Early 20th Century German Youth

By the arrival of Revolution in 1918, Germany had become an unstable state.  People, driven by a strong sense of national unity, and sharing the suffering’s from a nation at war, demanded more from than their government than death, destruction, economic hardship, and deceit.  The birth of the Weimar Republic signified an intense rise in political action more than a rise in true republicanism.  This sense of citizenship across Germany, which would eventually lead to the emotional rise of the Nazi party, is inextricably tied with the fate of Germany’s youth.

Post World War 1 Germany had a disproportionately large youth population.  Created by the high birth rate around the turn of the century, and aided substantially by the incredible losses of some of the older male population in the war effort, there was a disproportionately large group of young Germans.  This group, under the Weimar republic, carried great political weight.  In a nation politically fragmented as it was geographically merely 50 years previous, this group of people proved to be the desired electorate to attain power.  

This younger generation inherited a more drastically different world than any previous generation in Europe’s history.  Not only living in a post WWI society, they lived the era of atomic physics, psychoanalysis, booming cultural expansion, and the origin of mass communication.  While many citizens of the industrialized world met this onrush of modernity with fear and apprehension, much of the youth embraced the changes the world brought.  

The surplus of youth, coupled with extreme economic troubles, brought unemployment.  While the government did what it could to protect this branch of society, many still felt the pangs of hunger, or at the very least a difficult existence.  This generation, banded together by a new system of youth organizational involvement focused around athletics and hiking expeditions, continued to galvanize throughout the 20’s, in both positive and negative ecnomic standing, as they had during the war years.

After Hitler’s stay in jail following the Beer Hall Putsch, he voraciously returned to his work of political organizing and speech delivering.  While German cities banned his speaking privileges, they severely underestimated his skill or endurance to arouse support for his party.  Working with the goal of massive mobilization in the cities, Hitler found a perfect audience among the disproportionate number of youth living in the cities of Germany.  His message also spread to this audience in the University system, also primarily in the cities.  

The youth, having lived through tough economic and unstable political times found refuge in Hitler’s National Socialist party.  Denouncing the doctrines of capitalism and Marxism alike and built upon the back of German nationalism, the ascendency of the Nazi’s seems less befuddling when an analysis of the youth that grew into the Nazi generation is done.  This vulnerable youth was brought together by one of the most talented leaders in modern history.  Unfortunately for so many, this will forever be viewed as one of the most tragic developments in the history of human civilization.