The Nazi party as led by Adolf Hitler hoped to begin a global reign that would last thousands of years. The future was thus more important than the present, hence their focus on the younger generation through the Hitlerjugend commonly referred to HJ or Hitler Youth. What initially started as a party youth movement quickly degenerated into a paramilitary movement. When the Nazi took over German power in 1936, being a youth in Germany was synonymous with being a member of the HJ (Fox, 2017) . A few resisted but it did not turn out too well for them as the party ran every aspect of life. The continued militarization of the youth group would aggravate during the Second World War when the HJ would be co-opted into the German military. Eventually, these children almost dominated Hitler’s last stand against the allies, mainly because the main army had been decimated during the war (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) . These little boys and girls were part of a heinous movement that almost destroyed the civilized world, but were just misled children and should not be vilified for the inadvertence.
The Advent of Hitler Youth
Hitler youth can be considered an outcome of the coming together of many different youth organizations as the Nazis got more powerful and prominent in Germany. Most of these organizations had little if anything to do with Nazism but were forced by Hitler to become part of HJ (Fox, 2017) . However, from its very advent, what was to later become HJ had an element of militarism towards it. Towards the end of the 19 th century and in the advent of the 20 th century, communism was slowly growing in mainland Europe including Germany. It was hard to fight communism from a rhetorical perspective as it was supported by some of the best thinkers at the time, including Carl Max. Violence was then adopted as the means to fight communism, especially among the European workforce. This led to the formation of the Freikorps volunteer mercenary groups meant to suppress communism. The advent of the HJ came as a youth movement that followed the ideals of the Freikorps . With the advent of the National Socialist German Workers' Party also called the Nazi Party in 1922, these youth groups aligned themselves with the Nazis as they shared the same anti-communist ideal. The first version of the HJ was the Jugendbund der NSDAP . It was militant but small with its membership being voluntary and made up of German teenage boys, mainly from Munich, the home of the original Nazi Party (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) .
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Hitlerization
When Hitler came, everything in Germany that he touched stopped being about any ideals but about him. At the advent of both the Nazi and HJ, Hitler played the background position without revealing his personality or intent. The two organization grew gradually together until finally, Hitler revealed himself as the head of the party and movement. This transition took place around 1926, about five years after the HJ had begun. It is in this year, 1926 when the organization not only took up the name of Hitler but also commenced the process that would come to be known in modern days as Hitlerization (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) . Three main components marked this process of Hitlerization from the perspective of the HJ.
First, everything was about Hitler. The name of the group became Hitler Youth and the ideals of the group became exactly and only what Hitler said they were. These groups would then do only what Hitler said, when he said they should do it, and in the manner that he wanted them done. This first concept would mark both the Nazi party and the HJ from 1926 to its demise in 1945 (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) . The ideals of the organization would undergo many changes. All these would be in strict adherence to the wishes of Hitler. The second concept of Hitlerization, which is closely related with the first was the complete absence of free will within the organization (Fox, 2017) . Joining or leaving the group was no longer a choice for any of its members. Indeed, HJ recruited through forcefully co-opting other organizations. The church was a major enemy and target of the militant HJ. Among its main recruitment policies was turning entire church youth groups into HJ. In a very short time, the group moved from less than ten thousand members to millions.
The last concept was a mark of the personality of Hitler himself. This was ethnic and racial hatred and discrimination. Hitler believed that only the members of the Aryan race were the true Germans. This Aryan race also made the first class citizens of the world, beginning with the German nation (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) . Thus only this race was allowed to join the HJ. The students were also taught about their superiority over all the other ages. To encourage the growth of this race, premarital sex was encouraged in the HJ. Further, indoctrination about racial issues including the persecution of those considered as enemies of the Aryan race was taught. A special target of this indoctrination was the Jews whom Hitler blamed for all the ills in Germany and persecuted all his life (Fox, 2017) . Under these three principles, HJ continued to grow in number, ideology, and hatred.
Initial Undertakings
Upon becoming Hitler Youth and also developing a massive membership, HJ grew into three distinctive groups. The first was the original HJ, comprising of male German members of the Aryan race between 14 and 18 years of age. The second was the League of German Girls (BDM) comprising of girls from the age of 10 to 18 years. Finally, there was the Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ) which was merely a junior version of the HJ comprising of boys between the ages of 10 and 14 (King, 2016) . The latter was a precursor for joining the main HJ for boys. Initially, HJ was all about training and indoctrination with a little touch of destabilization and harassment. HJ was never a peaceful organization as indicated above. Its ideals were formed around politically motivated military organizations. Military training was thus a major part of the training involved. The youngsters were encouraged to be tough, very fit, and extremely agile (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) . They were also taught how to be proficient fighters with weapons and bare hands. Part of their indoctrination also included extremities of hatred towards perceived enemies of Germany, especially the Jews.
Practical lessons were a major part of the HJ activities. The boys would be trained practically in fighting and the handling of weapons. In Nazi-controlled areas, they would also be deployed to destabilize the other perceived enemy of Nazism especially the Jew’s,Christianity (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) . The youths would physically disrupt church services through violence. They would obstruct people from going into the churches and also disrupt any services when the church leaders insisted. The HJ would also be used to harass perceived enemies such as the Jews in their homes or their places of business. Jews controlled a lot of commerce in Germany at the time thus there was an endless supply of them to harass. Their girl compatriots were taught party doctrine and high moral standards. Not all HJ were geared towards future military activities. Some segments of the HJ were considered as the future of German industrial might and were trained to be future engineers and supervisors. The Nazi Party was preparing for a future where it would dominate both the military and the economy of Germany (Fox, 2017) .
It should be noted that all these activities took place even before the Nazi party came to power in 1936 with Hitler as Chancellor. This shows how much power and influence the Nazis had, even before their eventual rule. Not all leaders supported the HJ. In 1932 for example, it had been banned by Chancellor Heinrich Brüning. However, Chancellor, Franz von Papen who succeeded Brüning realized the futility of opposing Hitler and removed the ban in 1933. The youth movement continued to grow even as the Nazi party grew and by 1935 had over three million members spread across most of Germany. They would meet regularly in small cells in their neighborhoods, have camps and seminars that would bring together several cells and massive annual meetings that attracted all members. In line with its militarized approach, the group also had a uniform complete with the Nazi insignia (King, 2016) .
Hitler Youth Under Nazi Rule
The HJ were powerful before the Nazis took over power in 1936, they became unstoppable when the Nazis took over power. First, being a teenage citizen of Germany automatically made you either a member of the HJ or a target of the HJ. This was based purely on racial factors. If you were a member of the Aryan race, you were automatically expected to join one of the three arms of HJ, depending on your age and gender. Personal or parental choice was never an issue as this was a matter of decree by the Führer. Youths were forced to join the organization at all cost (Fox, 2017) . Those who refused to join HJ were taunted in school even by the teachers and were even denied high school diplomas without which there was no hope of higher education in Germany. Without proof of HJ membership, one could not also get a job in Germany. The youth had to either join HJ or become outlaws.
All youth organizations were also immediately transformed into HJ or disbanded if they did not comprise of the members of the Aryan race. Those who were members of these groups and were not Aryan would not only be expelled but also become targets for persecution by the same groups they were once members. Among the special targets for this persecution were mixed-race German, especially of African and the Jews (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) . By the advent of the Second World War, HJ had a membership of over 8 million youths and was a success story from a Nazi perspective. The future of Nazi Germany seemed secured as all future citizens would be firm believers.
Hitler Youth and the Second World War.
When the Second World War begun, the German military juggernaut was by far more powerful than any of its adversaries. It did not need the help of the HJ in any way. The powerful youth wing of the Nazi was, however, eager to prove itself and offered to help in any way it could (King, 2016) . This included participating in the fire brigade and playing a supportive role within the military. Fighting roles were limited to the Armies which also comprised of many former HJ members. The war effort continued merrily until the Germans opened the Eastern Front against the Russians. When the Allies made a push to return to mainland Europe, the German army was stretched thin. This is when the idea of having the older members of the HJ co-opted into the military (King, 2016) . The age limit of joining the military kept on going lower based on two main factors. First, the older members of the army kept on being decimated, more so on the Eastern front.
Secondly, the younger HJ soldiers were proving themselves on the battlefront as ferocious fighters which is exactly what Hitler needed. They died in droves but fought fearlessly. By 1944, the drafting age had gone as low as 12 years. Boys who were not old enough to understand what war was, were now on the battlefront defending the homeland (Fox, 2017) . Most of them died trying. The death of the Nazis would also mark the death of the HJ, most of whom would die defending Germany almost to the last man. At the very last stand at Berlin, most of the rear guard that faced the marauding Russians were these young boys now turned soldiers. They died in their thousands. When Hitler finally fell, so did the HJ. The organization was and remains protracted in Germany (Voigtländer & Voth, 2015) . However, the members were not directly victimized in the aftermath as they comprised of an entire generation of Germans.
Conclusion
An outfit to emulate the grown-ups who were fighting the communists ended up as the most powerful youth organization that Europe has ever seen. At eight million members, it is unlikely that its scope will ever be matched except by global youth movements such as the Scouts movements whose format, the organization closely emulated. This organization may never have been peaceful from the beginning, but it was until it was taken over by Hitler that a very negative element thereof was developed. Racial hatred stood in the middle of this negativity. Finally, the war came to Germany and HJ boys were forced to become men and pick up arms against an immensely superior force. They died in great numbers yet never managed to defeat the attackers who finally vanquished the Nazis thus ending the HJ. It was only after the fact that these boys and girls realized that they had been abused and made a part of a criminal enterprise that inter alia committed genocide and war crimes. All they did was what they were told, obeying the Führer just as all German did. The crime lay in the instructor and not the youngsters who must be considered innocent.
References
Fox, E. (2017). Rebuilding Germany's children: The Nazi indoctrination and postwar reeducation of the Hitler youth. Furman Humanities Review , 27 (1), 31-59
King, L. (2016). Future citizens: Cultural and political conceptions of children in Britain, 1930s-1950s. Twentieth Century British History , 27 (3), 389-411
Voigtländer, N., & Voth, H. J. (2015). Nazi indoctrination and anti-Semitic beliefs in Germany. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 112 (26), 7931-7936
