THE HITLER-YOUTH AND HITLER
Commonwealth and Foreign IN the period from 1919 to 1933 there were two kinds of inducement to join the German Youth Movement ; on the one hand, spontaneous and personal, on the other social and political ; and these are still at work in the Hitler- jugend, and produce interesting results. Among the personal reasons for joining the Youth Movement may be counted love of nature, camping, hiking, and of cultural activities, on individual taste; they cannot be organised on a large scale nor created to order. To that extent, a compulsory mass-organisation like the Hitler Youth, which every boy and girl has to join, is ineffective. Even under the new regime, however, there are able and active youth leaders who in spite of the compulsory system succeed in building up successful groups under their leadership.
Yet from all parts of Germany, and especially from the headquarters of- the Youth Movement, the offices of Baldur von Schirach, there are reports that almost all of these suc- cessful young leaders constantly come into conflict with the central authorities, are transferred from one group to another, and frequently end in a concentration camp or in protective custody. The reason always is that the groups built up under their supervision and guidance, which are personal and individualist, show signs of disobedience to the central leadership and especially revolt against Herr Himmler's system of espionage. They cannot help expressing their disgust that the German Youth should be spied upon and they themselves be expected to be spies.
Here we come to the important question whether there is antagonism between the youth and the regime itself. Though in some well-led units of the Hitlerjugend there is general disapproval of certain parts of the regime, in others there are merely single individuals who feel such disapproval, without finding any support among their comrades. For some groups either do not see, or do not want to see, the demoralising influence of the Gestapo. Partly they are afraid, partly they agree with the official explanations which are given. This section of the Youth Movement is in the majority. It is thoroughly unpolitical, believes what it is told, does what it is told, does not want to think or act, and refuses any personal responsibility, for which it is unfitted by character or intellect. For the leadership of the Hitler Youth leaves no doubt that individuals, or individual opinions, are not wanted. They want blind obedience, and if necessary enforce it.
Here, however, they. meet the political and social forces which are working against the regime. Hitler and his asso- ciates have in their favour a series of successful achievements ; and the power and the glory of the Reich have been greatly enhanced by rearmament, the remilitarisation of the Rhine- land, the Anschluss with Austria, and so on. Hitler can also claim to have abolished unemployment ; but only partly. The income of the newly employed hardly exceeds their former dole. And since they must spend more on food, on clothing and fires, and even on rents, as they often have to leave their homes to work on roads, or fortifications or swamp drainage far away, their burdens are often heavier and not easier. And their children are not blind.
Further, as I have already observed, the carefully organ- ised system of spying simply forces the ycuiger generation into opposition. Children are told by their teachers, acting on the instructions of the party, and of Baldur von Schirach, that they must report anything they hear at home against the State, its decrees, regulations or policies. Their parents, if they are in official employment, must sign declarations that they will report any of their relatives (including their children) who speak against the re'gime. This highly developed system of espionage not only does not work, but develops a counter-revolutionary spirit which no "Bolshevist or Jew "—i. quote Hitler—could hope to create. It has also aroused a strengthening and a rejuvenation of the family spirit, supported by the churches, which have their own difficulties with totalitarianism and therefore support all the more those units in the State which in form and in spirit are loyal to Christianity and freedom.
Even stronger support, however, comes from the army, which the National Socialists have tried to invade ever since they came to power. They have tried hard to get their party formations recognised. They have tried equally hard to drive out the old guard of the Reichswehr, still the backbone of the army. They have partially succeeded, but only partially, and on the whole not only have they failed but found unwanted and unforeseen enemies in the ranks of the youth. Those who were sick of being used as spies or tools, that is, the most energetic and the most intelligent, no longer go into business or to the universities ; they join the army.
The main difficulty in making the Hitler Youth effective is that, because the entire youth was forced into it, there was no longer any possibility of selection, even from a party point of view. And because free speech and freedom of any kind was suppressed, the best, most intelligent and energetic section of the younger generation had to find other groups in which there was freedom and power to resist the demands of the Propaganda regime and the Secret Police.
The clearest example of the ineffectiveness of the move- ment is that Hitler and Baldur von Schirach had to enforce the law making Saturday "Hitler Youth Day." Boys had a whole holiday, but they had to do Hitler Youth work, camping and marching and so on. The measure collapsed and could not be carried out because of the passive resistance of the boys. They stayed away from school, but they stayed away from their leaders too. It is difficult, however, to discover such facts, because of the institution of the so-called Aufmarsch-abteilungen," show troops "of specially selected good-looking boys whose special duty it is to march in all party processions on occasions when the master pro- ducer wants" German Youth" on the stage. At the regular assemblies which take place once or twice every week the attendance is even lower than at the S.A. meetings, where the average attendance is 18 per cent. of the membership. The others are ill.
This does not mean that all these young people are counter- revolutionaries. They simply will not be bothered, and they do not like being stupefied. Nothing has shaken the prestige of the regime so much as the adventure in Spain. Not because there was no possibility of persuading German boys to fly to Spain, but because the Fiihrer did not dare to tell them the truth. And because their brothers and friends were killed, not on the Estremadura Front, but on manoeuvres somewhere . . . And nothing has done so much harm as the activity of the Gestapo, which has killed many thousands in secret—but the children got to know. It has paid many hundreds of thousands as spies—and the children got to know this too. The children themselves arc invited to do its dirty work.
German Youth must not be regarded as anti-Hitler.
Most of them believe Hitler does not know of such things. But they are not prepared to tolerate them. Thus the question is not pro- or anti-Hitler. It is a much simpler and clearer issue : Spying, secret murder, propaganda, totalitarianism ; or freedom, decency, and self-respect. A friend of mine wrote to me from Cologne : "I loathe the army. But I shall become an officer, because that will give me a chance to carry a gun, and so to say what I want."
DR. S.
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