The children who fought for Hitler

THEY were just children. Some were as young as 12 and looked pathetic stand­ing there in full-sized uniforms and wearing helmets that were far too large.

Hitler shakes hands with 12 year old Alfred Czech after rewarding him the Iron Cross Hitler shakes hands with 12-year-old Alfred Czech after rewarding him the Iron Cross

Some held grimly on to rifles they barely knew how to shoot, while others just stood trembling with fear and crying. The threatening sound of Russian artillery could be heard clearly as the Soviet Army grew closer that morning of March 20, 1945.

For this was Berlin in the final, defiant weeks of the Second World War, before the Nazi regime that Hitler boasted would last for 1,000 years would be smashed.

And lined up that morning were some of the city’s last-ditch defenders – mere boys of the Hitler Youth, most of whom would soon die under Russian gunfire.

That morning, amid the chaos and the rubble, they would also come face to face with the man who gave them their very name. But it was difficult to believe the haggard figure, forcing a smile and shaking their hands, was the same person whose dynamic portrait had long dominated their lives.

Some looked puzzled, even horrified, as the Führer – his coat collar turned up and one arm shaking as a result of Parkinson’s disease – worked his way down the line of these doomed children. He mumbled words of encouragement before they were taken to help hold the city’s Pichelsdorf Bridge over the River Havel.

Most would perish that day. It was also the last time Hitler would be photographed before he committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.

The story of the Hitler Youth, known in German as Hitler-Jugend, is that of a calculated campaign to capture young German minds and indoctrinate them with Nazi principles.

It was the logical extension of Hitler’s belief that Germany’s future lay, not just in its militarism but in its children. He made it clear what he expected German children to be like: “The weak must be chiselled away,” he said, “I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as soft as leather and as hard as Krupp’s steel.”

A new book, Jungvolk: The Story Of A Boy Defending Hitler’s Third Reich, by Wilhelm Gehlen, tells what it was like being a member of the Hitler Youth. (The Jungvolk was a junior branch of the organisation for boys aged between 10 and 14.)

The author was well conn­ected: his uncle was major-­general Reinhard Gehlen, head of Hitler’s military intelligence on the Eastern Front, who would later be recruited by the US to set up a spy ring against Russia. Gehlen was eventually regarded as one of the most formidable spymasters in the West.

Life in the Hitler Youth was run on strict regimental lines as part of Hitler’s requirement that children play their part in securing a final victory for Germany.

School lessons, apart from the basic curriculum, also revolved around aircraft identification, collecting scrap, attending parades and holding inspections, as well as doing messenger and light anti-aircraft duties.

“In 1943, I was 10-years-old,” writes Wilhelm Gehlen, “and at the age of 10, we Jungvolk knew how to change the barrel on a 20mm gun. We loaded magazines and ran messages, often under fighter-bomber fire, between gun emplacements or the headquarters when telephone communications had been shot to ribbons.”

“He [the Jungvolk] knew where to take cover in the nearest foxhole. He stood steadfast by the light of the AAs [anti-aircraft guns], handing magazines to the loader, when around him all hell was breaking loose. It was a total war in which everyone was involved.”

In parental eyes, these young soldiers were still children. But to Hitler they were a substitute for older anti-aircraft personnel who had been sent to the front to make up for the terrible losses at Stalingrad. “It can truly be said the Hitler Youth proportionally took as many casualties from fighter bomber attacks as any other army division,” says Gehlen.

The Hitler Youth movement was formed in 1926, from young members of the early Nazi party. By 1930 it enlisted more than 25,000 boys aged 14 and upwards and established a junior branch, the Jungvolk. Girls from 10 to 18 were also recruited. The title for the young women varied, including the League Of German Girls and the League Of German Maidens.

In 1932, the year before Hitler came to power, these youthful Nazi organisations were banned. But after Hitler became Chancellor they were reinstated and the influential Baldur von Schirach became leader.

From the start, the Hitler Youth were regarded as “Aryan Supermen” of the future and indoctrinated into the beliefs of racial superiority and anti-Semitism. Another aim was to instil motivation that would direct Hitler Youth members to fight faithfully for the Third Reich.

As soon as Hitler became Chancellor, the Boy Scout movement was banned throughout Germany.

However, the Hitler Youth adopted many of its activities, while changing its basic content and outlook. Boys who received strict military training were allowed to handle weapons from an early age, compete in assault courses and study strategy.

For those in the female wing of the Hitler Youth the emphasis was more on child bearing. Martha Dodd, writing in My Years In Germany, said: “Young girls from the age of 10 were taught only two things: to take care of their bodies so they could bear as many children as the state needed and to be loyal to National Socialism.

“Huge marriage loans were floated whereby contracting parties could borrow substantial sums from the government to be repaid slowly, or to be cancelled upon the birth of enough children. Birth control information was frowned upon and practic­ally forbidden.”

As the Second World War progressed and heavy casualties meant the conflict was turning against Germany, Nazi leaders began drawing on the Hitler Youth as a reserve to replace men who had fallen in battle.

In 1943 a Hitler Youth Panzer division was formed, with a major­ity of young soldiers being between the ages of 16 and 18. The division fought against British and Canadian forces during the Battle of Normandy. By 1945, 12-year-olds were common in army ranks.

Despite their age, some members of the Hitler Youth were even suspected of war crimes. But because they were only children no effort was made to prosecute them by the Allies. Although the Hitler Youth was never declared a criminal organisation, its adult leadership was considered tainted for corrupting the minds of the young. As a result, many adult leaders of the Hitler Youth, including the overall organiser Baldur von Schirach, were put on trial.

In the post-war years, various senior political and commercial leaders across Germany admitted they had served in the Hitler Youth – in 2005 it was reported that even the Pope had, as 14-year-old Joseph Ratzinger. But few people were blacklisted as they had  ­simply had no choice in the matter.

The Hitler Youth was yet another example of how far the Nazis were prepared to go in spreading their evil doctrines – in this case, into the minds of the vulnerable young.

 

* To pre-order Jungvolk: The Story Of A Boy Defending Hitler’s Third Reich, by Wilhelm Gehlen and Don Gregory, published June 15, £19.99 (Casemate Books), with free UK p&p, phone The Express Bookshop on 0871 521 1301 with your card details, send a cheque or PO made payable to Express Newspapers to: Casemate Book Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth, TR11 4WJ or order online at www.expressbookshop.com. Calls cost 10p/min from BT landlines.

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