Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow

Book Description

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

Customer Reviews:

Biased didacticism, not history. .......2007-04-16

Halfway through listening to this book on CD, I wondered why it seemed like the author was talking down to me. The writing was very simplistic and the extremely irritating narrator felt obligated to remind us that Nazism was bad by reading every race-related word with the utmost sarcasm possible, e.g. "Hitler wanted a 'puuuuure' (tee-hee) 'Aaaaaryan' (rotfl!) 'race' (hahahaha!)." This book also felt the need to explain even the most elemental German terms, the most hilarious being when the author told us that "Heil Hitler" means "Hail Hitler" in English. I was kind of offended at the condescension until I finally looked at the CD case and saw that the book was meant for grade-school kids. It contains some interesting accounts of time in the Hitler Youth, but nothing too revelatory. I guess the point of writing this book was to tell kids that racism is bad and not to be conformist. The author goes overboard though by declaring that "All scientists agree that race is only skin deep". (That quote may not be verbatim.) Even leaving aside questions of intelligence, that statement is a blatant lie, as widely varying racial susceptibility to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc. will attest. Does Ms. Campbell Bartoletti really want children to be independent thinkers, or does she merely want to indoctrinate them in her own egalitarian ideology?

Used in teaching about WWII.......2007-03-07

When pairing this book with books about World War II from the Allied perspective and the Jewish perspective, it really provides a completely different point of view. It allows students to see the historical event from more than one view, and this will encourage them to be open-minded and willing to see the points of view of others in life.

who was hitler?.......2007-02-13

this is a good book that tells the story of adolf hitler's little army the hitler youth.this book tells the story of many people tha died when hitler was a leader i relly like this book because i had heard of his little army and some of the people that were in his army. this is a very good book if you want to learn of hitler's power

The Children Loove Hitler.......2007-02-09

What do you think it would feel like if you lived during the time of World War II? The book Hitler Youth tells stories of children during this time period. There are many main characters telling the story of their lives during World War II.

The layout of this book is an easy read, but there are a lot of words and pictures on a page. There might also be a word in German that might be hard to read, but there aren't that many.

If you are interested in reading this book, then I think you should be at least in sixth grade or up. It is not a complicated book, but I think that Middle schoolers have more of an interest in World War II. I also think that this book would interest people who want to know what happened to the children during this particular time.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti has written other great books besides the Hitler Youth. She wrote Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, and Dear America: A Coal Miner's Bride.

Hitler Youth is a great book for studying, or for a free read. I recommend this book to read to anyone interested in World War II. I think it is important for people to know what happened the late 1930's to the early 1940's, because it had such a big impact in the world.
PR7

Truth from the other point of view!!!.......2006-11-30

This book is really good! It tells the story of young people of Germany. Usually the books on WWII focus on the victims of the Holocaust and the Allies, but this book tells the point of view of the Hitler Youth. I think this shows how the young people of Germany were also targeted. Hitler manipulated his way to become the chancellor of Germany. This book has a lot of interviews with Hitler Youth boys and girls. They tell their story and how they felt about the war, school, and their life. I strongly recommend this book to adults and young people.

The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker

Average customer rating:

Predictable mediocrity
seen from an university-desk

The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker
Mary Fulbrook
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

After Hitler: Recivilizing Germans, 1945-1995
Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR, 1949-1989
The Last Revolutionaries: German Communists and Their Century
Driving the Soviets up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953-1961 (Princeton Studies in International History and Politics)
Dissolution

ASIN: 0300108842

Book Description

What was life really like for East Germans, effectively imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain? The headline stories of Cold War spies and surveillance by the secret police, of political repression and corruption, do not tell the whole story. After the unification of Germany in 1990 many East Germans remembered their lives as interesting, varied, and full of educational, career, and leisure opportunities: in many ways “perfectly ordinary lives.”

Using the rich resources of the newly-opened GDR archives, Mary Fulbrook investigates these conflicting narratives. She explores the transformation of East German society from the ruins of Hitler’s Third Reich to a modernizing industrial state. She examines changing conceptions of normality within an authoritarian political system, and provides extraordinary insights into the ways in which individuals perceived their rights and actively sought to shape their own lives.

Replacing the simplistic black-and-white concept of “totalitarianism” by the notion of a “participatory dictatorship,” this book seeks to reinstate the East German people as actors in their own history.

Customer Reviews:

Predictable mediocrity.......2006-06-26

Mary Fulbrook gives an inside view of life for the average person in the former East Germany. In the preface, she seems to fear being labeled an apologist for the regime, but she doesn't come across that way in the actual text. Rather, they gives "warts and all" view of the life in German Democratic Republic (GDR) while admitting that there were reasons why a number of GDR citizens might have found it adequate.

She accesses reams of archives of both citizen communications with the East German government and analytic reports written by government officials. What emerges in a fascinating take on the real world behind the Wall. Clearly East Germany was no democracy, but party functionaries and bureaucrats were clearly interested in ascertaining the views of the public and, up to a point, trying to satisfy their demands. Rather than the harsh dictatorship or socialist utopia, something in between emerges. The GDR provided a predictable mediocrity for its citizens for more than four decades until the government simply could no longer satisfy consumer demands nor resist the demand for political freedom.

seen from an university-desk.......2006-02-04

Mary Fulbrook fully succeeds in showing us common life in the former Communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). However, as 'The people's state' is scientifically written, it does not make an easy read -- you have to study it.

Fulbrook's great qualities as a sociologist undisputed, one wonders if she has any affinity with people other than highly intelligent university teachers. In her book she greatly misses out on some well-known GDR-facts, from which I will mention three:

1 In June 1974 the GDR's national soccer team defeated West Germany in the World Cup-tournament. This match took place in Western Germany. Former GDR-top official Markus Wolf (twice mentioned by Fulbrook) testifies about its impact: in all 40 years of the GDR's existence, this was about the only time when national enthousiasm unified its population into a true nation.

2 In all her 40 years, the GDR has been renowned for its 'Frei Korper Kultur' (FKK). Literally translated into 'liberated body culture', it means recreation in the nude. The whole of the GDR, in particular its Baltic beaches in the North, was dotted with FKK-sites; the relative number of FKK-participants was nowhere as high. Psychologists, as well as many of Mary Fulbrook's colleages, have not been slow to point out its roots. They consider East German FKK as an outlet against government oppression. Being unable to prevent FKK, GDR's Communist leaders surely were not pleased with it.

3 In the GDR prostitution was forbidden, and did officially not exist. Assuming it was bad for the women and girls involved, Communist leaders considered prostitution an extremely awkward exponent of money-greed capitalism. They took genuine measures to fight it, and to correct women and girls gone astray.

In spite of these ommissions, Mary Fulbrook deserves praise for her honest account of the (un)pleasantries of life in the former GDR. As she mentions, there is no denying that many GDR-citizens genuinely believed Communism was good for them. Which it was, although not in an overall way.

This is something to take in mind, in particular in a time when President Bush' administration arrogantly emphasizes on money-greed egotism. Blatantly making the rich richer and the poor poorer, thus promoting social disturbances and increasing political tension. It should be remembered that, almost 100 years ago, this exact policy lead to the birth of Communism.

Average customer rating:

Anticipating "what Hitler wanted"
The Ultimate Hitler Bio
Hitler's confusing rise to power
For all the detail, an incomplete portrait of Hitler
Good, exhaustive, and slightly skewed

Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris
Ian Kershaw
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Hitler: 1936-1945: Nemesis
The Third Reich in Power
The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich
The Coming of the Third Reich
The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation

ASIN: 0393046710

Amazon.com

Noted for his excellent structural explanation of the Third Reich's political culture in The Hitler Myth, eminent historian Ian Kershaw shifts approach in this innovative biography of the Nazi tyrant. The first of a two-volume study, Hubris is far from a simple rehearsal of "great man" history, impressively exploring the historical forces that transformed a shiftless Austrian daydreamer into a dictator with immense power.

In his forthright introduction, Kershaw acknowledges that, as a committed social historian, he did not include biography in his original intellectual plans. However, his "growing preoccupation" with the structures of Nazi domination pushed him toward questions about Hitler's place and considerable authority within that system. He argues that the sources for Hitler's power must be sought not only in the dictator's actions but also (and more importantly) in the social circumstances of a nation that allowed him to overstep all institutional and moral barriers. In a comprehensive treatment of Hitler's life and times up through the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, Kershaw draws from documents recently made available from Russian archives and benefits from a rigorous source criticism that has discredited many records formerly understood to be reliable. Hubris thus supplants Alan Bullock's classic Hitler: A Study in Tyranny as the definitive account of a man who, with characteristic smugness, indicated that it was a divinely inspired history that made him: "I go with the certainty of a sleep walker along a path laid out for me by Providence." Kershaw's penetrating analysis of how such a certain path could emerge from the dire circumstances of post World War I Germany is the abiding strength of Hubris. --James Highfill

Book Description

The most powerful account of Hitler's domination of the German people through fanaticism, divisiveness, and luck. From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in this century. Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the character of the bizarre misfit in his thirty-year ascent from a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried and rejected democracy in the crippling aftermath of World War I. With extraordinary vividness, Kershaw recreates the settings that made Hitler's rise possible: the virulent anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna, the crucible of a war with immense casualties, the toxic nationalism that gripped Bavaria in the 1920s, the undermining of the Weimar Republic by extremists of the Right and the Left, the hysteria that accompanied Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 and then mounted in brutal attacks by his storm troopers on Jews and others condemned as enemies of the Aryan race. In an account drawing on many previously untapped sources, Hitler metamorphoses from an obscure fantasist, a "drummer" sounding an insistent beat of hatred in Munich beer halls, to the instigator of an infamous failed putsch and, ultimately, to the leadership of a ragtag alliance of right-wing parties fused into a movement that enthralled the German people. This volume, the first of two, ends with the promulgation of the infamous Nuremberg laws that pushed German Jews to the outer fringes of society, and with the march of the German army into the Rhineland, Hitler's initial move toward the abyss of war.

Customer Reviews:

Anticipating "what Hitler wanted".......2006-12-18

This is a long and very detailed book. I knew it was not going to be easy reading when I started it. To my surprise, the first part of the book was quite compelling and not at all difficult to read. At about the halfway point of the book's nearly 600 pages of text, I got bogged down in the details of party politics and it was rough slogging. It took me several weeks to get through that part, but by the time it got to the chapter, "Working Toward the Fuhrer," my attention was once again riveted to the book. I knew very little about the personal life of Hitler and still cannot say that I know much more. Apparently nobody knew the real Hitler. But Kershaw's book certainly made me see him more as an individual rather than as a symbol of evil. I got a great deal out of this book and I have a much better understanding of how Hitler came to power. What I found most interesting about the book was the idea that everyone supposedly "knew what the Fuhrer wanted" and acted accordingly. So much of the evil of Nazi Germany was voluntary and done without being ordered to do so. People were encouraged to take actions that they "knew" Hitler would approve. It was a mindset not unlike "knowing what God would want me to do." Hitler had indeed, through propagandistic promotion, become a deity. Kershaw's biography, in conjunction with Frederic Spotts' HITLER AND THE POWER OF AESTHETICS, gives a very good idea of what life in Germany was like during Hitler's rise and why the German people found him so appealing. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the causes of World War II. Even though the book is extremely long, none of it is superfluous. I would not cut any of it. I plan to read volume II, even though it too is quite a tome. This book is worth spending time on. Five stars.

The Ultimate Hitler Bio.......2006-10-26

This is the best portrait of Hitler we're likely ever to get -- thoroughly researched. A lot of new insights here, surprising to discover that Hitler was not 100% the thug we assumed he was. He just had others do most of the dirty work. Very convenient.

Hitler's confusing rise to power.......2006-09-25

This is the first of two books written by Ian Kershaw on Adolf Hitler. The first book proves to be far superior then the second since it dealt with the Hitler as a boy, young man, soldier and as a young politican finding himself. The first book covers the period of Hitler's life that don't get a lot attention and set the stage for the second volume that reinforced what Kershaw wrote in the first volume. Kershaw in studying Hitler's early years, adds the social, economic and family element within that sphere that surrounds his subject to create a very in-depth analysis of Hitler's early life. He also disspelled many of the myths and controveries around Hitler such as his Jewish ancestors have been dismissed or sexual deformity. His lack of initimate relationship with the opposite sex was explored, its Kershaw's belief that only female Hitler truly love in his entire life was his mother. I kind of wish Kershaw went little deeper into Hitler's shyness with initimacy and bodily contact.

Kershaw managed to portrayed a very interesting Hitler. His German nationalistic belief was one thing that began as a young man continued until his death. From this, we began to realized that Hitler's belief in the superiority of German race over all other races - including white ethnic races like the French, Poles or Russian regardless of their skin or hair colors. This laid the foundation for the Holocaust that took not only 6 million Jews but millions more of white Europeans who Hitler regards as inferior because they were not Germanic.

Another interesting aspects Kershaw bring up was Hitler as a totally charismatic leader who left the day to day running of the German Reich to his underlings. Thus he created the Fuhrer Cult where he become the receptacle of the political will of his party as his underlings will performed their tasks in order to pleased Hitler and his agenda. This system created great rivalry among his underlings, creating a divide and rule system as they all catered to Hitler and his implied wishes. This contradict many previous books on Hitler who regards him as "great man" who control all elements of the German Reich. Only when Hitler himself was directly threatened does he take manner into his own hands as the Night of the Long Knives which effectively destoryed the SA organization would show. That will probably explained why Hitler took personal control of wartime activities as the war dragged on. Outcome of the war threatened him personally.

I found the book to be quite readable and interesting in all aspects. The book does centered around Adolf Hitler and his immediate sphere of activities. I believed the book was written for readers who already have a good background on Hitler, Third Reich and upcoming World War II. Those will be the readers who will get the most out of this book since information and analysis you get will go a long way in supplementing what you know already and creating new thoughts and perceptions on Hitler.

For beginning readership, I would recommended John Toland's biography on Adolf Hitler which was written for the general masses and easy to get into despite of it size.

For all the detail, an incomplete portrait of Hitler.......2006-08-02

Kershaw's book, obviously the result of years of research, is a massive tome that incorporates some new research. However, the highly selective way in which he decides which evidence to include and which to exclude is surprising. There are also a couple of errors of fact and many highly dubious interpretations. In particular his account of the origins of Hitler's anti-Semitism is not simply questionable but wholly inadequate. A good book overall but could have been much better. A more rounded portrait, based on the very latest research, is given in Michael FitzGerald's 'Adolf Hitler: A Portrait,' published in July 2006 by Spellmount.

Good, exhaustive, and slightly skewed.......2006-07-27

You will not find any apologetics at work in this well-researched, interesting biography covering Hitler's coming to power in the ugliness of post-war Germany. Kershaw is not an admirer of his subject, seeking instead to cast a cold historian's eye toward this disastrous, chaotic time which produced a passionate, flawed, menacing personality around whom so many Germans put their trust and hope. There are the obligatory statements of atrocities toward Jews, but they are related in a general sense through Hitlers "strangeness" of perception toward these people. No attempt is made to show the deep underpinnings of the antagonisms displayed and vented by Jews and non-Jews toward each other. Nor is any reason given for this dislike of one race toward another. It is simply stated as fact to add to the damning sheet on Nazi evils. No, Hitler wasn't a nice person. And there are no evil Jews in his book. Not one. There is nothing new here, and Kershaw's constant desire to distance himself from his subject because, after all, historians cannot afford such luxuries rings a little hollow, as does his grasp of what really made Hitler the way he was. One has to assume that Hitler formed his opinions from experience, not fantasy. But Kershaw leaves it in the nether realm of untouched thoughts, never to be understood. In the general sense, however, Kershaw does give an excellent overview of the events and personalities that moved on this horrid world stage of war. His research is good. His views on Hitler are obvious and predictable. A very adequate, but not great, read.

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Hitler Youth
A very important piece of historical research
A WELL DOCUMENTED WORK - A GOOD ADDITION TO YOUR LIBRARY
Will Become One Of The Basic Treatises On The Hitler Youth.

Hitler Youth
Michael H. Kater
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

The Hitler Youth: Origins and Development 1922-1945
Hitler Youth (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards))
Child of Hitler: Germany in the Days When God Wore a Swastika
Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany
The Nazi Conscience

ASIN: 0674019911

Book Description

In modern times, the recruitment of children into a political organization and ideology reached its boldest embodiment in the Hitler Youth, founded in 1933 soon after the Nazi Party assumed power in Germany. Determining that by age ten children's minds could be turned from play to politics, the regime inducted nearly all German juveniles between the ages of ten and eighteen into its state-run organization. The result was a potent tool for bending young minds and hearts to the will of Adolf Hitler.

Baldur von Schirach headed a strict chain of command whose goal was to shift the adolescents' sense of obedience from home and school to the racially defined Volk and the Third Reich. Luring boys and girls into Hitler Youth ranks by offering them status, uniforms, and weekend hikes, the Nazis turned campgrounds into premilitary training sites, air guns into machine guns, sing-alongs into marching drills, instruction into indoctrination, and children into Nazis. A few resisted for personal or political reasons, but the overwhelming majority enlisted.

Drawing on original reports, letters, diaries, and memoirs, Kater traces the history of the Hitler Youth, examining the means, degree, and impact of conversion, and the subsequent fate of young recruits. Millions of Hitler Youth joined the armed forces; thousands gleefully participated in the subjugation of foreign peoples and the obliteration of "racial aliens." Although young, they committed crimes against humanity for which they cannot escape judgment. Their story stands as a harsh reminder of the moral bankruptcy of regimes that make children complicit in crimes of the state.

Customer Reviews:

Hitler Youth.......2007-01-13

Filled with interviews, stories, and facts from the Holocaust from the view of a child in the Hitler Youth Program, Hitler Youth, by Michael Kater, is a novel with opinions of adults formerly in the Hitler Youth. While the stories are interesting the opinions have been thought about for years and have been affected by first hand views and opinions found in other books and many online sites. Since they have had so much time to think about their opinions before being interviewed in this book they are not very reliable.

The children who participated in Hitler Youth were not aware of the opinions being thrusted upon them by Nazi supporters. They were just doing what their friends were doing and what was expected of them in society. We can compare this to Juana in The Pearl; she always did what society expected of her and that was to stick by her husband.

I personal did enjoy this book. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for information about Hitler Youth or interesting stories from the Holocaust. Even if opinions and stories may have differed from what they thought at the time these peoples stories are a good read.

A very important piece of historical research.......2006-09-27

In 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler and his Nazis had assumed supreme power in Germany, the Hitler Youth was founded; an organization with mandatory membership for all "Aryan" German children, both boys and girls, from the age of ten. Eight years later the membership would come to an end, and the boys who now had grown up and become young men was ready for the Wehrmacht (the German army), SS, or some other partly or fully military occupation. And the girls, who were now young women, were for their parts ready for a life of childbearing and obedience to their German husbands.

Well, as we all know, things didn't really work out the way Hitler wanted them to, and twelve years after the founding of the Hitler Youth the Second World War came to an end, at a cost of millions upon millions of dead, wounded, or missing. And a large portion of German victims were existing or former members of the Hitler Youth. Along with the war becoming more and more desperate for the once so victorious Germans the soldiers fighting for their Fatherland became younger and younger. However, despite their young age - some of them not even sixteen years old - many of these Baby Soldiers (a nickname coined by the Allied troops) became infamous due to their merciless brutality and their fanatical devotion.

Michael H. Kater, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of History at York University, Toronto, has written a tremendously fascinating book based on such sources as original reports, letters, and diaries, where he really digs deep in analyzing the circumstances that led to the founding of the Hitler Youth, the means and degrees of the systematic indoctrination beginning at the age of ten, and what fates awaited the young Nazis as their left the classrooms and came face to face with the unspeakable horrors of 20th century warfare.

But he also makes sure, and goes to great length, in exposing and revealing all the shortcomings and hypocrisy that were present in all sections of the national socialist party and politics. And it's actually these "revelations" that are the real treat of the book. Simply because perfectionism and discipline were two of the major foundations of the Nazi state, and thus it's quite an eye-opener to learn how inefficient and defective the system really was. Another interesting, and uncanny, lesson learned from it is the fact that even young children are capable of horrible deeds and how they must not be allowed to escape judgment just because they happen to be a few years away from reaching adulthood.

There had been child soldiers long before the birth of Hitler and up to this very day it's not uncommon that children are chosen to fight and die for conflicts resulting in grown-ups' inability to get along peacefully. Still, the exploitation of youth has never been done in a more massive scale than in Nazi Germany, and never have I read a better analysis than the one carried out by Michael H. Kater in Hitler Youth.

A WELL DOCUMENTED WORK - A GOOD ADDITION TO YOUR LIBRARY.......2005-05-30

Mr. Kater has given us a well documented and well presented work, as the title would indicate, addressing the history and working of the now infamous Hitler Youth. The author has been rather meticulous in presenting his source data, something that is always appreciated, and more often than not these days, not at all well done. Thank you Mr. Kater for that. While the average reader (that includes me) may find most of this book to be a bit on the dry side, it never-the-less is certainly worth the extra effort it may cost to read through it. This is an area little understood, and surprisingly very little is known of it. It is an area we should all pay very close attention to. It would be a horrible shame to look into a mirror and find ourselves there one day. Back to the book though. I would have personally liked to have seen more first hand account from the rank and file, i.e. exmembers of this group. As it stands, the author has used memories of what I feel are too many academic types who have obviously spent years formulating their thoughts on the subject. I sort of wonder what the "grunt" that remained a "grunt" after the war, now feels. What are their thoughts and feelings? This is just me though, and perhaps that would add little to the subject. All in all I highly recommend this one, for both students of this era and for those simply interested.

Will Become One Of The Basic Treatises On The Hitler Youth........2005-04-01

The author blends a large amount of primary material composed of both interviews of formal members and Nazi records to present this thourough insight into what appears to be all aspects of the Hitler Youth. Additionally, the author is an excellant writer who does not write on the HS level, nor does vomit vocabulary causing one to have to have a dictionary nearby as do so many other historians do.

As mentioned above, the author relies on numerious primary sources in his book. One of the strengths of this author is that he does not take an event and deem that a certain inference must be drawn. He gives the evidence ot the reader, perhaps suggests several possible inferences and allows he reader to decide. The author approached the critical issue of culpability for these teenagers in that way. At face value, the book's breakdown looks oversimplified as it only contains six chapters under the most general headings. As one reads it, one realizes how well the author makes these approach work.

To summerize, in my humble opinion, I believe this author presented this subject in an extraordinary manner. I do not pretend to be an expert on this eriod of history. Still, I do have some academic backround in early 20th century history in Europe. This has led to a lifetime of reading books dealing with that era. In my humble opinion, this book will become one of the leading books in that area.

Finally, I have to say I found the author's writing style and respect for the reader refreshing. The author clearly does not presume to tell the reader what they must conclude and assumes the reader is capable of thought. This author impressed so much that his other works have been placed on my reading and in his case, I will not worry that I am wasting 20 or 30 bucks at a pop.

The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division Volume I (Stackpole Military History)

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12th SS Vol I & II
Hitlers child soldiers
Interesting but flawed

The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division Volume I (Stackpole Military History)
Hubert Meyer
Manufacturer: Stackpole Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Grenadiers: The Story Of Waffen SS General Kurt 'Panzer' Meyer (Stackpole Military History)
Armor Battles of the Waffen SS, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History Series)
MICHAEL WITTMANN AND THE WAFFEN SS TIGER COMMANDERS OF THE LEIBSTANDARTE IN WWII, Vol. 2 (Stackpole Military History)
MICHAEL WITTMANN AND THE WAFFEN SS TIGER COMMANDERS OF THE LEIBSTANDARTE IN WWII, Vol. 1 (Stackpole Military History)
Infantry Aces: The German Soldier in Combat in WWII (Stackpole Military History Series)

ASIN: 0811731987

Book Description

This first volume details all aspects of the Hitler's fanatical "boy soldiers" division's history with a balanced mix of both tactical and strategic accounts, including the creation and training of these teenage warriors and their baptism of fire in the Normandy campaign in World War II. Written by the division's former chief of staff.

Customer Reviews:

12th SS Vol I & II.......2007-01-31

This is an excellent historical reference book. It provides another viewpoint to the Allied histories of the war. There seems to be an obvious bias which is also present in many if not most of the Allied histories. Viewed in the context of contrary histories of the same battles, many points can be clarified.
The 12th SS was a fabulous division of fighting men. I see many training and doctrinal attributes that were used in the Marine Corps when I joined. When viewed in a strictly historical perspective of fighting quality and ability there are few formations that can compare with with the 12th SS. I highly recommend these volumes to historians as well as gamers modeling the battles this division was engaged in.

Hitlers child soldiers.......2005-10-14

Having completed a PHD on the Waffen-SS and their atrocities I found that this item lacked some details in that regard. As a pure military history it is execellent. However I would have liked more detail of the political and ideological background to the unit. A good read.

Interesting but flawed.......2005-07-25

Good description of battle but goes into details in a somewhat disjointed manner. Hard to tell at times whether point of view of battle is from the German or Allied side. Worth the price and the read if a student of Western Front of European war,

In Hitler's Bunker: A Boy Soldier's Eyewitness Account of the Fuhrer's Last Days

Average customer rating:

Good and bad
Riveting Firsthand Account
Very interresting
Remarkable book about the end of a tyrannical dictator
The Fall of Berlin from a Unique Perspective

In Hitler's Bunker: A Boy Soldier's Eyewitness Account of the Fuhrer's Last Days
Armin D. Lehmann , and Tim Carroll
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared For Stalin From The Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides
Hitler's Death: Russia's Last Great Secret from the Files of the KGB
Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich
The Women Who Knew Hitler: The Private Life of Adolf Hitler
The Last Days of Hitler

ASIN: 1592285783

Book Description

One boy's eyewitness account of Hitler's bunker at the fall of the Third Reich.

Customer Reviews:

Good and bad.......2007-09-05

Okay the good part, it is written very clearly in an easy to read way and adds some color to a fascinating time period. The bad part, I think this writer watched "Downfall" and copied a ton of what was said and shown in there and then added a little bit of his experiences that he could remember. There is no way some 15 year old kid knew what was being said in Hitler's situation conferences, thoughts of the top tier of the NSDAP party members, who was sleeping with whom and so on. There is a lot of filler in this to get enough material for a book here.

Riveting Firsthand Account.......2007-04-01

This outstanding book has my highest recommendation. As a history, it is a riveting firsthand account of Lehmann's life as a 16-year-old in Nazi Germany at the end of World War II. He tells of his training in January 1945 with the Hitler Youth to defend Germany against Russian advances on the eastern front, of his efforts to defend his hometown, Breslau, and of the extraordinary set of circumstances that led to his becoming Adolf Hitler's last courier in the Fuhrerbunker itself! He served in the bunker to the very end.

Lehmann's recollections are honest, vivid, unvarnished, and fresh. This is no reworking of events as is so frequently found in the memoirs of politicians, generals, and assorted hangers-on to the great and powerful. I know of no other such honest and straightforward account of the personalities and activities in the bunker. With the assistance of his co-author, Tim Carroll, Lehmann's personal story is seamlessly integrated into the larger story of the fall of Berlin and the events unfolding in the bunker. That account is extremely well-written and comprehensive, and well worth the price of the book in its own right.

But this is more than just a history well-told; this is also a history lesson. Lehmann presents the story of his youth as a painfully gained case study in war and evil. His aim is to warn others, especially the young, of the mindless horrors of war and of the absolute necessity for the peaceful resolution of conflict. Near the end of the book, he sums it up by saying "My own experience of war has created in me a passionate devotion to peace. Raised in an atmosphere of hate and prejudice, I've surmounted the teachings of my youth and risen to carry the word of peace around the world."

To that end, Lehmann's book recounts his growing revulsion at the suffering and horror all around him, and his ultimate disillusionment with Nazism and its leaders. He is no Nazi apologist. His message is two-fold: Nazism was an evil for all people, including the Germans, and war is a useless tool to resolve conflict. After the war, Lehmann became estranged from his father, who remained an unrepentant Nazi, and Lehmann has devoted the remainder of life to promoting the cause of peace around the world, bringing to that cause the same passion and enthusiasm that he exhibited in defending his homeland.

For readers with an appetite to hear Lehmann's personal story in even greater detail, I heartily recommend his earlier book, Hitler's Last Courier- A Life in Transition, now out of print, which runs to 531 pages. What it may lack in presenting a broader overview of the fall of Berlin, it more than makes up for in its detailed recollections of Lehmann's personal journey from innocent youth, to Hitler's last courier, to advocate for peace. Quite a transition and quite a life!

Very interresting.......2007-02-15

What a great book, and a very quick read. I read it at Barnes and Nobles while my wife was shopping...

Brian - you should definately read this book.

Remarkable book about the end of a tyrannical dictator.......2007-02-12

Armin Lehmann lived the horrors of the Third Reich growing up in Nazi Germany. Only a child when the war started, Lehmann became a Member of the Hitler Youth, and ended up being one of the Fuhrer's last couriers. His final encounter was just hours before Hitler committed suicide. His story is told in clear descriptive terms, bringing the horror of all out war in vivid perspective. If you want to understand how normal, honorable people can be swept up in the hysteria of an evil movement, this is the book for you. The scenes of battle are realistic and graphic, not heroic and epic. Lehmann is a remarkable man with a incredible tale of a time we may wish to forget, but cannot afford to, lest it happen again.

The Fall of Berlin from a Unique Perspective.......2006-11-29

This book is so much more than what the title suggests. Of course, Mr. Lehmann gives a unique look inside the final days of the life of Adolph Hitler as he hid himself away in his bunker, but he also takes the reader through the hell that was Berlin in April, 1945. To say that the book was engrossing would be an understatement as the intensity of action combined with the sense of desperation turns this book into the type of page-turner that I just could not put down. Another of the most interesting features of this book is the fact that all these moments of intense warfare, face-to-face encounters with Hitler, and final hour-death throes of the Third Reich are being experienced by a sixteen-year-old boy who manages to show a resolution, focus, and courage well beyond his years. Mr. Lehmann gives an honest vision of what it was like to be a young soldier fighting for his country and a political system that he had been raised to believed in as well as the feeling of disillusionment when the truth of the holocaust was eventually brought to the fore. He very skillfully manages to put a human, even sympathetic face on what the rest of the world regards as one of the darkest forms of evil the world has ever witnessed.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. Highly recommended.

Stella: One Woman's True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler's Germany

Average customer rating:

A Question of Guilt
Blond Betrayer
Mr. Wyden finds the painful truth about a childhood friend.
A gripping and unforgettable book
A sickening but outstanding account

Stella: One Woman's True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler's Germany
Peter Wyden
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Will to Live

ASIN: 0385471793
Release Date: 1993-10-01

Book Description

The story of Stella Goldschlag, whom Wyden knew as a child, and who later became notorious as a "catcher" in wartime Berlin, hunting down hundreds of hidden Jews for the Nazis. A harrowing chronicle of Stella's agonizing choice, her three murder trials, her reclusive existence, and the trauma inherited by her illegitimate daughter in Israel.

16 pages of B&W photographs.

Customer Reviews:

A Question of Guilt.......2006-07-13

Wyden mixes personal reminiscences about his youthful schoolboy infatuation with schoolmate Stella with a history of the persecution of Jews in Berlin and Stella's ever duplicitous role in it. Ultimately, he portrays a pathetic, lonely and isolated woman who refuses to acknowledge any guilt, real or alledged, or personal responsibility in betraying Jews to the Gestapo.

This book is history and personal anecdote while concurrently begging thought provoking questions about guilt and capitulation. One could easily conclude that had Stella been born in a different place at a different time she would have been a totally ordinary person living out an uneventful life. Sometimes it almost seems that Wyden wants to believe this too. For her part, she claims that even had there been any cooperation with the Gestapo it was to spare the lives of her parents. Is she guilty out of concern for her parents (they ultimately perished) and therefore somewhat forgiven by the "I was just obeying orders" defense so frequently echoed throughout World War II and VietNam; or is she guilty because an ordinary person was born into and negatively impacted by the truly bizarre and cruel world of 1940s Berlin?

Stella is ultimately a disturbing portrait of a truly personal human tragedy; her own and those who suffered for it.

Blond Betrayer.......2006-04-30

Few can match the infamous Blond Poison, Stella Goldschlag, who stalked the alleys of Berlin seeking former friends, School Classmates and neighbers as as well as total strangers not out of loneliness but in order to betray them and send them to the Gas Chambers to be murdered in her place during the Holocaust. She well deserves her reputation as a Judas to the Jews of Berlin, the men, women and children whom she betrayed by the score to preserve her own life.

This book is basicly her story. Written by a former classmate.

It details much of her early life to the best of the author's knowledge. It then goes on to describe her career as a Griefer, one of the scores of Jews who openly chose to assist the Gestapo finding the Jews in hiding so to deport them to the death camps in exchange for their own survival.

A career in which Stella Goldschlag was one of the Gestapo's best.

One could compare her to the infamous Blond Irma Grese (who is not mentioned in this book) but Wyden shows her life was a far cry from nightmare that of the infamous Blond Beast's. She was not mistreated. Her mother spoiled her. Her father hardly interfered. She certainly had contact with better men in the beginning. A far cry from the horrors of Irma Grese's nightmare life that ultimately exploded with deadly fury upon the inmates of Auschwitz with all the savagery of a mistreated dog.

When one looks at the infamous Blond Poison and her Domestic Partner Rolf Isaacson one finds no reason to sympathise with them at all. They did what they did as a matter of choice. Wyden even reports the infamous Blond Poison enjoyed her work.

This is the story of one woman's choice in Evil.

Mr. Wyden finds the painful truth about a childhood friend........2000-09-07

I do not wish to hurt anyone who has suffered from the holocaust by writing this review, nor do I want dishonor anyone who was destroyed by it. I am only making an observation about what happened to this woman named Stella. Stella was a beautiful blonde girl who reached early maturity during WWII in Berlin. She was Jewish, but with her blue eyes she could easily pass for a gentile. When Hitler started his personal war against Jews, he initiated the most horrible and beastly experience that could happen to human beings. With his henchmen, and their vicious attacks on Jews and other peoples, he pushed people into emotional dungeons, and it is at these dark, these lowest levels, that we discover what we are really capable of doing. In his painful memoir of his experiences of the holocaust, Elie Weisel, shows us in Night, that when the Nazis tossed tiny bits of bread to starving Jews, many of them killed for that one morsel of food, sometimes ending the lives of their loved ones for a chance to put something in their mouths. For me, this book was about survival. No one knows what they are capable of unless they are taken to that horrifying nightmare place of doom, and unless one has been there, there is absolutely no way of knowing what our choices would be. Many would argue that Stella did not get to the extremes that occurred in the death camps. But we do know that she was beaten over and over and over again. And then she was offered a chance to have it all end by being a "catcher" for the Nazis. We know that other Jews committed suicide to avoid the beatings and the offer of becoming a catcher to stay alive. I can only thank God that I have never had to be in such a situation, because I don't know what I would do. How could I know? I do know that I have a very strong instinct to live, and I think that may have been why Stella took the path that she did. I believe, that in making that choice, she did lose her "soul." I think that is the only way that a human being could do what she did. For Stella did not only "catch" Jews for the Nazis, many eyewitnesses said she seemed to enjoy it. I think for anyone to make that "choice" you would have to put your entire being into it in order to perform those horrible crimes. In the end, I think Stella suffered far more than if she had allowed herself to die at the hands of the Nazis. At the age of about 21, she began the life of a person who is hated by virtually everyone she had ever known and anyone she would ever meet. She lives her life constantly attempting to convince herself that she didn't do anything wrong. She lives in total seclusion, with the lights always dim, year after year with no one to love her, no one to hold her, no one to console her. And still she survived into old age. Survival was Stella's strongest urge. It kept her alive to live a lifelong death, the death of her humanity, with the destruction of hundreds, perhaps thousands on her hands. Would I choose survival? In retrospect, had I been a "Stella," I can only pray that I would have had the ability to accept my death at the hands of the Nazis.

A gripping and unforgettable book.......1999-02-23

This book is well worth seeking out, even if it is out of print.

What makes it all the more fascinating is that the author grew up with the subject of the biography. The text seems meandering at first, but the interweaving of his story -- and that of Stella -- comes sharply into focus, as the writer shares his innermost thoughts.

Although he does not make Stella blameless, he does demonstrate empathy for her -- in the end, she lives but has lost her soul. She is an unforgetable character. Striking, too, are the many `supporting' characters Wyden introduces to us, brave and courageous Jews who survived in Berlin through much of the war and, in some cases, all of it. These individual stories are striking, heart-warming, sometimes funny, and always unforgetable. I found the book as engrossing as a fictional thriller, truly a `can't put down' item! Don't miss it!

A sickening but outstanding account.......1998-09-15

When I first read this book I was sickened that someone could do this to their own people. It also shows the weaknesses of the Nazis and their "ideal" person because many Jews fit the profile of the "perfect Aryan". In the end God works in wonderous and mysterious ways. Stella got what she deserved when her daughter was taken from her by the Jewish community of Berlin and raised as a Jew. It is a must read for those interested in World War II and the Holocaust.

Hitler Youth: The Hitlerjugend in Peace and War, 1933-1945

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Hitler Youth: The Hitlerjugend in Peace and War, 1933-1945
Brenda Ralph Lewis
Manufacturer: Zenith Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

The Hitler Youth: Origins and Development 1922-1945
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ASIN: 0760309469

Book Description

This illustrated history fully examines the manipulation and corruption of an entire generation at the hands of the Nazis. Explanations include: why the control of youth was integral to National Socialism; how Nazis indoctrinated youngsters to spy on their own families; and the roles of German youth both when war broke out and when they were drafted into fighting units.

Average customer rating:

Excellent work within Osprey's limitations
fan-bloody-tastic
agreed...
Osprey's latest ... but not greatest

The Hitler Youth 1933-45 (Warrior)
Alan Dearn
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces: Uniforms and equipment 1937-45 (Men-at-Arms)

ASIN: 184176874X
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Book Description

The Hitler Youth was not in itself a military formation, but a movement that sought to inculcate Nazi ideology upon German youth. Nevertheless, paramilitary training formed an important part of this education, especially given the Nazi veneration of the soldier as the epitome of Germanic manhood; and even some members of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, the Hitler Youth organization for girls, became combatants in the final stages of the war. This book explores how the preliminary training that German youth underwent in the Hitler Youth prepared them for service in the armed forces, and how Hitler Youth members became directly involved in military service under the pressure of total war.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent work within Osprey's limitations.......2006-12-08

I have to strenuously disagree with Chris Crawford's review. Crawford seems to believe that this book purports to be THE reference work on the Hitler Youth movement, something which it was clearly never intended to be. As the publisher's website informs us "Osprey's Warrior series is an ideal reference resource for re-enactors, military history enthusiasts, model makers and wargamers." Many books in the Warrior series, including this one, are worthwhile for academic historians, but that is not the readership at which they are aimed.

Crawford criticises the book for its lack of exhaustive academic quality referencing, a criticism which simply fails to appreciate that the book is aimed at a popular, rather than an academic, audience; extensive referencing would actually turn away most of the potential market for a book of this type. It is also quite inappropriate to criticise the author, Alan Dearn, for the referencing since the publisher, not the author, has determined the referencing style for the series. Granted there are a couple of minor factual mistakes, but I have yet to find a book aimed at the "military enthusiast" market that does not contain similar errors. Let's face it, Crawford's own review manages to misspell the name of the author of this book.

For Crawford to compare a book such as this to something like Littlejohn's 377 page tome is to do disservice to both books; Dearn's work is not a comprehensive history of the Hitler Youth, but it does not claim to be. I think it fulfils its purpose admirably.

fan-bloody-tastic.......2006-06-18

booo...chris crawford, i thought that this book was highly informative and entertaining (the pictures are great!). Although there are minor discrepancies in the description of the Hitler youths uniforms, in the grand scheme of things this is unimportant because it was not in any way the point of the book. I'm sure with hindsight Dearn is hitting himself for not checking his source, but we're all human. I am myself a history student and i am currently researching for my PhD, i thought this book was GREAT, hooray for Alan Dearn.

agreed..........2006-06-16

I'll have to agree with Tara here. I am personally fascinated by this particular period in history, and have studied it extensively. While, ideally, this is best read within the vast array of literature which exists on the topic (Littlejohn's is particularly excellent), I found this to be a highly worthwhile study into the sociological apsects of the Hitler Youth. Pedantic nuances aside, I would recommend this book to any person with a similar interest in such features of Hitler's Germany.

Osprey's latest ... but not greatest.......2006-06-09

As a historian interested in this particular aspect of the Third Reich, I found Alan Dearn's book very disappointing. It does not appear like he has done a lot of in-depth research, and while some of the photos in the book are lovely (particularly loved the one to go along with Maria's story at the end of the book), they are not enough to make up for the lack of factual information.

"The Hitler Youth 1933 - 45" gives a brief general overview of the Hitler Youth, its organization, tasks, and uniforms. As such, Dearn has included information on the sections of the Hitler Youth - the Jungvolk, the Hitler Youth, the Jungmaedel, and the League of German Girls. This is great for a quick "starter" book if you have not researched anything on the subject before, but for those with a serious interest, it will be disappointing.

Dearn's research did not strike me as particularly well done. In some instances he cites former leaders or members remembering one thing or another, but does not give any sources for those recollections, such as the names of the former members or the publications he is quoting. In his text on the BDM, particularly, is where this lack of sources becomes apparent. There only source he cites on BDM subjects is Melita Maschmann's autobiography "Fazit".

Dearn's information also shows gaping holes and misunderstandings. For example, he writes that girls in the BDM were not awarded the black neckerchief until they transferred from the Jungmaedel into the League at age 14. In fact, the BDM's own manuals state quite plainly that the neckerchief was awarded after completing the Jungmaedel challenge (said challenge was completed within the first 6 months after joining at the age of 10).

Elsewhere he carries on a common misunderstanding about the traditions bar on the Gau insignia as having "been awarded to all units that were in existence prior to 1933". I'm not sure where this mistake began because it is printed in other books on the Hitler Youth as well and Dearn has likely just copied it as "true" from one of those secondary sources. However, primary period sources give the following information: "The traditions triangle was worn by all members of the Hitler Youth and BDM who, prior to 30. January 1933 (or in the case of groups outside the Reich, a date prior to their respective regions' return to the German Reich), been a member of the Hitler Youth, BDM, Nazi party or any of their groups." (Aufbau und Abzeichen der Hitlerjugend, published by Youth Leadership Staff)

There are a lot of problems with Dearn's "Hitler Youth" book, which make me start to wonder whether Osprey actually has any editing or fact-checking process before publishing a book. Past publications on Third Reich subjects have not fared better than Dearne's book when it came to facts.

My review would be, save your money and spend it on a different book about the Hitler Youth instead. Maybe David Littlejohn's "The Hitler Youth". While that one also includes some minor mistakes, as a whole, it is much better researched and includes a lot more information.

How Was It Possible: The Story of a Hitler Youth and a Vital Analysis for Today's Times

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How Was It Possible: The Story of a Hitler Youth and a Vital Analysis for Today's Times
Hilmar Von Campe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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