The Hitler Youth

In this fascinating book, Julian Flanders examines the impact of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth Movement) on Germany's young people and how it shaped German society under Adolf Hitler. By 1940 membership had reached eight million - more than 90 per cent of German children. Between 1933 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the movement drove a wedge between youth, the educational system, and even their own dissenting families, producing a generation of anti-intellectuals indoctrinated with Nazi ideology. On the eve of war, the Hitler Youth constituted the single most successful mass movement in the Third Reich and comprised many of its most committed Nazis. Members of Hitlerjugend went on to play a substantial role in World War II, as many underage troops fought and died for their country.