Customer Reviews

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow

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The greatest strength of this book is laid out in the very first line, when author Susan Campbell Bartoletti says, "This is not a book about Adolf Hitler". Instead, she says in her introduction, it is a book about the young people "that followed Hitler", about the children who grew up in his zenith and who had to negotiate a childhood shaped by his life and death. The youth corps or simply Hitler Youth are examined in a clarifying detail that showcases their positive and attractive elements like camping and companionship as well as early troublesome activities like Nazi propaganda distribution and eventually munitions training. The book is exceptionally well rounded, including the voices of those children who couldn't join, opposed, or were excluded from the Hitler Youth in addition to its most vigorous supporters. The stories interweave and co-exist, giving the reader a sense of the broad responses to Hitler's regime and the various roles of young people in that regime.

Hitler Youth is outstandingly researched and makes excellent use of primary sources, such as photos, letters, diaries, books, and oral histories in attractive and informative ways without ever overwhelming the reader. She places everything in a context of German history post-World War I that allows the reader to understand the Hitler Youth as a product of particular historical circumstances and not just something that happened autonomously. Her use of German words gives the book cultural authenticity.

Another great success of the book is the way that it slowly ratchets up the tension and terror as it explores the issues of war, terrorism, resistance, and authoritarianism. Stories and persons from the early chapters constantly reappear, and the changes over time are not simply a matter of grandiose historical events, but the reader can see these changes in the lives of people that they have come to know. And some of these children that we have come to sympathize with are clearly not innocent. They become soldiers and killers, they betray their parents, and at the end of the book, are complicated and traumatized individuals who must cope with the truth of Hitler's Final Solution, and their complicit or explicit role in it.

But Bartoletti is not content to simply tell us a story about the past; she also calls into question its implications for the future. Her final sentence of the book calls upon children and adults to ask themselves "What are you willing to do?" and that message resonates with the reader long after the book itself has been closed.

I borrowed this book from the library and read it in TWO days! Not that I am a wonderful reader, but it truly is a gripping and fascinating book. I could not put it down.

I am familiar with the events leading to WWII, the purpose of the deadly and unforgettable Holocaust, and a lot of the propaganda of the socialistic movement. I was not, however, familiar with the youth that Hitler motivated to do most of the work behind the war and the holocaust. It is a part of history that I never knew and was amazed to find out,

This book is very well documented with excerpts from diaries and touching photos of a handful of youth that belonged to Hitler's regime, the jews, and some who's scales fell from their eyes and escaped the yoke of Nazi brain washing. The pictures are clean as far as not seeing some of the more atrocious pictures that you would probably see at the Holocaust museum. Like I said, the focus of this book is more on the youth of Hitler, and not of the war or the holocaust itself.

There is absolutely no one-sided persuasion in this book. You do not get the feeling of hatred toward the German youth, you honestly feel sorry for these children. Almost to the point of understanding why they did some of the things that they did. But still one must ask why they still did it.

This book may be a little harder to read for a child. Perhaps, it is more high school level. It definately deserves a place in your history section of your own personal library.

So many books have been written about the Holocaust and World War 2, and most of them have been either from the Jewish point of view or the Allied point of view. This one tackles the same subjects through the difficult eyes of those people who, as children, were inducted into the Hitler Youth. This book is very frank about the jubilation these youngsters felt as they beheld Hitler and his vision for Germany and how they were indoctrinated in the propaganda. It's very scary thinking of how Hitler targeted the young and innocent as vehicles for his schemes and how successful he was doing this. The author takes interviews and writings and shows clearly how the individuals were taken in by this machine; the youth themselves, now elderly, don't excuse themselves but do tell the tale so that it is easy to see how they became so enamored. This book should be required reading for those young adults studying World War 2 because it's important to remember that there were two sides to the story and how innocent youngsters were willing victims. Highly recommended.

I think this is probably the best, most accessible introduction to the mass phenomenon that led to the Hitler Youth phenomenon, the Waffen-SS, and the fanatical adoration and devotion to "Der Fuehrer" that led to the downfall of the Thousand Year Reich in just 12 short years.

This book has already won the types of awards one would expect, and my miniscule acclimation may not mean much--but as one who has studied adult accounts of the Third Reich, the Holocaust, and the kind of mass psychology that could lead to the Nazi phenomenon I cannot recommend this book more highly--even down to the age of 12 with adult supervision and informed consultation.

My question is--where does the line between the Hitler Youth and the Bund Deutsche Maedel (German young women) end and the phenomenon of the Boy Scouts begin--with Malcolm Badel-Powell and the kind of Patriotism that the American Civil Liberties Union so adhores? I think this book is a good entry point for anyone pondering such questions--for as every Hitler Youth I have encountered feels, some of the bloodstains of the German-initiated World War and the atrocities of the Holocaust (which killed 6 million Jews and 7 million dissidents, Communists, Gypsies, and enemies of the state!)--the somehow feels as stained as Lady MacBeth, 60 years later.....or, they are in some kind of massive denial. I have met and conversed with both types of Germans, and I can only say, that this phenomenon will plague masters of genocide everywhere--from the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the Muslim child "vacationers" from Europe who go to the Middle East and practice throat-cutting drills (yes, I've seen those also).

The Jungvolk and Hitler Youth did not simply grow up in the shadow of Hitler. They grew up with the comaraderie with fellow youngsters who fed their idealism and their "Kameradschaft". How any young German escaped it is, frankly, beyond me to some degree. However, there is a strong morality play within these covers, with well-chosen narratives and aptly-placed photographs. This book should be part of every early-high school curriculum, and generate a great deal of discussion as we Americans ponder the meaning of what it means to be an American (and that does not mean "guest worker"). The Germans found their own, erroneous solution to the "German" problem. Let us hope and pray we find a better one for the "American" problem. I am confident that this book should generate meaningful thought and discussion in this direction.

A person could well pontificate for several pages here over this particular work. I will spare you that. This is a well researched book and should be read by any young person in the study of WWII and that era. No, this work does not go into some of the agonizing details of this particular Nazi program, it was not meant to do so. This is an introduction for you young reader and is a wonderful tool to stimulate further reading and research on the readers part. If a young person is bright enough to read this work, the same young person is bright enough to ask all the right questions upon it's completion. The photographs in this work are quite good. Recommend this one highly.

I cheered when this book when this book won a Newbery Honor. It is an excellently-written, well-researched, deeply moving book. In the beginning, Bartoletti states that this book is the story--the true story--of the millions of young Germans who joined the Hitler Youth. For them, the Hitler Youth offered excitment, adventure, and an opportunity to participate in the rebirth of Germany. And what a story Bartoletti tells! Drawing upon oral histories, diaries, letters, interviews, and other first-hand accounts, the reader is transported into the twelve terrible years of the Third Reich. You will read stories from the Hitler Youth and the Jews, from devoted Nazis and Nazi resisters. Some stories will make you angry. Some will make you cry. Others will reaffirm your belief in humanity. But no story will leave you unmoved. As a result, this book is heart-wrenching. It is no wonder that this book has received so much critical acclaim. It is a must-read for anyone who believes we must learn from the past.

Middle school into high school readers will find Susan Campbell Bartoletti 's Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow a captivating close-up study of the organized propaganda youth group which helped the Nazis grow. More than seven million children belonged to the Hitler Youth: Bartoletti here supplements the voices of former Youth members with resistance voices to provide an excellent survey of the experience on all sides. Vintage photos and illustrations enhance the end result, making Hitler Youth a 'must' for any serious coverage of Holocaust history for this age group.

This is a wonderfully written and informative book on the Holocaust. I'm using it with my 8th grade class as we look at the Holocaust in today's world. It's really opened their eyes to how young people (all People) can be manipulated so easily. The research is thorough and complete. Even so, it reads so easily and the stories come alive. I would highly recommend this book.

I'd like to respond to Paul Foster's review in that it is very important NOT TO FORGET things like this because to remember terrible events like World War II and the Holocaust, and writing and speaking about it, ensures and educates our future generations that these events must never happen again.

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.
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