Customer Reviews

The Hitler Youth 1933-45 (Warrior)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is a generalized overview of the Hitler Youth movement during the Third Reich Era and within the limitations of the Osprey publishing format it does a passable job of covering the subject to the casual reader. It is written as popular not academic history and will not satisfy the serious researcher. The standard of artwork is cartoonish but passable. One annoying aspect of this book is that the author has chosen to create fictitious composite biographical profiles of male and female German youth with respect to this historical period. This is explained as presenting a better representative illustration of the Hitler Youth experience. The cover of the book is also poorly chosen ; apparently it is a photograph of HJ standard bearers either before youth uniforms were standardized or the short period when Nazi political uniforms were banned since no swastikas or sig-runes are evident. There is no reference as to where and when the photo was actually taken and it could have been a photo of any German youth movement march in the pre-Nazi period. Information that also could have been effectively presented in graphic form such as rank insignia and unit hierarchies, organizational structure and geographical distribution are all superficially covered in a few text paragraphs. There is a modest but unannotated bibliography. The serious student of the HJ, BDM, DJV and DJM organizations will be better served by seeking out other titles.

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.