Hitler Youth : growing up in Hitler's shadow ByBartoletti, Susan Campbell.

Title: Hitler Youth : growing up in Hitler's shadow

Author: Bartoletti, Susan Campbell.

Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction

Comments

CIP Info The story of a generation of German young people who devoted all their energy to the Hitler Youth and the propaganda that brought Hitler his power, and the youths that resisted the Nazi movement. "I begin with the young. We older ones are used up. But my magnificent youngsters! Look at these men and boys! What material! With them, I can create a new world."-Adolf Hitler, Nuremberg,1933. By the time Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, 3.5 million children belonged to the Hitler Youth. It would become the largest youth group in history. Susan Campbell Bartoletti explores how Hitler gained the loyalty, trust, and passion of so many of Germany's young people. Her research includes telling interviews with surviving Hitler Youth members.

This is the book that I have to thank MotherReader for. I have been trying to read this book for about a month. I opened it a month ago and the first photo I saw was one of the most frightening photos out of World WarII. It isn’t gory. It isn’t violent. Actually if you could take the uniform off the child and remove the background, it is just a regular photo of a child. But it is the Nazi flags and older Hitler Youth members in the background that add to the unsettling feeling. But it is the child in the Storm Trooper uniform with his hand raised in a Nazi salute that sends a shiver down your spine. This book isn’t about Hitler or the war or any of the battles. This is about the Youth who were more dedicated to serving Hitler that they would turn in their own parents. The book is well written and should be included in any collection. This is a little known subject that should be looked at more closely. The author points out that even at the time of interviewing some of the former Hitler Youth members they still didn’t see what they did wrong. More than 60 years later and they can not accept that the man they worshiped was a mass murderer. Others have spent their entire lives trying to make up and right their wrongs. The extent that these children were brainwashed is just impressive. Hitler and his government managed to brainwash an entire generation. There is so much detail and supportive material that it creates a balanced book fitting for a classroom. The book is also written that if you wish, you can read it like any nonfiction book. I do recommend that you read it in the afternoon with the sun shining, because it can be scary in parts.