Children during the Holocaust

by Heberer, Patricia;

  12. See Detlev Peukert, Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition, and Racism in Everyday Life, trans. Richard Deveson (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987); also Detlev Peukert, “Youth in the Third Reich,” in Life in the Third Reich, ed. Richard Bessel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), 30–37.

  13. This term used to describe a number of swing dances popular in the United States in the late 1930s. Jitterbugging first made its appearance in African American clubs and, like the musical forms of jazz and swing that inspired it, was viewed as “degenerate” by Nazi authorities.

  14. Edelweiss is a woolly white perennial flower common to alpine regions of German-speaking Europe.

  15. Bündische Jugend was a German youth movement of the interwar years that combined elements of the Wandervögel (romanticism, a desire to return to pristine nature, and a culture of hiking and touring) with those of the International Scouting movement. Like all other competing youth movements, the youth leagues of the Bündische Jugend were banned by the Nazis in the summer of 1933 in order to facilitate the integration of German youth into the Hitler Youth and its auxiliary organizations.

  16. See Peter Statura, The German Youth Movement, 1900–1945: An Interpretative and Documentary History (London: MacMillan, 1981).

  17. This happened at age fourteen, provided the individual in question did not intend to go to university or vocational school.

  Historians often locate the Edelweiss Pirates within that gray area between nonconformity and dissidence. That these adolescents did not adhere to the image of German youth envisioned by the Nazi regime is clear. Moreover, nonfascist sentiments stood out clearly in the groups’ words and deeds. For Edelweiss Pirates, the Hitler Youth embodied the visible enemy. More often than not, the HJ was the object of their invective and the target of their aggression: assaults on individual Hitler Youth members and attacks on HJ street patrols proved an enduring group pastime. But the Pirates’ motives for dissent were complex. Clearly most members of this loose confederation came from working-class milieus and stemmed from neighborhoods and communities where, before 1933, the German Communist and Social Democratic parties maintained traditional strongholds. But unlike their cousins, the Leipziger Meuten (Leipzig Gangs), groups who shared many of the Pirates’ characteristics but manifested a clear class consciousness and harbored communist and socialist sympathies, the Edelweiss Pirates demonstrated no clearly politicized identity. Rather, these Rhenish teenagers seemed principally determined to flout the norms of conventional working life and to enjoy an independent and autonomous existence away from the state’s ever-present interference. The endless training and mindless drilling experienced in the Hitler Youth organization did not appeal to them, and as the war progressed, more and more of these young men feared, as doubtless their more traditional colleagues did, that they might end as cannon fodder in an increasingly ruinous conflict. It is difficult to classify the Edelweiss Pirates as an unambiguous resistance group. Yet several bands certainly did perform acts of outright resistance, such as rescuing downed Allied fliers,18 aiding German deserters, and surreptitiously distributing Allied propaganda leaflets. Moreover, many youths also involved themselves in more organized resistance efforts. The Gestapo, police, and Hitler Youth employed a number of strategies to disperse and suppress the Edelweiss Pirates, with limited success. In November 1944, thirteen anti-Nazi activists, among them six young ringleaders of the Cologne Navajos, were publicly hanged without trial in Cologne-Ehrenfeld.19

  18. Allied pilots who crash-landed in Germany were in particular danger. Toward war’s end, the Nazi regime encouraged the population to assault or murder downed airmen, whom they held responsible for the mounting death toll from Allied bombings.

  19. The six included Bartholomäus Schink, sixteen; Günther Schwarz, sixteen; Gustav Bermel, seventeen; Johann Müller, sixteen; Franz Rheinberger, seventeen, and Adolf Schütz, eighteen.

  Document 7-4. Report of the Gestapo, Düsseldorf, December 10, 1937, in Detlev Peukert, Die Edelweisspiraten: Protestbewegungen jugendlicher Arbeiter im Dritten Reich. Eine Dokumentation, 2nd ed. (Cologne: Bund-Verlag, 1983), 28–30 (translated from the German).

  In the last few years a generally loose confederation of youths has been detected in most western regions and particularly in the Ruhrgebiet,20 whose activities exceed the usual parameters (standing around on street corners during the evening hours, etc.). The development of these groups in a political and moral context can no longer be viewed as a so-called local incident. It is expanding ever more strongly in a direction which demands not only that we observe it, but also that we combat it.

  20. This refers to a large metropolitan area in western Germany bordered by the Ruhr, Rhine, and Lippe rivers and encompassing the industrial cities of Duisburg, Bochum, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, and Hamm.

  In most cases the issue concerns youths who earlier were in the HJ and were expelled or, because they did not like the strict discipline there, withdrew their membership. These expulsions resulted in almost every case from discipline violations or from a lack of enthusiasm for service. In our experience, the latter case can be traced to the fact that various members of the HJ—who perhaps because of their earlier upbringing or because they naturally find it difficult to subordinate themselves to others—observe that their comrades of the same age who do not belong to the Hitler Youth lead an independent lifestyle. It can also be determined in many cases that these individuals meet with nonmembers of the HJ in the various places where youths congregate or join them on their outings. Here of course they learn a lifestyle that has nothing in common with the discipline and order that must necessarily hold sway in the HJ. One must add to this the fact that in isolated instances, the leaders of the HJ do not know how to reach out to young people. The disinterest in service which emanates from these circumstances is further compounded by those who have never fostered an interest in the current state. The result then is that these youths are ever more firmly bound to the circles in question. Even if these [groups] can rarely be considered organizationally cohesive, there still exists the potential that they will bond more closely together and thus constitute an instrument that would become, in the hands of enemies of the state, a danger to the youth and thus to the nation.

  Throughout the entire time frame—from the seizure of power [Machtergreifung] to the present—there is among the majority of groups an unmistakably negative attitude toward the HJ. They see their “freedom” infringed upon if they are once detained by the patrols of the HJ or even by the police. This finds expression in their conversations concerning the HJ or concerning the Movement,21 in songs, and in actual attacks upon individual members of the HJ. They have parodied many [popular or party] songs. They now sing, among other things, “Break the Youth League Free,” “Rend the Hitler Youth in Two,” “The Wickinger [sic] Flag Belongs under the KP,”22 “The Kittelbach Pirates’ Flag Must Not Perish,” “We Remain True to the Polar Bears,” etc.23

  21. That is, the Nazi movement.

  22. That is, the Kittelbach Pirates.

  23. All are lines from Nazi Party songs or slogans that have been altered, sometimes to humorous effect.

  At the various gatherings, the spirit of the former members of the banned Youth Leagues [Bündische Jugend] shows through more and more. It is sometimes true today that he who can say that he was a former member of a Youth League is “seen with different eyes.” It often happens that young people claim to have been members of the banned Youth Leagues even when they have not. They want to “be someone” among like-minded youths.

  As an outward sign, and in order to contrast themselves with the Hitler Youth, the so-called outing costumes are worn, which for the most part look similar to the uniform of the banned Youth Leagues or have been adopted from the latter. The preferred modes of dress are the plaid (tartan) shirt—a
lso called ski shirts—short pants, boots with turned down socks, clogs, neck scarves, and string ties on which are to be found every possible ornamentation. This outfit ensures that like-minded individuals on outings or in other places can recognize each other, and although unknown to each other, may strike up a friendship. In most instances, it is the case that the youths do not know each other by a surname at all, but only by first name or nickname. The universal greeting, used when these youths meet each other underway, and even if they do not know each other but recognize their camaraderie from their similar outfits, is “Ahoy.” On other occasions, [they use] the greeting “Heidewitzka,”24 which, according to the experiences we have had, represents a substitute for “Heil Hitler.”

  24. This is a nonsense word, based on a popular song.

  The youths in question prefer to call themselves Kittelbach Pirates [KP]. This association has existed since 1933 in Düsseldorf and its environs. Even when these members became conspicuous in general through their boorish conduct, there was nothing about them to object to within a political context. After the seizure of power, this association certainly gathered a large influx of those elements who did not wish to assimilate with the National Socialist front. When even at this time no cohesive organization can be established, a good number wear the attire of the KP, sing their songs, and greet each other with the KP greeting, “Ahoy.” Besides this, the badge of the KP—a death’s head—is commonly worn. One finds the death’s head motif on tie clasps, pocket books, rings, and even gym equipment. The majority of these youths have never belonged to this association. For those reasons already mentioned, these persons happily boast that they do belong to the KP.

  While in past years the youths were generally given a warning, recent developments show that stricter measures must be undertaken to curb the danger that this group poses to the young.

  Document 7-5. Handwritten flyer distributed by the Wuppertal troop of the Edelweiss Pirates, “To the Subjugated German Youth,” c. 1942, in Detlev Peukert, Die Edelweisspiraten: Protestbewegungen jugendlicher Arbeiter im Dritten Reich. Eine Dokumentation, 2nd ed. (Cologne: Bund-Verlag, 1983), 81 (translated from the German).

  To the Subjugated German Youth

  German Youth:

  Think of the old, golden age of the Boy Scouts, think back to the sunny days of outings and camping. All of this is denied to us today. Why? Because today’s Nazi Germany wants to stick you all in the “Hitler Youth.” Where you will be trained militarily and technically in marching, shooting, map reading, and topography, etc. The goal of all that leads back to this: cannon fodder for Hitler’s insatiable greed for power!25

  25. Emphasis is in the original.

  German youth, rise up to fight for freedom and right, for your children and your children’s children, for if Hitler wins this war, Europe will be in chaos; the world will be subjugated unto the Judgment Day. Make an end of this slavery before it is too late.

  Lord, make us free!

  Document 7-6. The “Cologne Navajos’ Fight Song,” c. 1944, in Detlev Peukert, Die Edelweisspiraten: Protestbewegungen jugendlicher Arbeiter im Dritten Reich. Eine Dokumentation, 2nd ed. (Cologne: Bund-Verlag, 1983), 51 (translated from the German).

  Hitler’s power makes us small.Des Hitlers Zwang, der macht

  uns klein.

  We still lie in chains.Noch liegen wir in Ketten.

  But one day we’ll be free again.Doch einmal werden wir wieder frei,

  We will break our chains.Wir werden die Ketten schon brechen.

  Because our fists, they are strong,Denn unsere Fäuste, die sind hart,

  And our knives hang by our sides.Ja, und die Messer sitzen los.

  For the freedom of our youth,Für die Freiheit der Jugend

  We’re the fighting Navajos.Kämpfen Navajos.

  Hearts and Minds: Nazi Propaganda

  Children, perhaps more than their parents, were particularly susceptible to the appeal of National Socialist propaganda. Already in the 1920s, the fledgling Nazi Party viewed young people as an important target for ideological indoctrination. Nazism portrayed itself as a young and dynamic movement, and its ideologues saw particularly in German youth a malleable audience for its messages. The content of Nazi propaganda varied over time. During the party’s early years—in its so-called Time of Struggle and its first years in power—much emphasis was placed on the iniquitous peace that followed World War I and the need to revise the Versailles Treaty, which had forced Germany to concede territory in Europe and abroad, imposed an ignominious “war-guilt clause,” and saddled Germany with ruinous reparation payments. Propagandists railed against the political Left—communists and the still influential Social Democratic Party in Germany—which had, in Nazi estimation, “stabbed Germany in the back” by accepting the “shameful” peace terms and ostensibly aligned with the powers in the newly formed Soviet Union, exposing Germany to the dangers of bolshevism. National Socialist ideologues promised a better Germany: a nation restored to full sovereignty, economic security, and political stability. Following German rearmament and the remilitarization of the Rhineland, Nazi propaganda stressed even more consistently the National Socialists’ goal of expansion and Lebensraum, the German Volk’s claim to “living room” in eastern Europe. Their messages invariably struck a martial tone, extolling the virtues of a disciplined and militaristic society. They portrayed the German armed forces as the defenders of Western culture and its purveyors to the “uncivilized” East, underscoring the military’s fundamental role as a bulwark against the Soviet threat. Virulent antisemitism and an aggressive racism remained enduring themes of Nazi propaganda, which sought to marginalize Jews and other “racial” enemies and to prepare the public for persecutory measures against them.

  Nazi propagandists hoped to foster in the German population, as well as in ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) living in the occupied territories, an unreflecting political loyalty and a strong “race consciousness.” They aimed to groom their populace to be obedient and self-sacrificing citizens and to be active or passive participants in Germany’s war for “race and space.”26 Naturally, Nazi ideologues did not confine their efforts to adults but also sought to win the hearts and minds of German youngsters. Much of the propaganda to which young people were exposed came through structured events and settings. Children and adolescents received ideological training as a result of their participation in youth organizations, such as the Hitler Youth or the League of German Girls. Yet, by far the largest arena for the indoctrination of German youth was the classroom. In April 1933, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service purged the public school system, as well as other civil service posts, of Jews and “politically unreliable elements.” The majority of instructors who remained—some 97 percent of educators—joined the National Socialist Teachers’ League in the regime’s early years. Indeed, teachers also joined the Nazi Party in greater numbers than did members of any other professions. Instructors inducted their pupils into the cult of Adolf Hitler and imparted to them the tenets of Nazi doctrine. While Nazi authorities burned the books of “un-German” and “degenerate” authors and removed “unreliable” texts from the classroom, German educators introduced new textbooks that subtly or transparently instilled the party values of militarism, antisemitism, and racism.27

  26. This phrase succinctly defining Nazi Germany’s political mission was coined by Gerhard Weinberg; see, for example, Gerhard Weinberg, Germany, Hitler, and World War II: Essays in Modern German and World History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 36.

  27. See Jeffrey Herf, Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2006); David Welch, Politics and Propaganda, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge Press, 2002); David Welch, ed., Nazi Propaganda: The Power and the Limitations (London: Barnes & Noble, 1983).

  Document 7-7 provides two examples of this pheno
menon, both in support of the ongoing National Socialist eugenics policy. In 1933, the Hitler cabinet had promulgated the Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases, which mandated sterilization of individuals with specific psychiatric, neurological, or physical disorders and disabilities.28

  28. For a closer examination of Nazi sterilization policy, see chapter 6.

  Some four hundred thousand Germans were forcibly sterilized under this legislation between January 1934, when the law went into effect, and the war’s end in May 1945. The measure proved genuinely unpopular, especially in Catholic regions where it clashed with traditional church doctrine. By the mid-1930s, Nazi medical and racial hygiene authorities headed by Walter Gross,29 director of the Information Office for Population Policy and Race Cultivation (Aufklärungsamt für Bevölkerungspolitik und Rassenpflege), had initiated a full-scale propaganda campaign to shore up support for the effort. “Documentary” films—usually shorts shown to cinema audiences before feature films—such as Das Erbe (The Inheritance) (1935), Erbkrank (Hereditarily Ill) (1936), and Opfer der Vergangenheit (Victims of the Past) (1937) sought to dehumanize and marginalize the severely mentally and physically disabled in the eyes of their fellow Germans.30 In the same instance, complementary material began to appear in children’s textbooks and teaching materials. In Jakob Graf’s Biology for Secondary Schools, published in 1943, the illustration “Hier trägst Du mit!” taught students that German taxpayers shouldered the financial responsibility for the hereditarily ill and disabled. The inset depicts a “racially valuable” and healthy German standing before the silhouette of an asylum or mental health facility. Upon his back the man balances two “degenerate” and impaired individuals. The caption reads, “A hereditarily ill individual who has reached his sixtieth year costs 50,000 Reichsmark.” “You are carrying the load,” the text enjoins, reminding its young readers that they will ultimately bear the burden of society’s “ballast existences,” its “useless eaters.” A mathematics primer for seventh and eighth graders takes a similar tack, employing the familiar story-problem construction to drive home an ominous message. “How many homesteads or farms could be financed with the funds now dedicated to the upkeep of the hereditarily ill and institutionalized?” the textbook asks. While such propaganda clearly aimed to garner grassroots support for the Nazi sterilization campaign, these messages also represented an effort to undergird the foundation for more radical eugenics policies and to prepare the public, including young children, for such measures.