Nazi Youth Policies and Education Assessment

Using the green book, complete the focus task on page 204 (Nos. 1 & 2) that involves an assessment of Nazi Youth policies and education.

1) Write three paragraphs to explain why the Nazis were successful in winning over the youth. Include: why the Nazis wanted to control young people, how they set about doing it, what the attractions of the youth movements were. The Nazi regime was not successful in keeping the loyalty of all young people. Add a fourth paragraph to your essay to explain why some young people rejected the Nazi youth movements.

The Nazis wanted to control the young people because they were the future of the country. Also, children are easily persuaded into believing in what you want them to believe. If the Nazis got the children to support them, then when they grew up they would still support them. Also, there might be a chance that the children would tell their parents to support the Nazis. They might report their parents if they didn't.

The curriculum changed so that the children would learn about Nazi ideology. Source 32 shows that there was a Nazi message in every subject. The messages were subtle and simple so that they could easily understand them. Source 38, a picture from a Nazi's children book, shows that children shouldn't trust Jews because they will steal from them. Since children are easily persuaded and accept information passively, they believe that Jews are bad people. Also, the Nazis organized parades and camps for the youth.

The youth wanted to be involved in the movement because they felt like they belonged. Some of their parents didn't support the Nazis while they did, so here they could be accepted. This is shown in sours 36. Also, the parades were fun and exciting. All other youth organizations were made illegal, so they liked the leisure opportunities that the Nazis presented them. The Nazis said that the youth was the future of the nation, and this made them excited and feel like they were important to the country.

Some of the youth did not support the Nazis. The Swing movement was made up of middle class teenagers. They were really interested in British and American music and dances. They accepted Jews. They were against Nazis. The Nazis made a handbook about how to identify them, showing them with messy hair or overly exaggerated English clothing. The Edelweiss pirates were another group opposed to the Nazis. They were an unorganized group of working class teenagers. They were mainly 14-17 because they were allowed to leave school at 14 and didn't have to sign up for the military service until 17. This group included boys and girls, unlike the Hitler Youth program. They went camping on the weekend and if they saw bands of Hitler youth they teased and sometimes attacked them.