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Loading... Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadowby Susan Campbell Bartoletti
 rin.wilson | Apr 27, 2013 |  A look at the youth organizations Hitler founded and used to meet his social and military ends. KilmerMSLibrary | Apr 26, 2013 | As someone who grew up when World War II was recent news rather than ancient history, who has lived in Germany, and has read quite a lot on World War II, Naziism and the Holocaust, I came to this book not expecting to learn much that was new. I read it as part of a scheme to read all the Newbery Award winners and honor books. Nine times out of ten, the Newbery Awards and Honors go to fiction, so I was also interested to see what kind of non-fiction was thought deserving of this honor. [author: Susan Campbell Bartoletti] uses the lens of the children and adolescents of Hitler's Germany to tell the story of the rise and fall of Naziism and the war in Europe. The book is far more than a history of the Hitler Youth (HitlerJugend); it also tells stories of Jewish youth and their experiences, and of the various youth resistance movements, especially the White Rose. As the war went on, many Hitler Youth went into the German armed forces (even at very young ages), and these stories are told as well. Through interviews with those still living, letters, diaries, and memoirs, and with the use of photographs from German and Allied archives, Bartoletti gives a complete picture of life under Hitler for children and young people. It would be an excellent book for kids who have read fictional works about this period and would like to know more of the facts. And if my experience is any guide, adults can learn a lot from it too. Very highly recommended. (  ) auntieknickers | Apr 3, 2013 | This book is a must for every classroom fifth grade and up. The content in this book is heavy, but it is crucial that all children are exposed to this horrific event in history. This book is good for students because it shares the perspectives of young boys and girls, and their experience with joining the Nazi's. This book is an accurate portrayal of the events that occurred during and leading up to the Holocaust, with emphasis on how children coped. I think most students would appreciate the knowledge this book would provide. Lib4282012 | Dec 1, 2012 | WWII history, studying how the Germans felt and what they would go threw to become soldiers in WWII. Stockel | Nov 26, 2012 |
Gr 5-8-Hitler's plans for the future of Germany relied significantly on its young people, and this excellent history shows how he attempted to carry out his mission with the establishment of the Hitler Youth, or Hitlerjugend, in 1926. With a focus on the years between 1933 and the end of the war in 1945, Bartoletti explains the roles that millions of boys and girls unwittingly played in the horrors of the Third Reich. The book is structured around 12 young individuals and their experiences, which clearly demonstrate how they were victims of leaders who took advantage of their innocence and enthusiasm for evil means. Their stories evolve from patriotic devotion to Hitler and zeal to join, to doubt, confusion, and disillusion. (An epilogue adds a powerful what-became-of-them relevance.) The large period photographs are a primary component and they include Nazi propaganda showing happy and healthy teens as well as the reality of concentration camps and young people with large guns. The final chapter superbly summarizes the weighty significance of this part of the 20th century and challenges young readers to prevent history from repeating itself. Bartoletti lets many of the subjects' words, emotions, and deeds speak for themselves, bringing them together clearly to tell this story unlike anyone else has.-Andrew Medlar, Chicago Public Library, IL Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. Yes, the Hitler youth is mentioned in most young adult nonfiction on the subject, but to see through this lens creates a completely different book! Bartoletti is quickly becoming a nonfiction writer who tops lists with her engaging writing, viewpoint, obvious dedication to research and knowledge of how important pictures are to the telling for this audience. Her book is filled with chilling quotes, anecdotal stories derived from research and interviews, and stories about how Hitler's young were manipulated and used as a primary source of his power and vision for the future. There are many facts revealed that may be new to readers. For example, the required year of service after graduation, the Landjahr, required youth do everything from clearing forests to shoveling "gravel through sieves for seven full hours" and by 1938 "the Reich Labor Service has turned so many acres of forests and swamps into useful land that it made up for nearly all the territory Germany had lost in the Treaty of Versailles." The author threads through the pages the stories of young heroes who stood up against Hitler, such as Sophie and Hans Scholl who wrote and distributed pamphlets until they were executed. 2005, Scholastic, Ages 11 up. Bartoletti (Kids on Strike!) offers a unique and riveting perspective on WWII by focusing on the young people who followed Hitler from 1933-1945. The narrative primarily focuses on members of the Hitler Youth, but also profiles some of the group's dissidents and its Jewish targets. Hitler began his quest for dominance with young people, recognizing them as "a powerful political force" and claiming, "With them I can make a new world." Bartoletti describes how the propaganda of the Hitler Youth attracted children: "The overnight camping trips, campfires, and parades sounded like a great deal of fun," said one 12-year-old. But the organization also emphasized loyalty to the Third Reich above all (including family-one eight-year-old, Elisabeth Vetter, turned in her parents to the Nazis). The author personalizes the war by placing identifiable individuals at the center of the events, such as Sophie Scholl, who moved away from Nazi ideas as a teen and in college joined the "White Rose" group that published pamphlets detailing Nazi evils and urging resistance-a crime for which she and others were executed. Powerful black-and-white photographs testify to the lure and also the cruelty of the Nazis. Bartoletti's portrait of individuals within the Hitler Youth who failed to realize that they served "a mass murderer" is convincing, and while it does not excuse the atrocities, it certainly will allow readers to comprehend the circumstances that led to the formation of Hitler's youngest zealots. Ages 7-10. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
References to this work on external resources.
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Wikipedia in English
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“What I want most of all is that you live in uprightness and freedom of spirit, no matter how difficult that may be." Robert Scholl
My Review:
I regrettably listened to the audiobook on this one, which is very robotic and stilted. Upon examining the book, I found that the pictures and format helped me keep all the teens straight, especially since to me, an American, many of their names were unpronouncable. Fascinating history about the 12 years Hitler was in power and the children who grew up under his regime, who learned to question nothing about national socialism and to obey their Hitler Youth leaders (often only a year older) over their teachers and parents. Teens who, on purpose or on accident, had their own parents and neighbors killed. Teens who stood up against Hitler and went to the guillotine bravely, and teens who operated tanks or worked concentration camps in willful ignorance. Interesting how youth were deliberatley used by Hitler strategically. (