A T THE CENTER OF THREE concentric circles stands the German child, with no escape, surrounded by the Men in Power. The closest circle is the family; but it has weakened and disintegrated to slight importance. The child can break this circle early in his life, and, as it breaks, take his stance as a soldier.
But he is enclosed by the second circle: school. All trace of privacy — there was some privacy at home, no matter how little — disappears here, giving way to serious matters of official importance. The authority of the state stands in the classroom; in the corner is the Führer’s bust; his words are spoken by teachers every day; and the child receives his praise and punishment alike in the Führer’s name.
The only loophole conceivable in school is an hour spent with some old-fashioned geography teacher, a traveler who has seen China and Africa, who speaks strange languages and tells stories of foreign people as though they were good friends. With him, time passes well, nobody thinks of the Führer, and if, at the close of the hour, before they leave for their chemistry class, the old man murmurs his “Heil Hitler,” and lifts his arm in a casual salute, it cannot cancel the hour they have spent as individuals, learning and being enchanted. This leaves its mark, even when the warlike young chemistry instructor brings them back to reality, to totalitarianism, blood and the race, submission and fanatical obedience.
The school is certainly a Nazi circle, and nothing within its boundary is at cross-purposes with the Nazi spirit. However, in spite of the violence done to scientists as well as science, there are still men at work within the structure who knew Germany before Hitler changed it. And some truths cannot be warped before the instincts of children, even though the Führer should be pleased to declare tomorrow that two and two equal five.
But the Hitler Youth organization, that third circle around the child, is the most expansive, most important, and by far the most comprehensive of his influences. Nothing is left of privacy, as at home; nothing “pre-” or “extra-Hitler,” as at school. There is nothing differing in the slightest degree from what Hitler has decreed. He permits family and school to continue as necessary evils, but his heart is with the youth unions, it is they that he visits and honors. They are called on to take part in the Nuremberg party days, he addresses them in his speeches, and their leader, the Reichsjugendführer (Leader of the Reich Youth), Baldur von Schirach, is responsible directly and solely to the Reich Chancellor himself.
This is the farthest circle; outside of the State Youth, there is no life possible for the German child in the Third Reich.
Who rules here, according to what laws? What goes on in the third circle?
Adolf Hitler, to whom the German child belongs, is himself neither adept nor courageous. Uneducated, given to unpredictable vacillation, with a body untrained in sport and naturally weak, he has required of the country’s youth education of body first, and education of character and mind as subordinate second and third. As for himself, his shoulders are narrow and his hips broad; he will never be able to distinguish himself physically. As a boy he was nervous. His mother described him as “moonstruck,” and in Mein Kampf, he admits that he was difficult to handle. He had pneumonia at the age of thirteen, and during the War he suffered from temporary blindness, probably of hysterical origin. He was only slightly wounded; a more important injury was suffered in 1923, during his Putsch, when he dashed his shoulder against the pavement near the Feldherrnhalle. He threw himself to the ground the minute he heard bullets; and later, although he had sworn to kill himself if the Putsch failed, he escaped quietly. Mussolini drives, pilots his own plane, and is an exceptionally fine rider; Hitler is not even able to sit his horse long enough to review a parade. It is eminently logical that he should desire “his” youth to be adroit and courageous, even though he himself is neither. He is giving them the “advantages” he missed, and they are to conquer the world.
Two kinds of training, then, must be given by the leaders of the State Youth. Their younger subordinates must learn the physical background of war, for which they prepare by marching, shootings riding, flying; and psychic readiness for it, in the apotheosis of the Führer, glorification of the holy ground of Germany, and worship of the one, the only, Nordic race.
Youth is to be ruled by youth — that principle assures the State Youth that no older person, with a memory of things as they were, shall have a say. The twelve-year-old Pimpfe (the clumsy new word of unknown origin which names little German boys in uniform) endure any brutality or injustice at the hands of their fourteen-year-old superior, since in two years they will be bullying a new set of subordinates.
There is a widespread belief that everyone eligible must join the German youth organizations, that membership is enforced by law; children and parents believe this. As a matter of fact, there is such a decree, which commands;
I. Law governing Hitler Youth, December 1, 1936. The future of the German people depends on its youth. All German youth must, therefore, be prepared for its future duties. The Reich Government has decided upon the following law, which is hereby made known. 1. The entire youth of Germany within the confines of the Reich is united in the Hitler Youth. 2. All German youth is to be educated — aside from the education within the home and in school — physically, mentally, and morally in the spirit of National Socialism, to serve the people and to become part of the people…. 3. The task of educating the entire German youth in the Hitler Youth Association is committed to the Reichsjugendführer of the National Socialist Party, who thereby becomes “Youth Leader of the German Reich.” His position is that of a primary official whose seat is in Berlin; he is directly and solely responsible to the Führer and Chancellor. 4. The edicts necessary for the carrying out and completion of this law as well as the general instructions for its administrations will be enacted by the Chancellor.
But these instructions have never been enacted, and with good reason: the law itself stands in direct opposition to the concordat with the Holy See, according to which German youth is allowed to choose between Catholic and State organizations. It has been part of Nazi tactics to break such a concordat with a law, which subsequently is not administered — which never, in fact, becomes a law, but serves its purpose through the psychological effect its pronouncement creates. Later, the statement is made that the concordat holds good; but in the meantime, Catholic associations are done away with, one by one. Their goods are confiscated, and they are attacked by lawsuits and scandal. German youth and its parents are given the impression that it is damaging and actually against the law to remain outside the State Youth. The fiction of voluntary membership remains, however.
On March 4, 1937, Baldur von Schirach published this edict: “All the Youth for the Führer!”
Enrollment of the Jungvolk for 1937. Summons of the Leader of the Reich Youth Baldur von Schirach:
The Youth Leader of the German Reich, Baldur von Schirach, has issued the following summons for the enrollment of
Jungvolk:
German Parents, German Youth!
The day is again approaching upon which a new year-generation ( Jahrgang ) is to enter the service of the Führer. As I do each year, this year I call again upon the youth of the land, on the occasion of Adolf Hitler’s birthday, to enter the ranks of the great organizations of German youth and to take part in the unselfish service and work of the Führer and to do their duty. Last year the result of my summons was that nearly one hundred per cent of all German boys and girls who had reached their tenth year voluntarily joined our ranks. I am certain that the generation now called upon will answer this call equally as a matter of course and will follow this call of youth. The strength and good fortune of the German Reich lies in the fact that its youth numbers millions. No one must stand aside when the issue of making Germany stronger and happier is at stake. There is no greater honor than to serve this Reich. German parents, German youth, recognize the importance of the appeal that is being addressed to you. ALL THE YOUTH FOR THE FÜHRER! ( Völkischer Beobachter, March 4, 1937)
The refrain, “All the Youth for the Führer,” at the end and beginning of the appeal, is in all of von Schirach’s statements. Children know the formula in all its variations: “You, too, belong to the Führer” — “German Youth Belongs to the Führer” — “German Youth, Your Life Belongs to the Führer!” And since Party Day, 1937, there is a new oath, written by Schirach himself: “I swear this holy oath by God. I will always be true and obedient to my Führer, Adolf Hitler. As a member of the Party, I desire to fulfill my duty for the common weal of the German people, with a clear conscience and ready for any sacrifice, for the greatness and honor of the German nation: So help me God.”
The name of “God” serves as a foil, here and everywhere in the Third Reich, for the name of the “Führer.” The author of the oath led the tens of thousands of young people assembled for Party Day in the speaking of this statement of fealty, which commits their souls to the Führer, dignified always by the name of God.