Original subtitles

Narrator: Berlin, April 1945.

It's the last days of the third reich.

Some of the führer's very last fighters are adolescents,

Not even fifteen years old.

Their sole objective: Protect the bunker of adolph hitler,

Their supreme leader.

Facing the soviets, they have no chance of winning.

Only a few years earlier, they swore to give their lives to adolf hitler.

They will stand by their promise and see it through,

To the end.

Who are these child-soldiers ready to sacrifice themselves for hitler?

How did the nazi regime win their unfailing loyalty?

Some of these children are still alive today.

-We were asked to swear in the name of the führer,

The people and the nation and if necessary,

To sacrifice our lives.

And this was something we found normal.

Narrator: They are the last to tell us what it meant to grow up during the nazi era.

-"one people, one führer, one reich."

These three slogans were inculcated in us.

There was no other führer, there was only one.

And he was worshipped like a god!

Narrator: How did these young people get caught up in the darkness of nazism?

They are the future of the regime,

Its showcase and its cannon fodder.

The history of the hitler youth begins with the birth

Of the nazi party in the 1920's.

Germany is traumatized by the defeat of 1918.

The peace imposed by the treaty of versailles inflicts severe sanctions:

Germany is partially occupied and loses part of its territory.

For the conquered, the treaty is seen as a humiliation.

One man is determined to change this: Adolf hitler.

After a failed coup attempt in 1923,

The nazi party leader hopes to seize power through the popular vote.

To help wage the campaign and hang posters,

The party calls upon its militia, the sa,

And on young apprentices and high school students.

The young militants organize and proclaim themselves

Hitler youth or "hitlerjugend."

There are only a handful of them, aged 14 to 18.

In 1920s germany, almost every political party

And labor union has its own youth movement.

There are young communists and young catholics...

All of these groups are inspired by the model of

The scouts' movement, founded in 1907 by the british.

Like the other movements, when it begins,

The hitler youth offers popular activities to

Children, without class distinction.

For many children, it's more than they can hope for.

-I was a member of the german workers' youth organization.

Back then, we couldn't afford much.

If we wanted to go to the movies from time to time,

We had to earn our pocket money ourselves.

And so, these distractions for young people were something

Very special for us kids from workers' families.

To be perfectly honest, most of the time we were happy to go.

-At the time, I wanted to join,

Quite simply because it was an opportunity to leave our little village.

We had no electricity, we had no running water.

As children, we had to lend a hand during harvest.

Overall, we were called on to pitch in quite often.

So, it was a big change for us when, for example,

We went on outings with the hitler youth.

And of course, it was a fantastic experience.

Narrator: As with the scouts, the mandatory uniforms hide

Social differences.

-There was something fascinating about uniforms;

We saw them in the street every day.

The sa, the ss, and party members.

And at last, I could wear a uniform too.

Narrator: At the start of the 1930's,

The hitler youth movement, like the nazi party,

Is rapidly gaining ground.

Hitler isn't convinced that these militants,

Too young to vote, are of any use to him.

But in 1932, over 70,000 young people gather in a

Packed stadium in potsdam to greet him.

That day, hitler, who has yet to witness such

A demonstration of force, realizes that these young

People are the future of his movement.

He confides to his inner circle: "we are old.

But my wonderful young people, what an amazing human resource they are!

With them, I could build a new world."

The economic crisis helps carry hitler to power in 1933.

He begins to transform germany.

Opposition parties are banned.

Democracy is dead.

Hitler wants to create a new nation whose extreme

Nationalism is devoted entirely to its leader.

To draw the 9 million german children into party ranks and

Transform them into fanatical nazis,

Hitler will play both the "menace and seduction" cards.

The menace is immediately enacted: As of 1933,

All rival political party youth organizations are

Dissolved and incorporated into the hitler youth.

To attract even more young people,

The hitler youth also have the means to seduce:

It monopolizes summer camps, the climax of the year for youth associations.

Far from parents, in a setting that appears adventurous and free,

An ideological education is made easier.

Through playful activities,

The promise of a happy future takes shape.

Supervised by boys barely older than themselves,

For many of the children, this seems too good to be true.

The number of members skyrockets.

In a twelve-month period, the hitler youth membership

Increases from 100,000 to over two million.

As long as you're not jewish or a political opponent,

Life can be quite pleasant under the third reich.

Although the hitler youth includes both girls and boys,

The boys are more important to hitler.

They're the ones he is counting on to see his project through.

They're the future soldiers of his empire and a special

Program awaits them.

Full-scale war games are organized.

The children have to move around in "enemy" territory

With only a compass and a map, camouflage themselves,

And try to secretly infiltrate...

These "adventure" games fascinate the young people.

-It went like this: When the fight began,

You had to rip off the armbands of the other team.

They were the trophies.

Then afterwards, we counted them.

And the team which had torn off the most armbands,

They had won the war, so to speak.

-For us boys, it was really lots of fun.

And I must add, it was completely apolitical;

In any case, we knew nothing about all that.

-It was a great experience, because of course,

We wanted to play soldier.

For us, it was an adventure.

Narrator: German filmmakers make movies of their escapades.

True "made-in-germany" westerns.

Narrator: The films are screened in movie theaters,

Where they capture a wide audience and new members.

The message: The young german male must once again become a

Beast of prey, an attack dog.

An illiterate brute is preferable to a pale, weak dilettante.

Narrator: The king of sports is fighting.

Narrator: Not all the young people are cut out for this.

The weak and the scrawny are made fun of, humiliated.

The vision of the nazi world allows only for performance and excellence.

Anyone who can't live up to these expectations is

A failure and must be treated like one.

-Not only were they disliked, in addition,

They were harassed.

They were battered and bullied by certain hitler youth leaders.

They were pushed off to the sidelines;

Sometimes they were beaten too.

That also, was absolutely awful.

It really was a horrible period.

Those who, like myself, were athletes,

Could do things with their eyes closed,

But those who couldn't, they paid for it.

(singing in german)

Narrator: The harassment and humiliation are so intense

That some young people break down,

Some even committing suicid.

But such negative incidents are carefully concealed by the third reich.

Officially, all the hitler youth are valiant fighters.

Narrator: Gradually, all rival youth groups are absorbed into the hitler youth.

By 1937, churches are no longer allowed to organize any sports.

Soon, hitler youth membership is mandatory.

Young germans are no longer allowed to belong to sports

Clubs or go to summer camps outside of the hitler youth organization.

Soon, one flag flies on every road in germany:

The flag of the hitler youth.

To honor its members, the children are invited,

Beginning at a very young age, to parade in cities.

They are now the only young people that have this right.

These events unite battalions, which practice marching.

Their pace becomes standardized, like their thinking.

The youth are flattered and congratulated.

They're the showcase of the regime and they let themselves

Be carried away by the euphoria of the parades.

-There were gigantic parades, with flags,

People and speeches.

It was exceptional.

It was interesting.

Imagine, for a child, participating in a parade is always interesting.

It's a little bit like, excuse the comparison,

A religious procession.

When you take part in one as a choir boy,

It's also something quite special.

-Try to picture it, we marched in columns in our streets.

Ahead of us, music, drums and trumpets!

And the flag.

Yes, and you marched, while the parents stood at the windows.

So, of course, you were very proud.

-It was first and foremost a demonstration of power to the outside world.

There we were, who knows, 10,000 young people?

And secondly, it was of course a demonstration to ourselves as well;

It meant, "we are someone."

Narrator: Sometimes, the führer will make an appearance at these gigantic meetings.

The nation of tomorrow meets its creator.

-I must admit, for us, he was not really a father figure,

He was more like a god who lorded over everything.

(crowd cheering)

-"one people, one führer, one reich."

These three slogans were inculcated in us.

There was no other führer, there was only one.

And he was worshipped like a god!

Narrator: The young people are beside themselves with joy.

Hitler is worshiped like a pop star.

-When he opened his mouth, it was if we were hypnotized.

That's what I would say today.

We hung on his lips, we drank in his words,

And we believed everything he said.

-The nazi regime flattered its youth in a way never seen

Before then or since: "the nation is you!

You are the nation's future!"

That is truly what was inculcated in us.

(chanting "heil")

-You see, we were "someone," because children,

In comparison to their parents,

Often feel like they're worthless.

And the hitler youth made us count in society,

And yes, we were taken more seriously too.

And, naturally, we liked that.

Narrator: Nazi propaganda sells the german youth on an agenda:

"you will be someone, you will be strong,

You will have a wonderful life."

Young people are only too happy to let themselves be swept away.

As of 1936, over 5 million of them shouted out their love for the führer.

At each gathering, they sing their hymn.

-This is how the hitler youth hymn went.

-When we marched, we sang at the same time.

The important thing was not to sing in tune,

The important thing was to sing loud!

Narrator: To complete the brainwashing process,

The "heil hitler" salute becomes a part of everyday life.

-We started doing the hitler salute,

With our arms in the air, as of 7, 8 years of age.

When the teacher came into the classroom,

We all stood: "heil hitler!"

With our hands raised.

When we entered a shop to buy something: "heil hitler!"

With our hand raised.

It became a habit, like when you say "hello" or "cheers."

-My father was a party member.

For him, it was important that we say, "heil hitler!"

And if as children we didn't say it,

He'd say to us: "didn't you forget something?"

Yes, it happened sometimes.

-When we got to school, they watched us,

Near the entrance of the schoolyard,

To see if we'd done the hitler salute or not.

And if you hadn't, they'd slap you on the head, like this, whack!

And believe me, you instantly remembered hitler again.

(crowd cheering/chanting)

Narrator: Repeating "heil hitler" mechanically dozens

Of times a day, the hitler youth are indoctrinated witha

National socialist education.

The ideological noose is tightening.

The nazis leave nothing to chance and supervise everyone

Who is in contact with children.

The regime limits religious services offered by the church

And parental influences are removed during the summer camps.

The new masters of germany draw up new school programs.

Children are taught to hate the jew and the bolshevist.

Narrator: Disgusting racial laws are enacted.

Patriotic hymns gradually grow into hymns of hatred and are

So often repeated they can still be recalled 70 years later.

-"throw them out, the entire gang of jews,

Throw them out of our nation."

Then, in the original song,

It carried on with warnings for them never to come back and then it said:

"chop off their head and legs,

Otherwise they'll come back."

We sang that without ever questioning it.

After all, we were already secondary school students.

-At school, we saw an exhibition on "bolshevism."

And in this exhibition, we saw posters where the russians

Were represented with horns.

We even wrote essays on the subject.

What this meant was: They are sub-humans.

So, we were humans, and the russians were sub-humans.

-We were the good ones.

They were the ones who had brought every misfortune to

Europe and the world, it was the jews.

This was the number one topic.

And I believed it.

Narrator: Once infected with hatred,

Acting out becomes easier.

Along with the sa and ss nazi militias,

The hitler youth participate in large-scale anti-semitic

Rituals of public humiliation.

-We always walked past one store, a jewish shop.

And there, we were ordered, to chant: "jews get out."

And that, that was our anti-semitic activity,

So to speak.

But, in fact, it was not conscious.

Narrator: By 1936, germany emerges from its recession.

Hitler has lowered unemployment through armament

And large-scale reconstruction projects and makes his country

A fearsome force in europe.

During the second half of the 1930's,

He goes on the offensive.

In 1938, he annexes austria to germany.

The sudetenland region of czechoslovakia is occupied and annexed.

War is coming closer.

The german chancellor needs the hitler youth.

They are the future soldiers of the wehrmacht.

Hitler intends to shape them into the warriors he wants.

Narrator: In addition to the fun and games,

The young people begin receiving true military training.

The spirit of competition is encouraged at all levels.

At age 16, the boys hike 13 miles with 18-pound backpacks.

They learn to master their fear and are taught to be warriors.

Narrator: The hitler youth now have access to everything they

Want in the adult world.

They're taught to shoot: First compressed air rifles,

Then with firearms.

They are introduced to water activities to prepare

Them for the navy.

And for those who dream of being in the luftwaffe,

They start training in gliders.

With all these oversized toys,

The children in the hitler youth movement play war.

And it's a serious game.

-Without our realizing it, we were being prepared militarily

For the upcoming war, those people were so clever,

They made it into something fun, something interesting.

Narrator: To complete the indoctrination of this

Miniature army, one final step remains: Taking the oath.

At all ages, they swear loyalty to the reich and their führer.

From the age of 10, children recite:

"in the presence of this banner which represents our führer,

I swear to devote all my energies and my strength to

The savior of our country, adolf hitler.

I am willing and ready to give up my life for him,

So help me god."

-We were asked to swear in the name of the führer,

The people and the nation and if necessary,

To sacrifice our lives and this was something we found normal.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The hitler youth has become a formidable organization.

From around 17,000 in 1929, to over 8 million children and

Adolescents ten years later.

That's 98% of all young germans.

It's a huge organization, worthy of a ministry.

To convince the last holdouts, the hitler youth movement

Becomes mandatory.

Refusing to join exposes families to heavy fines,

And even arrest.

Those who have reached fighting age enthusiastically

Join the wehrmacht and even the ss.

(explosions)

On September 1, 1939, war breaks out.

The wehrmacht invades poland under the pretext of a polish attack.

Their advance is lightning fast.

-At the time, we said to ourselves: "okay, this is it, we're heading east."

That's what we thought:

"adolf is right; he promised us vital space.

Poland is big, they have lots of vital space."

(air raid sirens)

-We were all of the opinion that these sub-humans who wanted

To put us under their yoke had to be vanquished,

And that this was just.

The atmosphere was victorious.

It has been prepared at school for many long years.

And this was the climax.

At last, we could assert ourselves as germans.

-Naturally we were proud of our victories.

It all went so fast, within 19 days,

The war was already over.

It had barely started and there it was, almost over.

Narrator: Eight months after poland,

The wehrmacht attacks the west.

In may 1940, the netherlands, belgium,

Luxembourg and France are invaded and occupied.

For the german people,

Hitler is the greatest strategist of all times.

Day after day, the hitler youth follow the progress of german troops;

They can't believe it.

In 6 weeks, the wehrmacht has beaten France.

-Following the summer of 1940, the nation was drunk.

-When we went to the movies, we saw news reels.

It was a feeling of joy, the führer had beaten the french.

-Those, of course, were events where we said:

"damn, we're good!"

-I thought that the wehrmacht was invincible.

Until then, I did.

Narrator: Hitler continues the offensive.

In June 1941, he launches his surprise attack

Against the soviet union.

The years of training pay off.

The young soldiers who had been part of the hitler youth

Prove to be fearsome warriors.

When they return from the front,

These "heroes" are used to spread the word to the

Soldiers of tomorrow.

-The older members would laugh and say:

"hey, the final victory can't wait for you guys to grow up;

We're going to finish the job before."

-Those of us who were, let's say,

Between 10 and 16 years old, it's true,

There was this apprehension that maybe we'd have nothing

Left to do; that the war would be over,

All the bad enemies beaten, before we reached the age to

Wear a soldier's uniform.

Narrator: The german army is advancing towards the east.

Following these troops, special commandos called

Einsatzgroupen, partially composed of former hitler youth,

Are tasked with killing jewish civilians.

Solomon perel is a young german of the jewish faith.

He is forced to flee his country towards the east to

Escape the anti-semitic persecutions.

When he arrives in byelorussia in 1941,

He is captured by german units and questioned.

-I was sure I was going to die,

I suddenly heard an order: "hands in the air!"

So, now it was my turn.

In front of me, stood a german soldier:

And he asked me, "are you jewish?"

I instantly thought of my father who had told me:

"always remain a jew, otherwise god will abandon you."

But, fortunately for me,

I immediately understood that if I told them the truth,

"I am jewish," I would be shot within the next 5 minutes.

And in the middle of this jumble of thoughts,

I suddenly heard an inner voice,

My mother's voice: "you must live."

And the fear that paralyzed me vanished,

I felt in completely security,

And I answered the soldier in an assured voice:

"no, of course I'm not jewish!

I'm a pure german from eastern germany."

And miraculously, he believed me.

I was immediately handed a wehrmacht uniform,

And suddenly I saw the german eagle with the nazi swastika

On my chest, I was horrified.

"is this sally?

One swastika here, another swastika there..."

I was in shock.

But I drew strength in my mother's three words.

I never forgot them: "you must live!"

Narrator: Solomon perel hides his name and goes by joseph perjel.

Fortunately, he is sent back to germany and

Joins one of the regime's elite schools.

He becomes a fully integrated member of the hitler youth.

While war rages on the front, the physical and ideological

Preparation continues.

The lesson of the day: Racial superiority.

Proportional relationships between the depth,

Height and width of the skull are determined.

Eye and hair color are both recorded and nazi science

Categories are established.

-I remember that on my photos, I believe it was written:

80% nordic.

-I was classified as a type 2 aryan, or nordic.

I was only second choice.

-It gave rise to a feeling of superiority amongst many of us.

-At the time, we were better human beings.

The others were sub-humans.

This is what they told us and we believed it.

So, the jews and the poles, they were all people who

Needed to be exterminated.

It's unimaginable that I could have believed that.

It was only later that I realized it was all rubbish.

But at the time, we believed it.

Narrator: One day, solomon perel is questioned by his race teacher.

-I was sure he was going discover that I was jewish,

That he'd pull my underpants down and see that I was circumcised,

And that I'd land in a gestapo basement room.

I was sure of it.

But what happened there, was incredible.

After being measured, he took very precise measurements:

The shape of the skull, the distance between the eyes,

The ears, all sorts of things and when he was finally done

With all that, he told the classroom:

"take a good look at joseph.

He's the classical aryan type from the eastern baltic region."

So, in fact, I'm a true aryan.

Narrator: By the end of 1942, the reich begins losing the upper hand.

In north africa and on the eastern front,

The war is stagnating.

The reich is almost out of adult men,

All of whom have left for combat.

The hitler youth are mobilized on the home front.

From the age of 14, they are sent door-to-door collecting rags,

Paper and metals.

Others are recruited as postmen,

Tram drivers and unskilled laborers for roadwork and railway lines.

They're sent out to work in the fields.

Their support of the economy is indispensable.

While news propaganda highlights their iron wills,

In truth, the young people suffer and begin to have doubts.

Employed in factories and mines,

The community service is more like hard labor.

-When the time came, I joined the reich labor service.

It was the worst thing imaginable.

We had to repair a road.

And to do that, we had to carry stones from a quarry

Situated half a mile away.

We didn't have the right to use wheelbarrows,

Even though it was possible, we had to carry the stones on

Our shoulders.

When you run with rocks on your shoulder,

Your shoulder bleeds.

And that's when I started feeling hatred towards the regime,

Because they treated us like dirt.

We had no rights whatsoever.

Narrator: In the winter of 1943,

The hitler youth are in for a big surprise:

The so-called sub-humans of the red army have managed to stand up to

The supermen of the wehrmacht.

In stalingrad, the axis powers lose

Hundreds of thousands of men, dead, wounded or taken prisoner.

Taking moscow, parading on the red square?

Now, that's unthinkable.

-We said to ourselves,

"okay, fine, we've suffered a few defeats, but when we get there,"

That is, we who were born in 1928, "we'll straighten things out."

-It was one of the reasons why I joined the ss,

All this never would have happened with units like the ss,

I was absolutely convinced of this.

It was my opinion at the time, that the ss were the only

Troops that carried on the combat.

The ss, which I belonged to, we were the saviors.

Narrator: To avoid heavy losses among their own ranks,

In 1943 the americans and british carry out massive

Bombing raids targeting industrial installations

And cities in germany.

The hitler youth wanted to fight the war,

Now the war has come to them.

The country is hit hard.

In the midst of all the rubble,

The hitler youth become impromptu firefighters and paramedics.

-We got people out of basements,

We helped the wounded...

All of this when I was just 15, 16 years old...

-First of all, we had to clear the stones with, with a pick.

We had to be careful because underneath there might be

People buried, or corpses; but when you felt something soft

With the spade, you might've hurt that person,

If they were still alive.

Then we got them out of there.

They were full of clay, all over, in their eyes.

It always disgusted me.

With a bucket of water, we had to rinse them,

Rinse their faces.

When the face was starting to appear, now that,

That was really, something awful.

The few people we got out of there, they were all dead.

When a bomb fell there, 90% of the people died.

Narrator: Brainwashed by the nazi regime for more than 10 years,

The hitler youth are promised a dream by adolf hitler

But now they find themselves living a nightmare under allied bombs.

The worst is yet to come.

By 1943, the time of conquest is over.

As germany faces defeat, it'll be left to these adolescents

And boys to defend their homeland until the final collapse.

Captioned by cotter captioning services.