Children and Hitler Youth

By Abbi Fitzgerald

In 1933 the Hitler Youth group started. In 1936 Hitler made it mandatory for kids at age 10 to join the group. In order to join, the kids had to take different tests. If the boy or girl had a physical disorder they had to join a special section with other kids with disorders. Girls were taught the typical roles of raising children and working in a home. Some also worked as nurses. Boys were trained to march in military formations, how to shoot with rifles, throw hand grenades, and storm trenches. . Girls had to be able to run 60 meters in 14 seconds, throw a ball 12 meters, complete a 2 hour march, know how to make a bed correctly, and swim 100 meters. Boys’ athletics included marching, bayonet drill, grenade throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defense, pistol shooting, use of dugouts, and how to get under barbed wire. The children were basically brain washed to believe what Hitler did. The Hitler Youth groups took up most of these kids lives, they didn’t have a chance to live a normal childhood.

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