The State Youth is organized like an army. It has its corps, divisions, battalions, brigades, regiments, companies, and squadrons, with their officers. The Hitler Youth is divided into five super-divisions, twenty-two divisions, eighty-two Oberbanne and three hundred and twenty-eight Banne.
The B.D.M. ( Bund Deutscher Mädel ) is made up of five GauVerbände, twenty-two Obergaue and three hundred and thirty Untergaue.
The Jungvolk, finally, is divided into five hundred and eighty Jungbanne and the same number of Jungmädel-Untergaue.
The Jungvolk (including the Jungmädel ) is made up of children between ten and fourteen; the Hitler Youth of boys from fourteen to eighteen; and the B.D.M. of girls from fourteen to twenty-one.
Any number of titles are created for these children — altogether, there are thirty-two officers with distinct titles in the State Youth, aside from its leader.
Schirach himself, commander of this enormous and well-organized army, is a large, flabby young man, with a mixture of brutality and fondness for the fine arts which has been characteristic of his Führer, Horst Wessel the procurer hero, and the German State Youth. As Leader, he is not only prince of night marches and maneuvers; he also composes poems, recites them to his subordinates, and has them printed in the youth periodicals. The titles are bombastic: “Young Germany,” “The Drums of German Youth,” “Will and Power,” “The Jungvolk,” “Tomorrow,” “Help the Good Work Along.” “The H.J., Fighting Organ of German Youth.”
Some of these works, graced with illustrations, appear under the auspices of the N.S. Teachers’ Union, who publish comparatively readable poems such as “Help the Good Work Along.” Most of them, however, are sponsored by the “Youth” department of the Jugendverlag — the German Youth Publishers, which is attached to the Department of Schools, Cultural Work, Propaganda and Press, of Schirach’s “State Youth.”
Special divisions of the State Youth include, in addition, the “Division for Registration, Organization, and Education,” the “Personnel Office,” the “Division for Youth Outside the Reich and for Colonial Work” (under the “Central Portion of German Youth in Europe”); and, as other small parts of the imposing organization, “Preparatory Schools for Fliers,” and divisions for “Aerial Fitness” and training for “Gliding, Motoring, Riding.”
There are thirty-four special schools for the education of Hitler Youth leaders, and four Reich Schools, in Potsdam and Mehlen for boys, and in Potsdam and Gotesburg, for girls.
From their tenth year on, German children are subjected to courses in physical training, which have been described by the leaders as “peaceful” and “sportsmanlike,” but which carry the name of Wehrsport (Defensive Sport).
John W. Taylor writes about “Defensive Sport” in a book which makes acknowledgment to the German authorities for “much valuable assistance” given him in the compiling of a thorough and objective work. He says that the Hitler Youth organization “has never issued an official handbook for this type of training. The writer has spent many hours in conference with members of the Reich Youth Leadership [he names Richter, councilor in the Ministry of Education; Senn, Bannführer of the Reich Youth directors; and others] and has spent many hours visiting the training schools of the Hitler Youth. Various publications in the nature of handbooks for open country and defense sport training are found in the book-shops of Germany, and one finds that the directors of the various training schools choose their own textbooks.”
Here, again, we find the lack of official government material — not accidentally, but in the interest of tactics, and to make Germany presentable to the outside world — supplemented by other publications. The booklets of instruction, which have become of more importance than textbooks to the schools, fill this gap in the same way that the “various publications” meet the needs of the State Youth.
John W. Taylor continues:
During a visit in such a camp, the author met Police Lieutenant J. Remold, in charge of this encampment. The following outline of what was taught in this camp is for the most part taken from a pamphlet written by the Lieutenant and is entitled Handbook for Hitler Youth (Munich ’33): A. Maneuver Sport. 1. Drill in closed formation. 2. Reading of maps to scale (scale 1:25,000 and 1:100,-000). Direction finding with and without compass. 3. Description of the various types of land (topography cover, and judgment of landscapes). 4. Vision tests. Estimating of distances. 5. Taking cover, camouflaging, and laying of false trails. 6. Scouting, making reports, and sketching. 7. Drilling in open formation. 8. Protection of a marching column. 9. Pitching tents and the use of spades. 10. Orientation and direction finding, at night as well as by day. 11. Simple open country games. B. Physical Education. 1. Exercises without apparatus. 2. Tumbling and floor gymnastics. 3. Boxing. 4. Games without apparatus. 5. Games with the medicine ball. 6. Gymnastics with apparatus. 7. Swimming. 8. Cross-country and endurance running. 9. Indian Club throwing for accuracy. 10. Formation games. 11. Marching with full equipment. C. Small Caliber Rifle Practice. 1. Study of firearms: parts and care of the weapon. 2. Shooting instruction. 3. Behavior on shooting stand. 4. Activity as recorder and as munition-passer. 5. Activity as supervisor of rifle practice. 6. Pulling the trigger, practice at triangular targets. Positions before, during and after firing. 7. Firing positions: prone, sitting, kneeling and standing.
John W. Taylor makes no comments on this “survey” and indeed any comment would be superfluous. Both groups A and C are as obviously related to “peaceful sport” as the throwing of bombs. And these directions for marching in full outfit complete the martial picture:
Taylor continues:
“Hitler Youth enjoys special training in riding, driving automobiles, driving carriages, use of signals, path-finding, first aid and music. It also receives special training in Luftschutz and flying with or without motors.”
“Special training in giving first aid and in music.” Is that quoted from some Nazi table or is Mr. Taylor responsible for the sequence? It is the sequence of Hitler, who could listen to Lohengrin, rapt, as his bombs ruined Paris; and it is in the spirit of the State Youth.
The survey goes on to inform us that thirteen-year-olds must march eleven miles a day; fifteen-year-olds march thirteen-and-a-half miles, carrying an eleven-pound load. That is hard training, and of doubtful benefit; its effect on the bodies of children has been testified to by the Nazis themselves, in the Frankfurter Zeitung of May 27, 1937, which says editorially:
“The latest conscriptions have brought to light the surprising fact that there is above all an abnormal increase of that disease known as “flat feet.” For example, out of every hundred conscripts for the year 1936, thirty-seven or thirty-eight are described as suffering from this ailment.”
Thirty-seven to thirty-eight per cent of young Aryans ready for military service are afflicted with flat feet, the trait which, apart from large noses and full lips, is most often used in their anti-Semitic caricatures. The Frankfurter Zeitung is not alone in its mention of this “surprising” observation. The Munich Medical Journal (No. 14, April 2, 1937) reports an address given by the Magdeburg orthopedist, Professor A. Blenke, on “Flatfoot among our national comrades, and its relation to their capacity for work and military defense”:
“…He further indicates the fact that such inflammatory conditions, which were formerly found principally among apprentices and in the years of adolescence, now often appear among school-children, at an age when they never used to appear. According to the lecturer, the reason for this is that too much is demanded of the feet of these boys and girls through marches on hard roads, carrying heavy burdens besides — in other words, exerting them to tasks beyond their strength. The importance of prophylactic measures against this is shown by our military examinations, which indicated that an alarming number of conscripts were incapable of service in the army because of flat feet.”
Professor Schede of Leipzig reported, on the occasion of a “Cripples’ Welfare Day,” that in his examination of the Jungvolk, more than 50 per cent of those on workers’ duty and liable to military service suffer from lessened capacity of the foot; and the majority of these have consequently weakened spines.
But Professor Schede, the editorial-writer, and the lecturer on “Flatfoot” may be fault-finders. What is really demanded of these children? What do they say about all of this in their own propaganda? This is a story, in full, from the Jungvolk of June 1934 — from a periodical issued for and by children from ten to fourteen years old!
THE LAST THREE MILES
We are sitting at the side of the road. Some of us complain about the food, others object to the hardships of life and this eternal marching. We have been underway for several days now. At first, we ate so much that we could hardly move. Now that we have reached the end of our money and so of our food, most of us have some fault to find. All the Pimpfe are complaining except Heini, who chews away cheerfully all day at a bit of cracker. “All you fools can beef, but let’s see you do any better!” Heini draws down the corners of his mouth and spits. Nobody talks, except someone who growls about “not wanting to find fault” but “you simply gag on this food.” Our Juschafu ( fugendschaftsführer ) Hans rises and says, curtly, “Let’s get on!” We start off: 12 — 15—18 miles. Our feet are worn out and stink. Three miles more. Heini is swaying oddly. One of us begs: “Let it go at nine, this once!” “No, let’s get on,” repeats Hans. Beads of sweat drip from Peter’s chin in a steady stream. Hans takes his monkey (knapsack) from him. “Who will carry Heini’s monkey?” he asks. No one volunteers. Heini is biting his lips. “Oh, well, give it to me,” I offer, “for one mile, then let someone else take it.” Immediately a number of the fellows mumble: “But not me.” After a mile Hans takes the monkey from me and hands it to one of the complainers. He doesn’t wish to take it. “So that’s your idea of comradeship!” Hans’ voice is acrid. Nuegg takes the monkey. A quarter-mile more. Then the one who refused it before takes the monkey, and while he drags along both monkeys he whistles softly. Some song about comradeship. Again a quarter-mile. “Let it go,” he says. “I’m used to it now.” We have to take the monkey from him by force. The next one who gets it doesn’t complain at all. The last three miles seem much longer to us than the first twelve. Finally we reach the village by the sea. We drop into the hay as though we were dead. The first thing in the morning, Nuegg opens his first-aid kit for those who have trouble with their feet. Heini was the first to be ready. The fact that he had kept going the day before had made him popular. Curiously enough, there was a good mood among the entire Jungschaft. No quarrels, no fault-finding. Everyone pretended that the food was fine (but the food was, as a matter of fact, the worst part of the march). After a day of rest the trip went on. Slowly, of course, for now we were at the seashore. The Stimmung remained good during the rest of the two weeks. And if anyone so much as opened his mouth, Heini gave him a poke, or even a sock in the jaw. Three weeks have passed since then. Evening at home. We talked about Socialism. And about comradeship. One of us said: “We learned what comradeship is, on that great journey!” Hans Blohm, Altona.
The story was written to prejudice everyone in favor of the organization and its “great journeys.” By contrast, any statistics would pale; and this is the most attractive side, emphasized in fiction! Was it an exaggerated emotion — the fear that too much strain was being put on these children? “Gag on the food,” and “a poke, or even a sock on the jaw!”—how the leaders are feared, how they represent power, even though they are only two years older than the rest! Hans, the Juschafu, simply takes the heavy knapsack from the little boy, and gives it to the one who had already complained of his own load. In the end, the boy takes both loads anyway, for the Juschafu has grown “acrid.”
After all of this, it seems extraordinary even to the writer that a good mood should prevail. And the conversation at home in the evening, the idyllic note that closes the sketch, is a sharp reminder of the scenes of soldiers assembled to talk and remember in the post-war years. “It was a fine time,” they say, in their amnesia, “… the old days… facing the enemy, together!” The “State Youth” has evenings of patriotic music, tall stories, warrior poetry, and crude harsh jokes. What else are the evenings of these grim and fatal children than time spent resting in the hinterland?