When thinking of people who have been affected by the horrors of war, children are not usually the first group to pop into one´s mind. Of course, fathers away at the front and wartime propaganda bring the war closer to children´s homes, but with state-controlled youth organizations in totalitarian countries, we have yet another topic at our hands, how the war crept into children´s lives. Even though with the end of the war this dark chapter of youth movements in Europe mostly got to an end, clubs and associations are still an important part of youth culture to network and emancipate oneself. Have you been part of a club or other youth organizations in your childhood? Please let us know in the comments. Cheers, Fiona Please read our rules of conduct before you comment: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
Radio Tapok literally calls Germany "campfire kid" (in Russian: дитя костра) in his cover of Rammstein's song "Deutschland" (which is better than Rammstein's' btw). Well, I clearly can't help myself. Go learn Russian. th-cam.com/video/sqBtdEsP3Uw/w-d-xo.html Your view of WW2 is incomplete, partial, without knowledge of Russian, this is my honest Conviction...
First of all, Anna, it is very nice to see you back again! I have been a boy scout for quite a few years and I mostly have great warm memories of those days. Being in the forest a lot, learning about nature and survival skills. Highlight for me was an international jamboree in Wiltz, Luxembourg. To get to know so many fellow people that enjoy hiking and being in the closest way through this day and age to nature was really exhilarating! It is, imho, a shame that people associate scouting with HJ or militarism because it, as far as I am concerned, can help young people to grow social skills and a sense of community, which is much needed nowadays 🙏
I read a book by a former Hitler Youth member. He was called up and captured by the Americans near Dortmund in 1945. His marching column was seen by a US spotter plane but the German commander ignored it. Shortly after they blundered into an ambush by US tanks. The author published a school notebook he kept as a Hitler Youth member - he was taught a lot of paramilitary stuff like how to fire a small-calibre rifle that resembled the Mauser 98k but fired a smaller bullet, how to use a compass and so forth.
@@stevekaczynski3793 The German army loved their .22 trainers back in those days. A lot of U.S. soldiers brought them home for varmint hunting or as a first gun for their kids.
I was born in 1979 in East Germany. I was a "Young Pioneer" until the German reunification in 1990. Every school day began with a pupil in uniform greeting the class "Be ready". We shouted "Always ready".
and that what was so brilliant about it. she did with a slight, but serious, eye roll as she said it. anyone that did not get that, is missing the irony emparted by who is saying it.
I have a confession to make: There were two boys in the Hitler Youth that I actually like, one is named JoJo, and his chubby little friend called, Yorki. They were so much fun together.
My friend introduced me to that film not too long ago. Totally not what I was expecting, and surprisingly funny. I thought the German officer was an excellent character, and his unhinged nature cracked me up.
Baden Powell put that together because he noticed that the kids were engaging in scouting activities on their own drawing on tales from the Boer War. He deliberately made it conservation and development oriented / de-militarized for that reason. The authoritarian nations co-opted the notion of youth leagues and then militarized them.
@@harr1sonm1chael18 Hadn't heard that. I don't discount it. People were who they were back then. In the American context as laid down by Seton, Boyce, and Beard it stayed closer to the conservation and civic roots. I do know that one of the reasons Powell laid down his original concept was because the kids genuinely were all up in Boer War scouting stuff and he felt it inappropriate, thusly guiding it more into a civic vs. paramilitary thing. The cycle of rise, comfort, decadence, and collapse is well established and there's signs and symptoms abounding again.
wrong. scouts were intended for scouting. scouting what? enemy positions. scouting why? because kids have much sharper senses and are smaller, they make ideal scouts in fact. see also: cabin boys.
@@QuizmasterLaw Which was what they were doing on their own, using his book on military scouting he wrote after his Boer War experience. This was socially unpalatable at the time, which was why Powell etc made the attempt to de-militarize it somewhat. His original book was "Aids to Scouting for NCOs and Men,' published in 1899.
@@Mis-AdventureCH This is a facinating and informative exchange. It's amazing how informative the comments sections are when you purge the Nazi trolls from a channel.
Robert Baden Powell was a general in the Boer War and was disturbed by the lack of basic survival skills and physical aptitude amongst the British troops during that war. He refined his ideas and came up with Scouts as a way to get children the needed activity to help their bodies grow.
Perhaps he should have concentrated on army reform if that was what he was worried about, although others instituted the Haldane reforms. Britain did not conscript until WW1 and the average British army private was a youth from city slums or else the rural poor. When sent to the colonies, tropical diseases often killed or incapacitated them and those who overcame this were already beating the odds. One area British troops were definitely deficient in the Boer War was marksmanship and in the years before WW1 this was worked on, so that in 1914 many British soldiers were remarkably good shots.
When I joined the US Air Force back in 1976, you would be shocked with the poor physical conditioning of the 18 and 19-year-old guys. A lot of them could not even run one lap around the track without almost fainting. I'm sure it's even worse nowadays with these kids constantly on their smart phones or playing video games.
Rather than become "militarized" during my years during the mid '60s, i developed friendships with fellows my age, and slightly older, who helped me see past the motives of the Viet Nam War mongers. I probably disappointed my parents and other aunts and uncles, as I moved away from militaristic patriotism, but I still feel positive about helping to raise awareness about the utter futility of the involvement in that poor country. Boy Scouts helped make me a better man, I'd say. The WW2 vets who gave up their time for us were not pervs. Just good men with the improvement of endangered urban boys in mind. It was a good and appropriate for way to get young males out from behind Mother's apron strings. We need more of that today.
@@patd4u2 I joined the US Army in the mid-80's and heard a lot of stories like that from NCOs who were in during that time. Not all draftees were bad (one 1SG I had was a draftee and combat medic in Vietnam and went career Army) but overall it made the entire military worse by forcing in people who didn't want to be there and weren't prepared. Everyone was happier in an all-volunteer force, nobody wanted to go back to having non-professionals by their side.
@@patd4u2 In a similar vein... When the Army began calling up recruits for WWII, they were able to compare the overall physical condition of the men they were inducting against the records they had for the men who had been called up for service in WWI. They found that the men called up in WWII were in far worse shape than their WWI counterparts in almost every respect. On average, they were shorter, lighter, had worse teeth and were far more likely to suffer from medical conditions brought on by chronic malnutrition, such as rickets or scurvy. The military induction records provided the first real opportunity to statistically measure the impact the Great Depression had on public health, and they found that it had been severe.
Child soldiers are still being recruited, used and killed around the world, the most visible ones are in the continent of Africa. UNICEF has a goal to have no children volunteer or children conscripts in the military. It is estimated we still have about 100000 children serving around the world as soldiers.
Although UNICEF's definition is not necessarily what everyone would consider a child soldier the issue certainly needs tackling and is being done so by numerous charities.
I mean... Not a russian, but one of them was at least not telling young women their only worth is being a mother of an aryan kid and bonkers mythology. Something that just stood out to me.
I feel, to a degree, to put Komsomol in the same level with Hitler Youth is unfair. For most of its history Komsomol was not that bad. And you can’t really blame the Russians for scrapping the barrel during the war.
To me it looks like more of a "young girl period outfit", not really an outfit stylised after any organisation. Especially not BDM. This show doesn't really like to glamourise nazi german aesthetics- and for good reason. If I had to guess, I'd say it looks more french, than german.
BDM in my world could only really mean: Bronirani Durak/Mudak (armoured irritances) which is what I sometimes call big slow bastards in the fast lane >_>
Did anyone else think of that Red Dawn quote "According to records, your son is a prominent student leader and a member of an elite paramilitary organization: "Eagle Scouts."" ? :-)
So most men and woman who grew in the USSR have great memories of that period. Specially after going through the crisis and instability of the 90s. Like a babushka once told me, "back then we were all soviet citizens, now you are either russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, Armenian, belarusian or Kazakh etc and they all hating each other for some sort of reason" Babushka wisdom, never underestimate it.
@@rimedrihen6054 Unfortunately, ethnic separation and bullying has always existed in the USSR, particularly at school and in the army. If you came from a village and your Russian was not up to scratch, you'd be a butt of all jokes while serving the military. The whole "There was no xenophobia and racism, as we were all soviet citizens" is a complete myth and goes back to older people only remembering the good bits of their lives.
@@trizvanov Not to mention how the USSR acts in some ways like the Russian Empire as far as ethnic politics is concerned. Making Russian and the Cyrillic alphabet mandatory in every school is no different from what Alexander III did in the 1880's...
I was a Scout too, and had a... less great time. We suffered from poor leadership, bullying and lack of equipment. And the older I get, the more I realise how messed up its founder was.
Our troop leader had been a Marine who had done two tours in Vietnam. To say he was intense would be an understatement... even the other troop leaders were scared of him. Anyway, he had this cadre of older kids who were just counting the days till they could become Marines. It wasn't very much fun.
Any organization can have haters, pedos, and bullies. I was fortunate that my BSA Troop followed training, the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. We follow these positive codes to this day and many our our scouts are helping to make planet earth a better place. I just have to say, in 2021, Scouting is still helping to make things better for most people. If you have doubts about Robert Badon Powell, you should do more research into what he actually did and said.
I worked for the Boy Scouts for a few years. It's not for everyone, and bad adult leadership can hurt crews, but the experience is, on the whole, a great one in my opinion. Unless you get stuck with really weird OA people. Then it's a tossup.
My grandfather was one of the organizes of the first pioneer group in his city after the 1917 revolution. Back then it was self-orginized and self-manage group. Centralization of pioneers and Komsomol organizations happened later.
@@bernardobiritiki yes he liked it . And yes, in 1920-40 it was very militarized (war games, shooting, basic military education), but after the war when my parents were in Pioneer and Komsomol there was much less military orientated activities and more sport, hiking tourism and interest clubs (my mom was in "pioneer (kids) railroad organization" - google it. It was awesome). Being born in 1990 and hearing there stories about there time in pioneer organization I was really jealous - post-Soviet Russia was very boring place to grow up as a kid
@@bernardobiritiki I mean this org is the only outlet where you can - for example - fly model planes or do acrobatics. Or like the other commentator, operate railroads...
Anna, I am SO HAPPY to see you back, although I love Indy, and Spartacus's episodes, I truly find yours to be the most enlightening and uplifting. You truly bring an uplifting air to this chanells prograning. Spartacuses " War against Humanity Series" that while being truly important to the documentation of humanitys ugliest aniamilistic side, are deepley disturbing, extroadinarily important, but some of the episodes jus make me feel like puking in a waste paper basket. Your smiling, femenine uplifting tone does the opposite for me...it leaves me with a smile. GREAT JOB !!!! More and MORE episodes PLEASE, I love them GREAT JOB, GOD BLESS YOU !!!
I am Lebanese, I've been a member of the Lebanese Scouts association (catholic scout movement, I am a maronite catholic myself ) for over 14 years now. It has deeply changed me. I don't see it as a tool of political indoctrination (even though some parties like Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces have their own highly politicized and militia like scouts, they are independent from the association), but as a base for learning how to be self reliant, responsible, emotionally, socially and spiritually mature. I believe that millions of scouts worldwide would agree as well Totalitarian regimes will twist everything and anything to their own gain, the main goal is always to erase the individual conscience. Scout organizations were made to reinforce the individual and group conscience
The Japanese had similar scaled down rifles and machine guns for school use. One of the reasons Arisaka rifles had a reputation for blowing up was the US service members in Japan picking up the primary school blank firing training rifles and putting live rounds through the diecast receivers.
@@allangibson2408 Yeah the real Arisakas are some of the most unlikely rifles to catastrophically fail out of any bolt action rifle fielded in the war.
I've already asked this on the patreon, but could you please make a video on the attempts made at germanisation of the conquered eastern territories and to which extend this happend. Keep up the great work and quality, always enjoy your videos!
Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for being a TimeGhost Army member! Such Germanisation will likely be covered pretty extensively in our WaH series anyway but your idea is in the longlist and if we think it should get special attention then that is something that we shall do.
There's just something so incredibly sinister about taking the youthful desire for participation and adventure and twisting it to such a bloodthirsty and cynical end. It's heartbreaking to think of the whole generations of young people that were fed into the hateful meatgringer of the War simply because thier naive desire to have fun and belong was exploited by fanatical adults.
Forgotten Weapons uploaded a video around the same time as WW2 uploaded this, focusing on scale rifles made for Italy's version of these youth movements under Mussolini if anyone is interested.
One of the early conflicts on the Brazilian new state dictatorship happened in 1940 about this. Basically there were two major factions, the pro allies and the axis simpatisers. After a lot of debate a voluntary youth organization was created following the US National Youth Administration. After the end of the dictatorship the first elected president of Brazil, Marshall Dutra, abolished it. The most paradoxical thing is that Dutra supported the pro axis faction idea to turn it into a militia like the Soviet or the German youth. Maybe it was a grudge, who knows?
I remember my first Boy Scout meeting..Without any warning.. I had to stand at attention and salut the leader..(whatever he was called.) thats when I decided this is not for me. years later.. Ironically I retired from the Army after 30 years.
long story, but by 12 years old I was working as a backwoods canoe guide in the minnesota BWCA. we had already had so many problems with boyscouts we came across (group of 20 or so kids, and one or two dads that had never left the city), that we changed our entire trip plans with clients to guarantee we would not cross paths with them again on the trip. I am talking stopping a trip with 7 to 14 clients that had paid thousands of dollars, to rescue boy scouts in serious trouble (next hospital, 1-2 days pattle away). we simply could not afford to run in to them.
This reminds me of JHS scouts. Hierarchy, marching, following orders, nationalism, seniorism, militarism(our chants is quite militaristic), competitions. It all a part of the Indonesian scouts. Definitely miss that. Though tiring. It makes me live my life
@@sharadowasdr in the Dutch East Indies. There is also a homegrown scout movement made by the natives called "Hizbul Wathan" Which is Islamic and is the scouts in my JHS. It is a subsidiary of muhammadiyah. Though they are Islamic. They do not differ much from the national scouts, Pramuka
@@3dcomrade as a 13 year old Indonesian, those memories were fresh for me lol I think the last time I went to Bogor with the school for camping is 2018-19, before I went overboard
Hi Anna and team Nice to see this episode.. I had been member of scouts,during my school days.. We had limited field excercise.. And camping and exploring some forested area.. Awaiting for more.. Thanks for the episode..
@@danam0228 they did have minors but those were against the rules except in the navy where kids were allowed but not in fighting positions at least for the Union. The confederacy didn’t have as many strict rules.
"All you have to do is anesthetize the masses by telling them they're an elite, that they've got a mission, that they're making history, that they're fulfilling their destiny and fighting for a better world - and they swallow it like lambs - even when a guttersnipe says it." Hans Hellmut Kirst
Thank you for your video. I was in the Boy Scouts, then served as a Scout leader as an adult. My patrol leader taught me to cook - a valuable skill while a university student and later. I earned the chemistry merit badge and became a chemist, earned the radio merit badge, and became an amateur radio operator and storm spotter. I learned how to work independently and problem solve and plan projects. Scouting was a good preparation for adulthood. My sons had to deal with Hitler Youth in their high school. The HL were simply bullies and criminals; most did not amount to much.
helps me understand a grand-ma that would talk about (camp ) while she was a kiddo in Germany (she moved to the USA in 1938, she spent her 10th birthday in an American holding camp ..), helps me understand a little more because i was young when she passed away, i remember the story she told to put me to sleep, and how thankful for what we have, and my daughter future... history cant repeat itself again - to say. we can't let history repeat,
Like most other government institutions in National Socialist Germany, this one was modeled after its Soviet Socialist original: the Komsomol. Hitler Youth was named after the creator of National Socialist Germany, the Comsomol was named after Lenin, the creator of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Just like the Komsomol members were taught to follow the Leader (first Lenin, then Stalin), to march, to shoot, etc, the Hitler Youth were taught to follow the Leader (Hitler), to march, etc. The first were taught to hate the Kulaks, the second - to hate the Jews. Both the Kulaks and the Jews were eventually exterminated: 7 million Kulaks and 6 million Jews.
Tried the Scouts first but quit after 1 session as not right for me. At 10 I joined the Boys Brigade: navy blue uniform of sweater & shorts plus knee sock. They also had badges to earn. Quit after 2 years. At 16 I joined the ATC (air training corp) as I wanted to go gliding with a view to learn to fly. Again quit after 2 years or maybe less as no gliding & 70% of the time it was practising drill. However I did learn to shoot converted Lee Enfiled's on a 25m range, firing .22 at 25mm clay disc from a prone position. Thanks Anna & team for a very interesting video/topic 😀👍
My Grandfather was a member of the Hitler Youth in Norway, but fought in the rearguard actions against the Nazis during the invasion. I wish I could have talked to him more about that.
These are what I find most interesting because we usually only hear about the war. Same reason I like between two wars I guess. Anyway, love the series and hope we continue to get more.
Canadians fought the 12th SS Hitlerjugend in Normandy. They were responsible for executing Canadian POW’s at the Abbey d’Ardenne and in a separate incident at the Chateau d’Aurdrieu. On their way to Normandy they murdered 70 odd French civilians in the village of Ascq as a reprisal for the destruction of rail lines by the French underground. The indoctrination in the Hitler youth seemed brutally effective.
I read that the Canadians only captured a dozen or so of them. Whether this was because the HJ were not surrendering or whether it was because the Canadians were refusing to take them prisoner is unclear.
I have a hitler youth knife that my great grandpa brought back from the war. The stamp reads: (RZ in a circle that turns into an M at the bottom) M7/32 ROB MÜLLER SOL.-MERSCHEID
One of my relatives lived in Germany as a Turk, he married a German woman during Hitler's time and had a child, then this child was expelled from the Hitler youth because he was Half-German who had joined Hitler's youth. Returned to Turkey and died here his name is Johannes Ruppert. Greeting from Turkey
An ex-German regular soldier ( surrendered during the Battle of the Bulge ) told me that he and his classmates had joined the Army after leaving school as the only way to avoid having to be in the Hitler Youth. Was this a reality? Was it at all widespread? He gave me the impression that he spent the entire war on garrison duty in Paris..... again, was this possible? Did some units get "looked after". I feel so dumb now that I didn't take the opportunity to snatch an oral history from him..... he was a good man, and spent the rest of his life trying to atone for Nazi crimes.
I’m in college and in one of my classes I wrote a whole paper on the Homefront in the United States, so when I saw this series I was so hyped!! But WHERE ARE THE EPISODES!? Definitely my favorite part of this series. War might be interesting but watching how the civilian population conducted themselves during the war has to be the greatest thing to learn about. It’s a very heavily ignored part of the war
Not exactly the same thing, but I’m Bulgarian and my parents told me that when they were in the equivalent of high school (during the Cold war) at some point, everyone their age, boys and girls, were sent out for about two weeks of basic military training, in case war broke out between the East and the West.
Well done, Anna. As a Boy Scout Alum I recognize that totalitarian regimes would seize upon the concept for their own ends. If they could only see what a troop of mischievous, vandalous and utterly anarchist "scouts" we really were (we, as a Troop, were banned from the regional Camporee) they might have had second thoughts. I literally learned every vice and bad habit I currently possess via my tenure with my Scout Troop. That said, my respect for blades, skill in the woods, competence with navigation, survival, firearms, field-cooking and general respect for authority all stem from my Scouting experience.
My father was never a boy scout; but, he did join Marines at 15 years olds and took a little cruise to tour the South Pacific on a troop ship thanks to Uncle Sam. He lied about his age, and said at the time no one was looking too hard at his documents or asking too many questions.
I would love to see an episode aboit child soldiers of the alies in WWII. I am sure their are plenty, but the few that are documented like my father were always dismissed as a fluke or held up proudly as some sort of show of our commitment to the fight.
@@cenccenc946 There were quite a few. A lot in the Red Army, often orphaned boys who had nowhere else to go. In WW1 one British child sailor killed at Jutland was a war hero, and under-age youths sometimes also made it into the British Army. One survivor of the Somme many years later recalled telling a recruiting sergeant he was 16 or 17. The latter gave him a shilling to have a proper lunch (in effect giving him the king's shilling) and also told him to come back later and say he was 18. Recruiting sergeants were paid a bonus for each recruit and this encouraged them to let in the under-aged. The youngest British soldier known to have been killed in WW1 was an Irish recruit by the name of Condon. I believe he was 14 at the time of his death in 1915, although he presumably gave an adult age when he joined up. I am not aware of the under-aged being recruited in large numbers into the British armed forces in WW2, although some boys took part in Home Guard drilling, whether or not they were formally inducted.
Oh, you forgot third large international youth organisation- Sokoli (Falcons). That was pan-Slavic organisation in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and I think Poland. They had also military training and even special rifles for target practice
I was in Junior reserve officer training corps for four years. Four years in Killeen Texas.Lived on Fort Hood because military dependent. Learned Manual of arms,formation drill,military rank,chain of command, how to use a laser designator,military alphabet,what certain weapons looked like and felt, land navigation,and basic first aid.
As a young child I joined the Scout movement in the UK, this was in the mid 60s, I can still remember having to give my allegiance to the Queen, my country etc, it was run on very military lines. I didn't like it much to the disappointment of my father who was a scout master of another troop. Thankfully today's scout movement is so militaristic. Anna mentioned the use of the youth movements by the Soviets and the Germans. They were used in the UK to a limited degree as well, before my father reached the age he could join the armed forces him and his fellow scouts acted as police messengers during air raids. The girl guides would help the Women's Voluntary Services distribute food and drinks to those who had been bombed out their houses. Had the UK been invaded were there plans to increase the role of teenagers? One of my dad's war stories was the night he took a message from Farnborough police station to Aldershot police station in the blackout, he arrived at Aldershot police station safely. As he rode his bike along the side of the police station he didn't see the stairs leading down to the cells in the basement and him and the bike ended up in a heap outside the cells entrance.
A masterful and surprisingly unbiased description of these youth movements! Great narration by Fraulein Anna! Lots of thoughts and memories going through my head with this video... First, the Latin saying: "Si vis pacem, para bellum" (If you want peace, prepare for war) is an ancient recipe that most countries are sadly still using to this day... Also, an old Balkan saying goes: "A tree bends while it's still young"...Second, if I remember well, the average age of the Soviet soldiers that (SPOILER ALERT!) took Berlin in 1945 was around 20-something years, so without Komsomol training, there wouldn't be Soviet victory in this brutal war of annihilation... Third, my personal experience as a Yugoslav pioneer in the 1980s: We were induced into pioneers at the age of 7 in the first grade; at the induction ceremony, we wore a uniform similar to that of the Soviet pioneers, we swore to be "obedient to our teachers, to study with diligence, to help in defending our homeland, to be a good comrade to our peers" and similar (no oath of allegiance to the Great Leader, as Tito had already died by then) ... We received a badge and a pioneer organisation ID booklet. There were no scout-like or military training activities during my primary school, the thing I remember the most was the mnemonic: "What a pioneer (PIONIR in Slovenian) should be like? A Slovenian PIONIR should be: P - pošten (Eng.: fair), I - iskren (Eng.: frank), O - olikan (Eng.: well-mannered), N - natančen (Eng. precise), I - iznajdljiv (Eng.: resorceful), and R- radodaren (generous)... in short, quite not bad values to raise the younglings with, in my view. Was I brain-washed? In my opinion, not much more than any child around the globe was - and is (only the brain-washing programming varies a bit). And last: When I went to Cuba a decade ago, the magical words: "Yo tambien fue un pionero" ("I was also a pioneer") opened the hearts of practically all the Cubans I met there, I believe an instant similarity in childhood memories was established, and everybody treated me as a brother in earnest.Thanks again for a superb episode! Cheers from Slovenia!
You should make an episode about Concenratsion camp for Polish Children that were established i side GHETTO in ŁÓDŹ. Its been forgot ten even by most poles. Its One and only Concenratsion camp made specially for children. The horror that they have been gone though cant be described. My grandmother survived 3 years in that hell.
They started the same shit in the USA during the McCarthy era. Fortunately it didn't last long. We had some government clown come to an assembly and tell us: "Saying my government right or wrong is like saying my mother drunk or sober."
What is the difference between a pioneer and a potato? - Pioneer is always prepared, while a potato needs half an hour! (c) Soivet Era wisdom. On a more serious note, in the late 90s we were still throwing mockup grenades at phis-ex, and the memory of the "ready for labor and defense" sports normative were still fresh in memory. Today, paramilitary "patriotic" "education" is reintroduced to Russian schools teaching younger generation to give their lives for putin as a whole and Russia personally.
The youngest boys in Nazi Germany were actually in a subset of the Hitler Youth called the “Jungvolk” unless I am mistaken. Kind of the German version of the Soviet Pioneers. There’s a great film called “Europa Europa” about a Jewish member of the Hitler Youth...based on a truth story.
Thank you for this very thought-provoking episode. These historical examples of co-optation of the scouting movement make it clear that there is a downside to the militaristic aspects of the scouting movement started by Baden-Powell. The emphasis on conformity and acting within a military-style ranked structure, emphasizing obedience to authority - while not explicitly fascistic - nevertheless runs the risk of discouraging creativity and democratic values such as egalitarianism and equality of opportunities.
In this context may also interesting to mention the Polish underground scouts Szare Szeregi (Gray Ranks), which where part of the Polish resistance movement and mainly involved conspiracy actions. They also were involved in partisan actions and during the Warsaw Uprising 1944 also in support roles and several of them even as assaults groups in combats.
What about Poland? There was a scouts organization, Harcerstwo, in the Interwar period. During WW2 the members of it were active in the resistance. The most famous battle, were their presence were highlighted, was the Warsaw Uprising. They were called Szare Szeregi - Grey Ranks, a name taken from the color of theirs uniforms.
I suggest another film: Napola. It a German film that chronicles the life of a German teen who is a student to the Napola schools (only the best in the Hitlerjugend can enter.. or if your father is a high ranking official in the Nazi Party... This is a slight spoiler). There they teach you many things including marksmanship, grenade throwing, and platoon movement...
I miss being a Boy Scout in 1990s USA. There was learning first aid, camping, orienteering, archery, swimming, summer camp, selling mulch, shooting guns, long distance backpacking, sales drives, ropes courses, pinewood derby, Jamborees and a lot more. The best part was no girls allowed!
All similar things I learnt in the army, but scouts in western society is not to prepare kids for the armed forces. As for no girls, would a book called "Scouting for Boys" be published these days.
You kidding me? The last sentence is just the opposite of what the scouts is for me at least. Its an organization where boys and girls are both forged like steel, with discipline enforced. A mistake is a mistake, and those who did that get the same punishment. No matter they are girls or boys. The only scouts i attended seriously is an Islamic one as my JHS is Islamic. Why, you. A member of a secular scouts can be less progressive than me?
At 4:08, she mentioned the motto of the Soviet Pioneers. Unsurprisingly, this is somewhat similar to the motto (that is still used today) by the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union. It's basically along the lines of "For the Socialist homeland/motherland, for the ideologies of the illustrious Uncle Hồ, be prepared". The reply are always "ready". I'm actually surprised it "originated" back in 1925. Source: Was a member of it and the younger divisions (for primary school childrens). We were obligated to sing the national anthem and "enthusiastically" express our readiness by mindlessly shouting this slogan every Monday morning
Anyone enjoying this video should check out a documentary named Teenage. It's about the creation of youth culture and starts more with the industrial revolution but goes through all this and further into the 50's and even a bit into political rebellion and punk attitudes of the 60's and 70's. Also great rundown of this topic. Comprehensive and clearly well researched. Thank you :D
You might mention the OTC that were operated at British public schools here. These were specifically designed to train young Englishmen for service as officers in the next war and were set up in 1908 and still operate today.
I met once a guy who was in Celle in the Feuerlöscher-HJ during the war. Two times they had to clean the train station after transport trains had been bombed there. They (the kids) had to threw the body parts laying around onto tarps which where carried by soldiers...
I will suggest two videos available on u tube for those interested in this subject. The first is a German film titled Jungend. Available with English subtitles. The second is a Russian film titled 72 hours also with English subtitles. While these are both dramas rather than documentaries they each touch on the facts presented here. Though it seems few Americans are willing to follow a film with subtitles I feel that many here would do so. I struggled through Jungend several times auf gut Deutch..... In proper German due to my understanding of only the Pfalzisch dialect I understood into my late teens before finding a version with English subtitles. Never forget as those who do truly are condemned to repeat previous disasters.
When thinking of people who have been affected by the horrors of war, children are not usually the first group to pop into one´s mind. Of course, fathers away at the front and wartime propaganda bring the war closer to children´s homes, but with state-controlled youth organizations in totalitarian countries, we have yet another topic at our hands, how the war crept into children´s lives. Even though with the end of the war this dark chapter of youth movements in Europe mostly got to an end, clubs and associations are still an important part of youth culture to network and emancipate oneself. Have you been part of a club or other youth organizations in your childhood? Please let us know in the comments.
Cheers, Fiona
Please read our rules of conduct before you comment: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
I had a very nice dream last night where I met Indy Neidell and had the happy news to tell him that he is world famous.
Radio Tapok literally calls Germany "campfire kid" (in Russian: дитя костра) in his cover of Rammstein's song "Deutschland" (which is better than Rammstein's' btw). Well, I clearly can't help myself. Go learn Russian. th-cam.com/video/sqBtdEsP3Uw/w-d-xo.html
Your view of WW2 is incomplete, partial, without knowledge of Russian, this is my honest Conviction...
Third person to see this video in this world
First of all, Anna, it is very nice to see you back again!
I have been a boy scout for quite a few years and I mostly have great warm memories of those days. Being in the forest a lot, learning about nature and survival skills. Highlight for me was an international jamboree in Wiltz, Luxembourg. To get to know so many fellow people that enjoy hiking and being in the closest way through this day and age to nature was really exhilarating!
It is, imho, a shame that people associate scouting with HJ or militarism because it, as far as I am concerned, can help young people to grow social skills and a sense of community, which is much needed nowadays 🙏
Please WW2 producer, please hire a wardrobe and styling consultant, I can’t take this retro chic thing anymore, can we go back to the business casual
Hitler Youth: Why are we trained to act like soldiers?
Nazi Germany: You'll be a surprise tool that will help us later.
I read a book by a former Hitler Youth member. He was called up and captured by the Americans near Dortmund in 1945. His marching column was seen by a US spotter plane but the German commander ignored it. Shortly after they blundered into an ambush by US tanks.
The author published a school notebook he kept as a Hitler Youth member - he was taught a lot of paramilitary stuff like how to fire a small-calibre rifle that resembled the Mauser 98k but fired a smaller bullet, how to use a compass and so forth.
Especially around Caen...
Considering the same thing happened during WW1 it probably wasn't much of a surprise.
Oof
@@stevekaczynski3793 The German army loved their .22 trainers back in those days. A lot of U.S. soldiers brought them home for varmint hunting or as a first gun for their kids.
I was born in 1979 in East Germany. I was a "Young Pioneer" until the German reunification in 1990. Every school day began with a pupil in uniform greeting the class "Be ready". We shouted "Always ready".
8:51 “to give the führer a baby...”
host-“because who wouldn’t love to do that....” and her expression just killed me
Don't forget the record scratch sound effect between those two lines.
me too, I just about died laughing
Eva Braun would...
and that what was so brilliant about it. she did with a slight, but serious, eye roll as she said it.
anyone that did not get that, is missing the irony emparted by who is saying it.
An expression that says it all. I laughed HARD! :D
I have a confession to make: There were two boys in the Hitler Youth that I actually like, one is named JoJo, and his chubby little friend called, Yorki. They were so much fun together.
My friend introduced me to that film not too long ago.
Totally not what I was expecting, and surprisingly funny.
I thought the German officer was an excellent character, and his unhinged nature cracked me up.
Great movie. Funny and very, very sad.
"Don't do that", "he looks like a Picasso". 😃
I like Blaz Senft, Koby Hertz, Ivo Klein, and Jarman Knecht myself.
@El Bearsidente you totally missed the point
That wig and girly voice does not deceive us Indy!!!!
Indy is a cutie 🥰
I will not be fooled by Indy’s act, however convincing it may seem to the masses.
It's a new skin he got with the DLC.
The glasess almost fooled me.
Nahh! He clearly is Indy.
All available in the tie barn 🤣
“No we aren’t creating child soldiers”
“Yes we give them guns”
Hahaha
Guns are just a Big Boy's Toy after all lol
Baden Powell put that together because he noticed that the kids were engaging in scouting activities on their own drawing on tales from the Boer War. He deliberately made it conservation and development oriented / de-militarized for that reason. The authoritarian nations co-opted the notion of youth leagues and then militarized them.
@@harr1sonm1chael18 Hadn't heard that. I don't discount it. People were who they were back then.
In the American context as laid down by Seton, Boyce, and Beard it stayed closer to the conservation and civic roots. I do know that one of the reasons Powell laid down his original concept was because the kids genuinely were all up in Boer War scouting stuff and he felt it inappropriate, thusly guiding it more into a civic vs. paramilitary thing.
The cycle of rise, comfort, decadence, and collapse is well established and there's signs and symptoms abounding again.
wrong. scouts were intended for scouting. scouting what? enemy positions. scouting why? because kids have much sharper senses and are smaller, they make ideal scouts in fact. see also: cabin boys.
@@QuizmasterLaw It can be argued that can be tweaked for that. But I rather stick with Baden-Powell's original idea: be prepared...
@@QuizmasterLaw Which was what they were doing on their own, using his book on military scouting he wrote after his Boer War experience. This was socially unpalatable at the time, which was why Powell etc made the attempt to de-militarize it somewhat.
His original book was "Aids to Scouting for NCOs and Men,' published in 1899.
@@Mis-AdventureCH This is a facinating and informative exchange. It's amazing how informative the comments sections are when you purge the Nazi trolls from a channel.
Robert Baden Powell was a general in the Boer War and was disturbed by the lack of basic survival skills and physical aptitude amongst the British troops during that war. He refined his ideas and came up with Scouts as a way to get children the needed activity to help their bodies grow.
Perhaps he should have concentrated on army reform if that was what he was worried about, although others instituted the Haldane reforms. Britain did not conscript until WW1 and the average British army private was a youth from city slums or else the rural poor. When sent to the colonies, tropical diseases often killed or incapacitated them and those who overcame this were already beating the odds.
One area British troops were definitely deficient in the Boer War was marksmanship and in the years before WW1 this was worked on, so that in 1914 many British soldiers were remarkably good shots.
When I joined the US Air Force back in 1976, you would be shocked with the poor physical conditioning of the 18 and 19-year-old guys. A lot of them could not even run one lap around the track without almost fainting. I'm sure it's even worse nowadays with these kids constantly on their smart phones or playing video games.
Rather than become "militarized" during my years during the mid '60s, i developed friendships with fellows my age, and slightly older, who helped me see past the motives of the Viet Nam War mongers. I probably disappointed my parents and other aunts and uncles, as I moved away from militaristic patriotism, but I still feel positive about helping to raise awareness about the utter futility of the involvement in that poor country. Boy Scouts helped make me a better man, I'd say. The WW2 vets who gave up their time for us were not pervs. Just good men with the improvement of endangered urban boys in mind. It was a good and appropriate for way to get young males out from behind Mother's apron strings. We need more of that today.
@@patd4u2 I joined the US Army in the mid-80's and heard a lot of stories like that from NCOs who were in during that time. Not all draftees were bad (one 1SG I had was a draftee and combat medic in Vietnam and went career Army) but overall it made the entire military worse by forcing in people who didn't want to be there and weren't prepared. Everyone was happier in an all-volunteer force, nobody wanted to go back to having non-professionals by their side.
@@patd4u2 In a similar vein... When the Army began calling up recruits for WWII, they were able to compare the overall physical condition of the men they were inducting against the records they had for the men who had been called up for service in WWI. They found that the men called up in WWII were in far worse shape than their WWI counterparts in almost every respect. On average, they were shorter, lighter, had worse teeth and were far more likely to suffer from medical conditions brought on by chronic malnutrition, such as rickets or scurvy.
The military induction records provided the first real opportunity to statistically measure the impact the Great Depression had on public health, and they found that it had been severe.
The sass from Anna at 8:51 is not scripted according to my head canon
🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Her facial expression at that point is meme-worthy in the best possible way.
I agree with you.
Little corners of the war like this are the reason why I love this channel so much.
Wish they had included some time looking at the youth organizations in Japan during this period.
"Because...who wouldn't love to do that!?!"
Perfect deadpan!
And the record scratch on top of it :D
Cringe-worthy, mostly.
Child soldiers are still being recruited, used and killed around the world, the most visible ones are in the continent of Africa. UNICEF has a goal to have no children volunteer or children conscripts in the military. It is estimated we still have about 100000 children serving around the world as soldiers.
Although UNICEF's definition is not necessarily what everyone would consider a child soldier the issue certainly needs tackling and is being done so by numerous charities.
I predict that comparing Hitlerjugend to Komsomol will offend a lot of Russians.
I mean... Not a russian, but one of them was at least not telling young women their only worth is being a mother of an aryan kid and bonkers mythology. Something that just stood out to me.
@@thiagosantanna3745 young Komsomol girls were a real heroes
@@thiagosantanna3745 i guess but either way you are brainwashing them into being tools of the state instead of letting them be kids
I feel, to a degree, to put Komsomol in the same level with Hitler Youth is unfair. For most of its history Komsomol was not that bad. And you can’t really blame the Russians for scrapping the barrel during the war.
4:42 They took part in the Holodormor. They helped starve over 10 million Ukrainians to death. I think the comparison is valid.
I'm not sure if we should give Anna combat pay a medal or a round of beers and tears for her "totally not a BDM girl" outfit...
all of them!
To me it looks like more of a "young girl period outfit", not really an outfit stylised after any organisation. Especially not BDM. This show doesn't really like to glamourise nazi german aesthetics- and for good reason. If I had to guess, I'd say it looks more french, than german.
I just thought she looked pretty...
The hell is BDM, was that, like that one group called Baby Death Metal or something preposterous lol
BDM in my world could only really mean: Bronirani Durak/Mudak (armoured irritances) which is what I sometimes call big slow bastards in the fast lane >_>
Did anyone else think of that Red Dawn quote "According to records, your son is a prominent student leader and a member of an elite paramilitary organization: "Eagle Scouts."" ? :-)
“Yes, yes but that’s not military”
I always laughed at that line. Of course the Russians and Cubans would make that assumption, because their youth organizations were those things.
@@Raskolnikov70 I know it was meant as a joke, but it wasn't entirely incorrect.
Hey they carry knives, after all.
The Russians are coming! - Yorki
They Are going to screw our dogs
@@vicenteortegarubilar9418 Well.. Not only dogs..
Lord Powel's birthday has been proclaimed as " World Thinking Day" for all scouts worldwide , February 22nd i think
It's crazy to think of, my mom was a pioneer in the USSR and has fond memories of most of the experience
So most men and woman who grew in the USSR have great memories of that period. Specially after going through the crisis and instability of the 90s. Like a babushka once told me, "back then we were all soviet citizens, now you are either russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, Armenian, belarusian or Kazakh etc and they all hating each other for some sort of reason"
Babushka wisdom, never underestimate it.
@@rimedrihen6054 Unfortunately, ethnic separation and bullying has always existed in the USSR, particularly at school and in the army. If you came from a village and your Russian was not up to scratch, you'd be a butt of all jokes while serving the military.
The whole "There was no xenophobia and racism, as we were all soviet citizens" is a complete myth and goes back to older people only remembering the good bits of their lives.
@@trizvanov Not to mention how the USSR acts in some ways like the Russian Empire as far as ethnic politics is concerned. Making Russian and the Cyrillic alphabet mandatory in every school is no different from what Alexander III did in the 1880's...
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 I mean, before the Russians came there was no alphabet or schools at all in many of those places
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 Not in some ways, but exactly like any other empire before and during that time.
I was in BoyScouts it was a great organization and had fun and learned a lot thanks
I was a Scout too, and had a... less great time. We suffered from poor leadership, bullying and lack of equipment. And the older I get, the more I realise how messed up its founder was.
@J S "messed up founder", I think he is talking about Baden Powell's extreme racism, not paedos.
Our troop leader had been a Marine who had done two tours in Vietnam. To say he was intense would be an understatement... even the other troop leaders were scared of him. Anyway, he had this cadre of older kids who were just counting the days till they could become Marines. It wasn't very much fun.
Any organization can have haters, pedos, and bullies. I was fortunate that my BSA Troop followed training, the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. We follow these positive codes to this day and many our our scouts are helping to make planet earth a better place. I just have to say, in 2021, Scouting is still helping to make things better for most people. If you have doubts about Robert Badon Powell, you should do more research into what he actually did and said.
I worked for the Boy Scouts for a few years. It's not for everyone, and bad adult leadership can hurt crews, but the experience is, on the whole, a great one in my opinion.
Unless you get stuck with really weird OA people. Then it's a tossup.
My grandfather was one of the organizes of the first pioneer group in his city after the 1917 revolution. Back then it was self-orginized and self-manage group. Centralization of pioneers and Komsomol organizations happened later.
Did he like it?
Most former soviet citizen I've talked to always have fond memories of being in the pioneer and komsomol
@@bernardobiritiki yes he liked it . And yes, in 1920-40 it was very militarized (war games, shooting, basic military education), but after the war when my parents were in Pioneer and Komsomol there was much less military orientated activities and more sport, hiking tourism and interest clubs (my mom was in "pioneer (kids) railroad organization" - google it. It was awesome).
Being born in 1990 and hearing there stories about there time in pioneer organization I was really jealous - post-Soviet Russia was very boring place to grow up as a kid
@@chatnoir1224 same its seems like it would have been pretty fun do be a Octoberist, pioneer, komsomol growing up.
@@bernardobiritiki after the war, in 1960s-1970s - defenetly.
@@bernardobiritiki I mean this org is the only outlet where you can - for example - fly model planes or do acrobatics. Or like the other commentator, operate railroads...
Anna, I am SO HAPPY to see you back, although I love Indy, and Spartacus's episodes, I truly find yours to be the most enlightening and uplifting. You truly bring an uplifting air to this chanells prograning. Spartacuses " War against Humanity Series" that while being truly important to the documentation of humanitys ugliest aniamilistic side, are deepley disturbing, extroadinarily important, but some of the episodes jus make me feel like puking in a waste paper basket. Your smiling, femenine uplifting tone does the opposite for me...it leaves me with a smile. GREAT JOB !!!! More and MORE episodes PLEASE, I love them GREAT JOB, GOD BLESS YOU !!!
I am Lebanese, I've been a member of the Lebanese Scouts association (catholic scout movement, I am a maronite catholic myself ) for over 14 years now. It has deeply changed me. I don't see it as a tool of political indoctrination (even though some parties like Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces have their own highly politicized and militia like scouts, they are independent from the association), but as a base for learning how to be self reliant, responsible, emotionally, socially and spiritually mature. I believe that millions of scouts worldwide would agree as well
Totalitarian regimes will twist everything and anything to their own gain, the main goal is always to erase the individual conscience. Scout organizations were made to reinforce the individual and group conscience
Its nice to have On the Homefront back. very interesting as always, keep up the good work
HEY! Where have you been!? On the Homefront is great and scarce.
She had to quarantine away from the studio for a while
@@Armo1997 serious ? Dah hell?
@@necromorph1109 some of the viewers really are that childish
I guess you can’t be a female host on youtube and get respect... (assuming that’s what the rude comments were about)
@@cubescihist6737 anoymous people often lead to thirstyness sadly
In a fit of coincidence, Forgotten Weapons has a nice video on Balila training rifles.
Ian is great talker with lots of intresting details. Great show
They need to get Ian to do some collab vids on some WWII Firearms
The HJ used a bolt action but single-shot version of the Mauser, but it was .22 calibre. It was referred to as a "cadet rifle".
The Japanese had similar scaled down rifles and machine guns for school use.
One of the reasons Arisaka rifles had a reputation for blowing up was the US service members in Japan picking up the primary school blank firing training rifles and putting live rounds through the diecast receivers.
@@allangibson2408 Yeah the real Arisakas are some of the most unlikely rifles to catastrophically fail out of any bolt action rifle fielded in the war.
I was a scout. One of my sons are. It is telling that totalitarians usually try to destroy independent scouting movements at the beginning.
I've already asked this on the patreon, but could you please make a video on the attempts made at germanisation of the conquered eastern territories and to which extend this happend. Keep up the great work and quality, always enjoy your videos!
Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for being a TimeGhost Army member! Such Germanisation will likely be covered pretty extensively in our WaH series anyway but your idea is in the longlist and if we think it should get special attention then that is something that we shall do.
@@WorldWarTwo Looking forward to it, thanks for the answer!
There's just something so incredibly sinister about taking the youthful desire for participation and adventure and twisting it to such a bloodthirsty and cynical end. It's heartbreaking to think of the whole generations of young people that were fed into the hateful meatgringer of the War simply because thier naive desire to have fun and belong was exploited by fanatical adults.
Forgotten Weapons uploaded a video around the same time as WW2 uploaded this, focusing on scale rifles made for Italy's version of these youth movements under Mussolini if anyone is interested.
One of the early conflicts on the Brazilian new state dictatorship happened in 1940 about this. Basically there were two major factions, the pro allies and the axis simpatisers. After a lot of debate a voluntary youth organization was created following the US National Youth Administration. After the end of the dictatorship the first elected president of Brazil, Marshall Dutra, abolished it. The most paradoxical thing is that Dutra supported the pro axis faction idea to turn it into a militia like the Soviet or the German youth. Maybe it was a grudge, who knows?
Nice seeing you here!
Considering how Dutra ruled, he might've had a grudge against Vargas overall.
@@LukeSky2207 Yep, hahaha hello Lucas!
I remember my first Boy Scout meeting..Without any warning.. I had to stand at attention and salut the leader..(whatever he was called.) thats when I decided this is not for me. years later.. Ironically I retired from the Army after 30 years.
long story, but by 12 years old I was working as a backwoods canoe guide in the minnesota BWCA. we had already had so many problems with boyscouts we came across (group of 20 or so kids, and one or two dads that had never left the city), that we changed our entire trip plans with clients to guarantee we would not cross paths with them again on the trip. I am talking stopping a trip with 7 to 14 clients that had paid thousands of dollars, to rescue boy scouts in serious trouble (next hospital, 1-2 days pattle away). we simply could not afford to run in to them.
My mom wouldnt let me have toy guns growing up as a kid. Which worked incredibly well. I grew up to serve 9.5 years as a Royal Marine Commando.
@@C2K777 Gotta Love Mom.
last time i've been this early for a WW2 video, Nicholas II was still Czar. keep up the grest work guys!!!
And we weren't in a depression yet.
This reminds me of JHS scouts. Hierarchy, marching, following orders, nationalism, seniorism, militarism(our chants is quite militaristic), competitions. It all a part of the Indonesian scouts. Definitely miss that. Though tiring. It makes me live my life
I hope they cover colonies like the Dutch East Indies and British Raj in these episodes as well. And China.
@@sharadowasdr in the Dutch East Indies. There is also a homegrown scout movement made by the natives called "Hizbul Wathan" Which is Islamic and is the scouts in my JHS. It is a subsidiary of muhammadiyah. Though they are Islamic. They do not differ much from the national scouts, Pramuka
@@sharadowasdr Search timeGhost history for some post colonial conflicts from Indy
@@3dcomrade as a 13 year old Indonesian, those memories were fresh for me lol
I think the last time I went to Bogor with the school for camping is 2018-19, before I went overboard
@@comradekenobi6908 im 15. So i just did the whole 2.5 year doing the voluntary organizing of the scout thingy. Tiring af holyshit. But i missed it
Hi Anna and team
Nice to see this episode..
I had been member of scouts,during my school days..
We had limited field excercise..
And camping and exploring some forested area..
Awaiting for more..
Thanks for the episode..
Thanks again Naveen!
5:17 - all fun and games until the bullets start flying around
That is an epic pair of glasses. Welcome back, Anna.👍
You know your evil when you think to yourself, how about we use the children as weapons
@Coach Black Pill Each branch of the US military has an E-Sports chapter to prey on minors, but go off my dude
@@Realkeepa-et9vo the US Military is undoubtedly evil, so what's your point?
@@LukeSky2207 Well, now BLM, Antifa, Neo-Fascist, Neo-Commie, and US army is evil. Who we can believe?
@@danam0228 they did have minors but those were against the rules except in the navy where kids were allowed but not in fighting positions at least for the Union. The confederacy didn’t have as many strict rules.
@@MartinHutasoit09 Only the Individual.
"All you have to do is anesthetize the masses by telling them they're an
elite, that they've got a mission, that they're making history, that
they're fulfilling their destiny and fighting for a better world - and
they swallow it like lambs - even when a guttersnipe says it."
Hans Hellmut Kirst
Thank you for your video.
I was in the Boy Scouts, then served as a Scout leader as an adult.
My patrol leader taught me to cook - a valuable skill while a university student and later. I earned the chemistry merit badge and became a chemist, earned the radio merit badge, and became an amateur radio operator and storm spotter. I learned how to work independently and problem solve and plan projects. Scouting was a good preparation for adulthood.
My sons had to deal with Hitler Youth in their high school. The HL were simply bullies and criminals; most did not amount to much.
helps me understand a grand-ma that would talk about (camp ) while she was a kiddo in Germany (she moved to the USA in 1938, she spent her 10th birthday in an American holding camp ..), helps me understand a little more because i was young when she passed away, i remember the story she told to put me to sleep, and how thankful for what we have, and my daughter future... history cant repeat itself again - to say. we can't let history repeat,
Great episode. Nice to see Anna back for another fine effort on how the war affected societies
Well, as one ancient proverb says - if you stop praying your gods, your grandchildren will be forced to pray the gods of your enemies.
Like most other government institutions in National Socialist Germany, this one was modeled after its Soviet Socialist original: the Komsomol. Hitler Youth was named after the creator of National Socialist Germany, the Comsomol was named after Lenin, the creator of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Just like the Komsomol members were taught to follow the Leader (first Lenin, then Stalin), to march, to shoot, etc, the Hitler Youth were taught to follow the Leader (Hitler), to march, etc. The first were taught to hate the Kulaks, the second - to hate the Jews. Both the Kulaks and the Jews were eventually exterminated: 7 million Kulaks and 6 million Jews.
Tried the Scouts first but quit after 1 session as not right for me. At 10 I joined the Boys Brigade: navy blue uniform of sweater & shorts plus knee sock. They also had badges to earn. Quit after 2 years. At 16 I joined the ATC (air training corp) as I wanted to go gliding with a view to learn to fly. Again quit after 2 years or maybe less as no gliding & 70% of the time it was practising drill. However I did learn to shoot converted Lee Enfiled's on a 25m range, firing .22 at 25mm clay disc from a prone position.
Thanks Anna & team for a very interesting video/topic 😀👍
My Grandfather was a member of the Hitler Youth in Norway, but fought in the rearguard actions against the Nazis during the invasion. I wish I could have talked to him more about that.
These are what I find most interesting because we usually only hear about the war. Same reason I like between two wars I guess.
Anyway, love the series and hope we continue to get more.
i love your deadpan look into the camera " . . . because who wouldn't love to do that?" lol
Anna's back, yea!! Best line: because who wouldn't love to do that? Long pause...
"...and who wouldn't wanna do that." lol that delivery killed me :D probably the best person in the team who could have done this episode.
Canadians fought the 12th SS Hitlerjugend in Normandy. They were responsible for executing Canadian POW’s at the Abbey d’Ardenne and in a separate incident at the Chateau d’Aurdrieu. On their way to Normandy they murdered 70 odd French civilians in the village of Ascq as a reprisal for the destruction of rail lines by the French underground. The indoctrination in the Hitler youth seemed brutally effective.
I read that the Canadians only captured a dozen or so of them. Whether this was because the HJ were not surrendering or whether it was because the Canadians were refusing to take them prisoner is unclear.
I was a Boy Scout, made it to Eagle Scout. A lot of what I learned, came in handy at Paris Island and Camp Lejeune a few years later.
I have a hitler youth knife that my great grandpa brought back from the war.
The stamp reads:
(RZ in a circle that turns into an M at the bottom) M7/32
ROB MÜLLER
SOL.-MERSCHEID
Fascinating episode. Well done!
One of my relatives lived in Germany as a Turk, he married a German woman during Hitler's time and had a child, then this child was expelled from the Hitler youth because he was Half-German who had joined Hitler's youth. Returned to Turkey and died here his name is Johannes Ruppert. Greeting from Turkey
This is the earliest I’ve ever been for one of these videos.
An ex-German regular soldier ( surrendered during the Battle of the Bulge ) told me that he and his classmates had joined the Army after leaving school as the only way to avoid having to be in the Hitler Youth. Was this a reality? Was it at all widespread? He gave me the impression that he spent the entire war on garrison duty in Paris..... again, was this possible? Did some units get "looked after".
I feel so dumb now that I didn't take the opportunity to snatch an oral history from him..... he was a good man, and spent the rest of his life trying to atone for Nazi crimes.
I’m in college and in one of my classes I wrote a whole paper on the Homefront in the United States, so when I saw this series I was so hyped!! But WHERE ARE THE EPISODES!? Definitely my favorite part of this series. War might be interesting but watching how the civilian population conducted themselves during the war has to be the greatest thing to learn about. It’s a very heavily ignored part of the war
It's not an american-centric series. I'm sure those episodes are coming but give it time. Not everything can be covered at once.
Not exactly the same thing, but I’m Bulgarian and my parents told me that when they were in the equivalent of high school (during the Cold war) at some point, everyone their age, boys and girls, were sent out for about two weeks of basic military training, in case war broke out between the East and the West.
The youth organisations of the whole eastern bloc were modelled after the Lenin Pioneers/Komsomol. We had the same in East Germany.
Well done, Anna.
As a Boy Scout Alum I recognize that totalitarian regimes would seize upon the concept for their own ends.
If they could only see what a troop of mischievous, vandalous and utterly anarchist "scouts" we really were (we, as a Troop, were banned from the regional Camporee) they might have had second thoughts.
I literally learned every vice and bad habit I currently possess via my tenure with my Scout Troop.
That said, my respect for blades, skill in the woods, competence with navigation, survival, firearms, field-cooking and general respect for authority all stem from my Scouting experience.
My father was never a boy scout; but, he did join Marines at 15 years olds and took a little cruise to tour the South Pacific on a troop ship thanks to Uncle Sam.
He lied about his age, and said at the time no one was looking too hard at his documents or asking too many questions.
I would love to see an episode aboit child soldiers of the alies in WWII. I am sure their are plenty, but the few that are documented like my father were always dismissed as a fluke or held up proudly as some sort of show of our commitment to the fight.
@@cenccenc946 There were quite a few. A lot in the Red Army, often orphaned boys who had nowhere else to go. In WW1 one British child sailor killed at Jutland was a war hero, and under-age youths sometimes also made it into the British Army. One survivor of the Somme many years later recalled telling a recruiting sergeant he was 16 or 17. The latter gave him a shilling to have a proper lunch (in effect giving him the king's shilling) and also told him to come back later and say he was 18. Recruiting sergeants were paid a bonus for each recruit and this encouraged them to let in the under-aged. The youngest British soldier known to have been killed in WW1 was an Irish recruit by the name of Condon. I believe he was 14 at the time of his death in 1915, although he presumably gave an adult age when he joined up.
I am not aware of the under-aged being recruited in large numbers into the British armed forces in WW2, although some boys took part in Home Guard drilling, whether or not they were formally inducted.
@@stevekaczynski3793
Yea, I was thinking the big numbers of child soliders were probably to be found in the colonial and indiginous armies.
“Because who wouldn’t want to do that?”
Priceless
Love your videos - great presentation of some less well known aspects. Thanks and keep them coming - sorry I cannot become a Patreon at the moment.
Thanks for watching, Andrew. Glad you enjoy the videos!
I never expected that a sentence containing the word "kumbaya" would give the chills.
Great work Anna, enjoyed very much!
Oh, you forgot third large international youth organisation- Sokoli (Falcons). That was pan-Slavic organisation in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and I think Poland. They had also military training and even special rifles for target practice
Nice job Anna!!! Bravo!
I was in Junior reserve officer training corps for four years. Four years in Killeen Texas.Lived on Fort Hood because military dependent. Learned Manual of arms,formation drill,military rank,chain of command, how to use a laser designator,military alphabet,what certain weapons looked like and felt, land navigation,and basic first aid.
As a young child I joined the Scout movement in the UK, this was in the mid 60s, I can still remember having to give my allegiance to the Queen, my country etc, it was run on very military lines. I didn't like it much to the disappointment of my father who was a scout master of another troop. Thankfully today's scout movement is so militaristic.
Anna mentioned the use of the youth movements by the Soviets and the Germans. They were used in the UK to a limited degree as well, before my father reached the age he could join the armed forces him and his fellow scouts acted as police messengers during air raids. The girl guides would help the Women's Voluntary Services distribute food and drinks to those who had been bombed out their houses. Had the UK been invaded were there plans to increase the role of teenagers?
One of my dad's war stories was the night he took a message from Farnborough police station to Aldershot police station in the blackout, he arrived at Aldershot police station safely. As he rode his bike along the side of the police station he didn't see the stairs leading down to the cells in the basement and him and the bike ended up in a heap outside the cells entrance.
Yet another great episode from World War Two. Thank you so much - cheers!
Cheers!
You are a great actor. You really took my emotions for the ride with your interpretation!
"Revolutions are always verbose"
- Leon Trotsky
I received my Eagle rank in 2018 in the Boy Scouts of America. I'd be thrilled if y'all talk about the BSA's role in the war effort.
You're accent is very agreable for persons like me who are not english-speaker like me (I'm French)
A masterful and surprisingly unbiased description of these youth movements! Great narration by Fraulein Anna! Lots of thoughts and memories going through my head with this video... First, the Latin saying: "Si vis pacem, para bellum" (If you want peace, prepare for war) is an ancient recipe that most countries are sadly still using to this day... Also, an old Balkan saying goes: "A tree bends while it's still young"...Second, if I remember well, the average age of the Soviet soldiers that (SPOILER ALERT!) took Berlin in 1945 was around 20-something years, so without Komsomol training, there wouldn't be Soviet victory in this brutal war of annihilation... Third, my personal experience as a Yugoslav pioneer in the 1980s: We were induced into pioneers at the age of 7 in the first grade; at the induction ceremony, we wore a uniform similar to that of the Soviet pioneers, we swore to be "obedient to our teachers, to study with diligence, to help in defending our homeland, to be a good comrade to our peers" and similar (no oath of allegiance to the Great Leader, as Tito had already died by then) ... We received a badge and a pioneer organisation ID booklet. There were no scout-like or military training activities during my primary school, the thing I remember the most was the mnemonic: "What a pioneer (PIONIR in Slovenian) should be like? A Slovenian PIONIR should be: P - pošten (Eng.: fair), I - iskren (Eng.: frank), O - olikan (Eng.: well-mannered), N - natančen (Eng. precise), I - iznajdljiv (Eng.: resorceful), and R- radodaren (generous)... in short, quite not bad values to raise the younglings with, in my view. Was I brain-washed? In my opinion, not much more than any child around the globe was - and is (only the brain-washing programming varies a bit). And last: When I went to Cuba a decade ago, the magical words: "Yo tambien fue un pionero" ("I was also a pioneer") opened the hearts of practically all the Cubans I met there, I believe an instant similarity in childhood memories was established, and everybody treated me as a brother in earnest.Thanks again for a superb episode! Cheers from Slovenia!
You should make an episode about Concenratsion camp for Polish Children that were established i side GHETTO in ŁÓDŹ. Its been forgot ten even by most poles. Its One and only Concenratsion camp made specially for children. The horror that they have been gone though cant be described. My grandmother survived 3 years in that hell.
Hell inside hell
6:18 Young Anakin Skywalker playing tug-of-war.
🤣😂😍😜
They started the same shit in the USA during the McCarthy era. Fortunately it didn't last long. We had some government clown come to an assembly and tell us: "Saying my government right or wrong is like saying my mother drunk or sober."
What is the difference between a pioneer and a potato? - Pioneer is always prepared, while a potato needs half an hour!
(c) Soivet Era wisdom.
On a more serious note, in the late 90s we were still throwing mockup grenades at phis-ex, and the memory of the "ready for labor and defense" sports normative were still fresh in memory. Today, paramilitary "patriotic" "education" is reintroduced to Russian schools teaching younger generation to give their lives for putin as a whole and Russia personally.
Great episode as always
Thanks!
Top shelf as always; thanks for the fantastic work!
Thank you for your kind words!
The youngest boys in Nazi Germany were actually in a subset of the Hitler Youth called the “Jungvolk” unless I am mistaken. Kind of the German version of the Soviet Pioneers. There’s a great film called “Europa Europa” about a Jewish member of the Hitler Youth...based on a truth story.
Cracking glasses, Anna!
This one was suuuuuper interesting guys. ¡Keep 'em coming!
Thank you for this very thought-provoking episode. These historical examples of co-optation of the scouting movement make it clear that there is a downside to the militaristic aspects of the scouting movement started by Baden-Powell. The emphasis on conformity and acting within a military-style ranked structure, emphasizing obedience to authority - while not explicitly fascistic - nevertheless runs the risk of discouraging creativity and democratic values such as egalitarianism and equality of opportunities.
Not seen one of these for a while...Really enjoy On The Homefront. there is so much to cover. I personally find the homefront stuff fascinating
Thanks!
welcome back anna
In this context may also interesting to mention the Polish underground scouts Szare Szeregi (Gray Ranks), which where part of the Polish resistance movement and mainly involved conspiracy actions. They also were involved in partisan actions and during the Warsaw Uprising 1944 also in support roles and several of them even as assaults groups in combats.
Another amazing episode. can't wait for the next one
Thanks!
What about Poland? There was a scouts organization, Harcerstwo, in the Interwar period. During WW2 the members of it were active in the resistance. The most famous battle, were their presence were highlighted, was the Warsaw Uprising. They were called Szare Szeregi - Grey Ranks, a name taken from the color of theirs uniforms.
We got so many buildings named KOMSOMOL here... hmm ;p Even a swimming pool.
Jojo Rabbit is worth a watch 😂
Is that what BDM means ;-;
just like 'Ivan's Childhood' and 'Come and See'
I suggest another film: Napola. It a German film that chronicles the life of a German teen who is a student to the Napola schools (only the best in the Hitlerjugend can enter.. or if your father is a high ranking official in the Nazi Party... This is a slight spoiler). There they teach you many things including marksmanship, grenade throwing, and platoon movement...
Why is it that the first thing that came to mind was a weird hybrid of Roger Rabbit and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
@@Naurnedist Because the name "Jojo" is a synecdoche for Araki's series of fabulously dressed not-supermodels with invisible secondary personas...
I miss being a Boy Scout in 1990s USA. There was learning first aid, camping, orienteering, archery, swimming, summer camp, selling mulch, shooting guns, long distance backpacking, sales drives, ropes courses, pinewood derby, Jamborees and a lot more. The best part was no girls allowed!
I would have put shooting guns at the head of the list. Followed closely by learning how to start fires, lol.
All similar things I learnt in the army, but scouts in western society is not to prepare kids for the armed forces.
As for no girls, would a book called "Scouting for Boys" be published these days.
You kidding me? The last sentence is just the opposite of what the scouts is for me at least. Its an organization where boys and girls are both forged like steel, with discipline enforced. A mistake is a mistake, and those who did that get the same punishment. No matter they are girls or boys. The only scouts i attended seriously is an Islamic one as my JHS is Islamic. Why, you. A member of a secular scouts can be less progressive than me?
Never understand the separation. Kids are kids, and they'll experience the same joy and misery equally...
@@3dcomrade Boys will be boys.
At 4:08, she mentioned the motto of the Soviet Pioneers. Unsurprisingly, this is somewhat similar to the motto (that is still used today) by the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union. It's basically along the lines of "For the Socialist homeland/motherland, for the ideologies of the illustrious Uncle Hồ, be prepared". The reply are always "ready". I'm actually surprised it "originated" back in 1925.
Source: Was a member of it and the younger divisions (for primary school childrens). We were obligated to sing the national anthem and "enthusiastically" express our readiness by mindlessly shouting this slogan every Monday morning
ok burnwood
Anyone enjoying this video should check out a documentary named Teenage. It's about the creation of youth culture and starts more with the industrial revolution but goes through all this and further into the 50's and even a bit into political rebellion and punk attitudes of the 60's and 70's.
Also great rundown of this topic. Comprehensive and clearly well researched. Thank you :D
Anna is an excellent presenter. Bravo. A really interesting episode.
You might mention the OTC that were operated at British public schools here. These were specifically designed to train young Englishmen for service as officers in the next war and were set up in 1908 and still operate today.
I met once a guy who was in Celle in the Feuerlöscher-HJ during the war. Two times they had to clean the train station after transport trains had been bombed there. They (the kids) had to threw the body parts laying around onto tarps which where carried by soldiers...
What an amazing video good work.
I will suggest two videos available on u tube for those interested in this subject. The first is a German film titled Jungend. Available with English subtitles. The second is a Russian film titled 72 hours also with English subtitles. While these are both dramas rather than documentaries they each touch on the facts presented here. Though it seems few Americans are willing to follow a film with subtitles I feel that many here would do so. I struggled through Jungend several times auf gut Deutch..... In proper German due to my understanding of only the Pfalzisch dialect I understood into my late teens before finding a version with English subtitles. Never forget as those who do truly are condemned to repeat previous disasters.