The midland journal., 1945-01-26

my boy again. Iney worked MIN SO
hard in the youth camp that he
came down with tuberculosis and
Hitler doesn't want him. shall
have him to nurse at home"
Poor woman, I am afraid that
by this time, If he can walk and
carry a gun, he is at least men,
ber of the Volkssturm, the "home
army"
Military Training
Begins at IA
The tiny tots join the youth or
ganization at six. But not until they
are 13 or IA does the real "prep"
military training begin for the boys
and the serious work for the girls
in their separate camps. By this
time they have already been indoc-
trinated with blind devotion for the
"fuehrer," the belief in German SUI
periority and abject loyalty to the
Nazi state.
Aside from training in sports
which are believed to condition a
boy for military hardships and actu-
al drill with weapons, the 'leader-
ship principle" is stressed and
promising youths are sent to special
schools (Ordensburg).
When the Hitler youth completes
his training he is fully prepared for
whatever Nazi group into which he
fits best. He may, in due course,
become member of the esoteric
SS-the force which under Himmler
rules every phase of life in the Reich
today. He will probably find some
role in the great SA organization.
In any case, he will become mem
ber of some special group, perhaps
more than one, which will prepare
him to serve or provide place for
his service in his destined role as
cog in the machinery of total war.
Normally, when his Hitler Youth
period is ended, the next step, url-
less the boy is physically disquali-
fed, or is chosen for special duties,
is the Labor Service, which is like
the American CCC insofar as it is
concerned primarily with such work
as construction and. forestry. But
the military training continues. AS
in the Hitler youth organization, the
young Nazi is drilled, disciplined,
housed, fed and clothed like a sol
dier.
When this duty is completed, he
probably finds himself Immediately
in the army. But in peacetime, or
if he is specially qualified, there are
a score or more organizations which
will take care of him right up to old
age, such for instance as the Vet
erans organization in which military
ideas are kept alive.
One important group is the Labor
Front which was created as a check
on unionism. There is the huge
Todt organization, kind Of land
Seabee outfit which was created
from groups of highway builders in
order to complete the Westwal.
Now it is vital part of the army.
There is the huge Peoples Wei
fare agency which collects charities;
three large civilian auxiliary air
groups; the Nazi Transportation
Corps, and many more, not to men
ton the host Of services under Ma
tional Socialist Womanhood.
It must be remembered that all of
these organizations stoutly maintain
two functions: first, indoctrination
in the Nazi philosophy, or If the per-
son is too old or too stubborn to bow
to these perverted ideas, so to en-
chain him in discipline as to achieve
the same result. The second func-
ton of the Nazi organizations is to
prepare German man and woman
power for the nearest thing to a to-
tai war effort achieved in history.
The effectiveness of this system
of militarizing a nation undoubtedly
was underestimated by the Allies.
The facts concerning it were avail
able. For example, an excellent
compendium of the Nazi groups was
published by the Infantry Journal
in Washington called "Hitler's Sec
ond Army" for distribution to and
study by the American armed
forces. But it was simply impos-
sible for the normal Individual to
grasp the degree to which the Nazis
had perfected their plans and had,
by indoctrination from childhood,
actually turned human beings into
efficient machines.
Herr Goebbels, father Of lies, was
not lying when he said recently that
Germany had become "a warrior