Hitler Youth Activities: War Work--Farms

Figure 1.--These two HJ boys are working and living on a farm. The photograph was taken in the early 1940s. Here's a rather idyllic image, a subtle example of Third Reich propaganda, of German boys during World War II doing the farm work that men had done earlier. When most of the adult rural workers had been sent off to the front in Hitler's Germany, they were often replaced by Hitler Youth. Notice that the boys are wearing uniforms appropriate to the autumn season of the harvest but nevertheless Hitler Youth uniforms--brown shirts with rolled up sleeves, and short pants with the legs slightly rolled up higher to allow for greater freedom of movement. Also notice the knee-length boots. They look like German Army boots. The boots are helpful to cope with work in fields and unpaved roads, and scythes for mowing the grain. The composition of the photograph is deliberately artful--part of the propaganda effect to make German life during the war look idealistically useful and connected to the landscape of the Fatherland. This photograph was used for a propaganda poster.

Hitler Youth were also involved in farm work. We believe that there was also farm work before the War, as the NAZIs attached great importance in establishing an attachment to the land. This became increasingly important as more and more men were drafted into the military during the War, more workers were needed. We note accounts of HJ farm workers both living with farm families as well at HJ camps. NAZI publications were full of peaceful scenes like this to promote the image of German youth living healthy, useful lives on the land in the service of their country. We also have reports of children from the right-wing yoth groups in occupied countries doing farm work. Many farmers also slave laborers and prisoners of war from France, Yugoslavia, Poland, the Ukraine, and other countries who usually lived on the premises. A Dutch reader writes, "Some children of Dutch NAZIs during 1941 and '42 were sent to Germany in their summer vacation (4 weeks). They were staying with selected German families, often farmers, where they were expected to help a little on the farm, since most of the men were in the Wehrmacht and their women had to do all the work. This was particularly during the summer leading to harvest time. These children supplmented the slave labor from occupied countries

Hitler Youth Farm Work

Hitler Youth were also involved in farm work. Here we have only lmited information at this time. We believe that there was also farm work before the War, as the NAZIs attached great importance in establishing an attachment to the land. This became increasingly important as more and more men were drafted into the military during the War, more workers were needed. There seems to have been both informal efforts at the local level as well as more formal efforts organized by the HJ organization. We note accounts of HJ farm workers both living with farm families as well at HJ camps. A BDM girl has left a detailed account of farm work during the War. She was sent to a camp on a Baltic island and describes the strict discipline and grueling working conditions. Her mother managed to get her out of the camp. [????]

NAZI Idelization of the Land

NAZI publications were full of peaceful scenes like this to promote the image of German youth living healthy, useful lives on the land in the service of their country.

Foreign Children

We also have reports of children from the right-wing yoth groups in occupied countries doing farm work. A Dutch reader writes, "Some children of Dutch NAZIs during 1941 and '42 were sent to Germany in their summer vacation (4 weeks). They were staying with selected German families, often farmers, where they were expected to help a little on the farm, since most of the men were in the Wehrmacht and their women had to do all the work. This was particularly during the summer leading to harvest time. The age group was 10-15 years of age, only boys. Mostly children of Dutch NAZIs and German sympathizers. I don't remember how it was organized. It was voluntary. The boys went in groups by train. In Germany they were brought to differerent farms, not to any camp. German children from Holland were not involved. I believe that the boys had pleasant experiences. Many of them got plenty to eat (after all on a farm there always was food) and they must have been treated well by the host family. They did not wear any uniforms. It stopped after 1943 because Germany started loosing the war and the NAZIs were being overwhelmed with problems, especially the air attacks on German cities and transportation lines." [Stueck]

POWs and Forced Laborers

These children supplmented the slave and forced labor from occupied countries. Many farmers also used slave laborers, primarily prisoners of war from France, Yugoslavia, Poland, the Ukraine, and other countries. These farm workers usually lived on the premises. This was necessary because unlike industrial workers, it was not practical to confine farm workers in camps and then transport them daily to the farms. A reader writes, "As far as slave labor on the farms is concerned I want to put things a little bit more the way it really was. Most of the foreign farm workers during the war in Germany were prisoners of war. Although many of the factory workers were young men from the occupied countries who sometimes lived and had to work like slaves, the POWs on the farms usually got much better treatment. They often got a room that previously was occupied by one of the sons or brothers of the farmer, who served in the Wehrmacht, and they also were allowed to share the meals with the family. They did not live in camps like some of the other forced laborers and they had no supervisors with a whip so to speak. Of course, they were restricted where they could go or travel, but on the whole I have heard that many of them had a fairly good life under the circumstances. I have met some ex-POWs in Yugoslavia who still were in touch with the German farmers with whom they had worked during the war. So when you mention "slave labor" I think that we should use another word in this respect." The term slave labor as associated with the NAZIs does convey brutal tretment, especially because the most publicized instances concern Jews in the gettoes and concentration camps. Some even volunteered. Many were conscripted. Others were essentilly arrested in operations like surrounding theaters or public gatherings. Non-Jewish workers transported to Germany had highly variable experiences once in Germany .Somelike the workers building V-2 rockets in underground facilities worked in horendous conditions. Others fared much better, especially farm workers as our reader here expalins. All of these workers, however, had one thing in common--they did not get paid or their labor.

Sources

???. Mischling Second Class.

Stueck, Rudi. E-mail message, January 22, 2004.