| Show i Youth Cornerstone of A Germans' Germans War Machine Taken in Tow at Six Children Schooled in Nazi Ideology Grooved Into Places in Totalitarian Society I i 1 t i rt r- r V By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator Service Union Trust Building Washington D D. D C. C This is the second of two articles by Mr Air Baukhage on where Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many continues to get its fighting manpower The husky and determined young Germans pictured on this page are area a symbol of the force that made Von counteroffensive on the western front possible possible made made it possible for the German armies supposedly smashed to pieces in France to come back from their stand at Arnhem and on the Cologne plain These boys represent two things first preliminary military training second and the control of the Nazi party arty i over the German people As the the twig is bent the trees tree's inclined There are probably seven million twigs twigs in Germany today In a previous column I discussed the various Nazi semi-military semi and military organizations outside the I I Ithe German army itself Particularly the great SA or brown shirt organization organization organization or or- which after its purge became became became be be- came the implement for indoctrination tion and preparation for military training of the German people I also discussed in some detail theSS thess the theSS SS or Elite Guard now the most f The German counteroffensive on the western front has made it possible possible possible pos pos- I sible for another crop of six hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred thousand tough Nazi girls and boys to bolster the army and the home-front home in 1945 1915 Courtesy Infantry Courtesy Infantry Journal I powerful factor in the Reich whose function was first to overcome the enemies of the Nazi party from within within with with- in and which now has taken over overe the e control o of the German armies sand and the protection of the Nazi state from rom without Through SA representatives right down to the ward through the powerful Gestapo secret police of the SS which gradually superseded all police force the adult non-Nazis non are controlled by force and threat of force Take Over Adults' Adults Duties But perhaps as important as any Nazi weapon today is the Hitler youth organization which is the Nazis' Nazis grip on the future Today thousands of Hitler youth are guarding guarding guarding guard guard- ing installations watching foreign workers performing work which reeves reeves re- re eves men for the front Already many have shot to kill All can Tomorrow they will be in the army The pre-Hitler pre youth groups in Germany had flourished for a long time They embraced everything from the strongly rightist Prussian Prussian- version of the Boy Scouts whose weekly excursions were given over overto overto overto to military games and maneuvers to the religious groups In the middle middle middle mid mid- dle were the Wan Wan- who despised regimentation tion strolled about the countryside on holidays with their guitars on ona a their backs sleeping in barns or in inthe inthe inthe the open hobnobbing with the peasants peas- peas jants lants ants singing and also collecting the theold theold theold old songs Volk-songs and just having a plain good time The writer himself himself him him- self spent many happy hours with the carefree some of them in the Eifel the very territory terri tern tory through which Von Van lied fled his charge We talked of poetry love and philosophy philosophy never never about war Suffice it to say the Nazis methodically methodically method method- i absolved all of these groups the religious movements which were well organized resisting as long as they could Today under Nazi law the Hitler youth male and female controls all German Gennan youth within the Reich I can give you the testimony of one German mother which was whispered into my ear in 1939 just before tl the e war broke brok out My daughter has gone she said to me We have nothing in common Her whole time is given to the ilie Nazi activities But I have my boy again They worked him so hard in the Ule youth camp that he came down with tuberculosis and Hitler doesn't want him I shall have him to nurse at home Poor woman I am afraid that by this time if he can walk and carry a gun he is at least a member member member mem mem- ber of the the home army Military Training Begins at 14 The tiny tots join the youth organization organization organization or or- at six But not until they are arc 13 or 14 does the real prep military training begin for the boys and the serious work for the girls in their separate camps By this time they have already been indoctrinated indoctrinated indoctrinated with blind devotion for the fuehrer the belief in German superiority superiority superiority su su- su- su and abject loyalty to the Nazi state Aside from training in sports which are arc believed to condition a abo aboy aboy bo boy for military hardships and actual actual actual actu actu- al drill with weapons the leadership leadership leadership leader ship principle is stressed and promising youths are sent to special schools When the Hitler youth completes his training he is fully fuBy prepared for whatever Nazi group into which he fits best He may in due course become a member of the esoteric SS the SS-the the force which under Himmler rules every phase of life in the Reich today He will probably find some role in the great SA organization In any case he will become a member mem mem- ber ben of some special group perhaps more than one which will prepare him to serve or provide a place for his service in his destined role as asa asa a cog in the machinery of total war Normally when his Hitler Youth period is ended the next step unless unless unless un un- un- un less the boy is physically disqualified fied fled or is chosen for special duties is the Labor Service which is like the American insofar as it is concerned primarily with such work as construction and forestry But the military training continues As Asin Asin Asin in the Hitler youth organization the young Nazi is drilled disciplined housed fed and clothed like a sol sol- dier When this duty is completed he probably finds himself immediately in the army But in peacetime or orif orif orif if he is specially qualified there are area a score or more organizations which will take care of him right up to old age such for instance as the Veterans Veterans Veterans Vet Vet- erans organization in which military ideas are kept alive One important group is the Labor Front which was created as a check checkon on unionism There is the huge organization a kind of land Seabee outfit which was created from groups of highway builders in order to complete the Now it is a vital part of the army There is the huge Peoples People's Welfare Welfare Welfare Wel Wel- fare agency which collects charities three large civilian auxiliary air groups the Nazi Transportation Corps and many more not to mention mention mention men men- tion the host of services under National National National Na Na- Socialist Womanhood It must be remembered that all of these organizations stoutly maintain two functions first indoctrination tion in hi the Nazi philosophy or if the person person person per per- son is too old or too stubborn to bow to these perverted ideas so to enchain enchain en en- I en-I chain him in discipline as to achieve I Ithe the same result The second function function function tion of the Nazi organizations is to prepare German man and woman power for the nearest thing to a to total total total to- to tal war effort achieved in history The effectiveness of this system of militarizing a nation undoubtedly was underestimated bv by the Allies The facts concerning it were avail avail- able For example an excellent compendium of the Nazi groups was published by the Infantry Journal in Washington called Second Second Second Sec Sec- ond Army for distribution to and study by the American armed forces But it was simply impossible impossible impossible sible for the normal individual to grasp the degree to which the Nazis had perfected their plans and had by indoctrination from childhood actually turned human beings into efficient machines Herr Go Goebbels father of lies was not lying when he said recently that Germany had become a warrior nation in the ilie full sense of the word |
