Figure 1.--Many German boys were powefully moved by NAZI Party rallies and pagentry. As strange as it now seems, the NAZIs very effectiverly appealed to the naivity and idealism of German youth.
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Figure 1.--Many German boys were powefully moved by NAZI Party rallies and pagentry. As strange as it now seems, the NAZIs very effectiverly appealed to the naivity and idealism of German youth. |
An HBC contributor serving in the U.S. Army in Germany after World War II acquired a book entitled Adolf Hitler commemorating the 1935 NAZI Nurenberg Ralley. The NAZIs held their annual party rally during September at Nurenberg Nurnberg in German), a Bavarian city with many medieval buildings which became known as a cultural center. It was viewed by many Germans as harkening back to Germany's pure ancestral cultural roots. It was at the 1935 rally that the classic propoganda film, Triumph of the Will was made. One chapter of the book deals with the Hitler Youth participation in the rally.
One chapter of the book was entitled "Der fuhrer und die deutche Jugend" or "The Fuhrer (Hitler) and German Youth". It was written by Baldur von Schirach, the leader of the German youth movement after the NAZIs seized power. It was no accident that the trials of the NAZI leaders were held in Nurenberg, it was heald there in the seat of NAZI power to symbolically demostrate the total defeat of the NAZIs and all they stood for. Von Schirach himself who later served as NAZI leader in Austria, was tries with other NAZI leaders at the Nurenberg trials.
One has to notice in the photographs that the Fuhrer obviously had a soft spot for children--provided they were certified aryans! Not all of the photographs show the boys in their Hitler Youth uniforms, some of the photographs show how German boys were dressing at the time.
Interestingly for an obviously important propoganda book, the ceremonial copy was a low-cost production. All the pictures are hand pasted in this book.
Von Schirach's artile is written in German. HBC does not have the capability at this time to transdlate it. We have posted it here in the original German. Hopefully our German readers can help with a translation. In addition there are many fascinating images of the Hitler Youth activities at the rally.
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