Transcript History Learning Site

Katy Kneisel
Michael Madden
1st, Bartlett
How did Hitler
become so powerful?
Adolf Hitler was sent by German authorities to investigate the German
Worker’s Party, but ended up joining after impressing them with his speaking skills. He
quickly climbed the ranks and became the party’s leader before being ousted with the rest
of the party and thrown in jail for his radical ideas after failing to create a national
following. In prison, he wrote Mein Kampf, which helped him to garner national
acclaim and attention. Following the market crash in 1929, Hitler’s party once again
gained power under Hindenburg. He later named himself Leader and Chancellor in
1934, and the Nazis took control of Germany.
Did any Nazis oppose the
Holocaust? What did they
do?
Some youth whose parents were part of the Nazi party recognized the
atrocities taking place and did not agree with adult ideas and ideologies.
However, it was difficult to make any changes due to their lack of credibility as
children. Many Germans were unaware of the genocide taking place within the
concentration camps until after they had been liberated. The stories of mass
murder were kept out of the media as to prevent punishment from the Allied
Powers. Soldiers who worked in the camps took pride in their positions, only
realizing after the war what terrible acts they had committed.
What was the Hitler Youth
program? How did it affect
young people?
The Hitler Youth program was an attempt to enforce Nazi ideals in the
“minds of tomorrow” by brainwashing young children to hate non-Aryans, just as their
parents had before them. Hitler Youth was Hitler’s way of ensuring the Nazi Party’s
growth and future. It became an equivalent of school for many young boys and girls.
Men were taught to be soldiers by participating in “military athletics” programs such as
trench digging, grenade throwing, map reading, etc. Women were taught to be nurses
and mothers, as the idea of a strong Nazi family was stressed. Hitler Youth affected
young people by using excessive propaganda to brainwash children and took away
much of their free time to be kids by making them soldiers and participants in war at an
early age.
Sources Cited
• “Adolf Hitler.” Biography. A+E Television Networks. n.d.
Web. 19 May. 2013.
• Ezard, John. “Germans knew of Holocaust horror about death
camps.” The Guardian. The Guardian. 16 Feb. 2001.
Web. 16 May. 2013.
• Trueman, Chris. “Hitler Youth Movement.” History Learning
Site. n.p. n.d. Web. 16 May. 2013.