Description
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. Hitler's programme of 'Gleichschaltung' was designed to bring the whole of German society into line with Nazi aims; even the youngest children were moulded into willing recruits of Nazism. Millions of young people were dazzled by the oratory about 'Blood and Soil' and 'Lebensraum', and by fanatical racism. Relied on as enthusiastic support forces, they were also willing cannon-fodder. The small minority that resisted the fascination of the Nazi regime became outcasts - marginalised and persecuted. But Germany's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 shattered all illusions, exposing the true horrors of the Third Reich hidden from the German people. Following the successful style adopted in Hitler's Henchmen, Guido Knopp presents the shocking and personal accounts of former Hitler Youth members. He draws on an i
About the Author
Dr Guido Knopp is head of history and current affairs at ZDF, Germany's second national television channel, and has received numerous awards for his documentaries and texts. He was also editor of the 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeiutung', and later foreign editor of the 'Welt am Sonntag'. His books include 'Hitler's Henchmen' and 'Hitler's Holocaust' (Sutton)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an excellent and surprisingly moving book. The author takes us inside the minds of young people in Hitler's Germany and explains how they were seduced and destroyed by the Nazis. Numerous quotations from survivors, plus documents from the time, bring these people alive. The book is based on a TV series of the same name - "Hitler's Children" - which was produced by the same author. You can find it on YouTube - six 50-minute episodes. It's interesting to read this book and watch the TV series, then view the film 'Napola' (English version 'Before the Fall'). The movie is a fictional drama set inside one of Hitler's elite military academies. But it's based on fact. If you read this book and look at the TV series you can see where the film-maker got some of his ideas from. The book, TV series and the film are highly recommended. All leave us with a question that's difficult to answer - What would you have done if you were a young person in Hitler's Germany?
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Great book for all people interested in history .I read other books by the same author and his knowledge of Nazis and German history is just stunning.
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2 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
"Unwelcome Indoctrination of Youth"
12 Aug 2005
Format:Paperback
"Hitler's Children", Guido Knopp, UK, Sutton Pub., 2002 ISBN 0-7509-2732-1, HC, 284 pgs., & 6 pg. Index, 9 1/2" x 6 1/4".
Formerly "Hitler's Kinder", Munich, auf Deutsche 2000, it is an arrant discourse on the education of German children of Nazi regimine. There are 30 excellent B/W photos plus 7 page Intro. which follows the education/educational systems for German youth growing up in the 1930's & 1940's. Details are provided in 5 provocatively titled chapters: - 1-Seduction, 2-Submission, 3-Bloodstock, 4-War, & 5-Sacrifice.
A child, in 1936, at age 10 was seduced into Jungvolk (girls as Jungmaedel) & after training "graduated", earning sheath knife engraved "Meine Ehre heisst Treue" as official "Deutsches Jungvolk". Annually, new crops of ten-year-olds were dedicated to the Fueherer on his birthday, April 20th. At ages 14-18 lads joined Hitlerjugend (HJ) as Hitler Youths overseen by Baldur von Schurach, whilst girls entered Bund Deutscher Maeder (BDM), League of German Lasses. In 1937 Adolph Hitler Schools, under Robert Ley & Schurach, were devised along with special colleges, Ordensburgen.
This book used more than 1000 interviews, & contains many quotations from populace living at the time. The methodology of applied propaganda was eerily assimilated by youth, moreso than parents, - it involved using simple Boy Scout tactics (hiking, camping & campfires, singing, chanting) & athletic competitions;
pseudo-religious allegiances; instilling fear of hostile countries that pillaged, raped, etc.; & dangers of polluted blood lines (Jews, Gypsies, etc.) & attraction of uniforms, insignia, ribbons, flags, parades, marching bands & hierarchy of heroes.
Allegiance was instilled to Fueherer, Volk & Vaterland (Leader - People - Nation) as national socialism along lines of "Father - Son - & Holy Ghost". Progressively, religion was replaced by nationalism (holidays, etc.). Teachings were three-fold at Hitler schools: 5 years spent on character building & racial philosophy, 2 years in military or labor services, & a few years in specialized teachings as administration, diplomacy, etc. Only the "fittest" were chosen & promoted, a pyramidal selection: - some were trained to command in the new German World Empire as military commanders or Gauleiter.
Closure of WW2 saw progressive decimation of tens of thousands of German youths, ages 10 to 16, in the blitzkriegs & front lines ever worsening to the final days of Nazi defeat & Hitler's death on April 30, 1945 (suicide by cyanide & SIGSW to head). The book is somewhat choppy, has minor flaws instilled with translation, a few repititions & redundancies only apparent on careful reading. It is a good read, well indexed.
Formerly "Hitler's Kinder", Munich, auf Deutsche 2000, it is an arrant discourse on the education of German children of Nazi regimine. There are 30 excellent B/W photos plus 7 page Intro. which follows the education/educational systems for German youth growing up in the 1930's & 1940's. Details are provided in 5 provocatively titled chapters: - 1-Seduction, 2-Submission, 3-Bloodstock, 4-War, & 5-Sacrifice.
A child, in 1936, at age 10 was seduced into Jungvolk (girls as Jungmaedel) & after training "graduated", earning sheath knife engraved "Meine Ehre heisst Treue" as official "Deutsches Jungvolk". Annually, new crops of ten-year-olds were dedicated to the Fueherer on his birthday, April 20th. At ages 14-18 lads joined Hitlerjugend (HJ) as Hitler Youths overseen by Baldur von Schurach, whilst girls entered Bund Deutscher Maeder (BDM), League of German Lasses. In 1937 Adolph Hitler Schools, under Robert Ley & Schurach, were devised along with special colleges, Ordensburgen.
This book used more than 1000 interviews, & contains many quotations from populace living at the time. The methodology of applied propaganda was eerily assimilated by youth, moreso than parents, - it involved using simple Boy Scout tactics (hiking, camping & campfires, singing, chanting) & athletic competitions;
pseudo-religious allegiances; instilling fear of hostile countries that pillaged, raped, etc.; & dangers of polluted blood lines (Jews, Gypsies, etc.) & attraction of uniforms, insignia, ribbons, flags, parades, marching bands & hierarchy of heroes.
Allegiance was instilled to Fueherer, Volk & Vaterland (Leader - People - Nation) as national socialism along lines of "Father - Son - & Holy Ghost". Progressively, religion was replaced by nationalism (holidays, etc.). Teachings were three-fold at Hitler schools: 5 years spent on character building & racial philosophy, 2 years in military or labor services, & a few years in specialized teachings as administration, diplomacy, etc. Only the "fittest" were chosen & promoted, a pyramidal selection: - some were trained to command in the new German World Empire as military commanders or Gauleiter.
Closure of WW2 saw progressive decimation of tens of thousands of German youths, ages 10 to 16, in the blitzkriegs & front lines ever worsening to the final days of Nazi defeat & Hitler's death on April 30, 1945 (suicide by cyanide & SIGSW to head). The book is somewhat choppy, has minor flaws instilled with translation, a few repititions & redundancies only apparent on careful reading. It is a good read, well indexed.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
It was all so 'normal' at the time...
2 Aug 2006
Format:Paperback
This book shows how the Nazi State provided a veneer of normality to its militant racist indoctrination of German youth - and how it achieved it primarily by absorbing and 'coordinating' the groups and youth leadership already in place. The chilling aspect is that it all happened so quickly (within very few years of Hitler taking power) and with very little resistance from ordinary citizens.
Knopp uses interviews with Germans who lived through those times to bring the story to life and to illustrate this themes: seduction, submission, bloodstock, war and sacrifice. It is this last which demonstrates how hollow was Hitler's vision for Germany's youth when many tens of thousands of children ended up being sent to a senseless death in the dying months and weeks of the Third Reich.
If nothing else, this book highlights how easy it is to subvert the natural exhuberance and enthusiasm of youth to any end, even if it is self-destructive. Knopp's writing style is easy to read and I found myself drawn on to find out what happened to these children-turned under-age warriors in the final devastation of the Nazi empire.
Knopp uses interviews with Germans who lived through those times to bring the story to life and to illustrate this themes: seduction, submission, bloodstock, war and sacrifice. It is this last which demonstrates how hollow was Hitler's vision for Germany's youth when many tens of thousands of children ended up being sent to a senseless death in the dying months and weeks of the Third Reich.
If nothing else, this book highlights how easy it is to subvert the natural exhuberance and enthusiasm of youth to any end, even if it is self-destructive. Knopp's writing style is easy to read and I found myself drawn on to find out what happened to these children-turned under-age warriors in the final devastation of the Nazi empire.
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