gerhard2 wrote:Andre
This constant, just because some avid readers of the usual propaganda klap-trap say it happened like that therefore it must have happened like for that everyone is tiresome.
Read my previous post "How on earth can anyone compare the Hitler jugend of up to 1943 with the Hitler jugend of 1944 till wars end" again. That alone makes many of your statement .pretty ludicrous especially when you state:
"Are we now going to simply pretend that, for example, 12 SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend didn’t exist, that elements of the HJ didn’t fight in Berlin, and that HJ units didn’t serve amongst anti-aircraft crews?"
Incidentally I remember, it must have been in the last few ay's of April or early May 1945 on the way back to our staging area. Just the sgt major and me we saw cars driven by civilians loaded with weapons (short Italian rifles), grenades and M30 panzer faust handing out to anyone who would taske them. The only ones taking them were kids sometime chased by their mothers.
If that was the usual thing in what was left of Germany I don't know, just what I saw and I am certain this did not happen before the middle of 1944.
I have a suggestion for you, google "Connors, Michael F. - Dealing in Hate and try and read it with an open mind".
Gerhard
Gerhard,
As I have explained, everyone’s experience was different. You state that you underwent no military training whatsoever in your Hitler Youth section, even as late as 1943. My research and study into this area shows that wasn’t the common experience for many others also serving in the Hitlerjugend. I’ve never stated that what you wrote is untrue or a fabrication. All I am stating is that just because you experienced that doesn’t mean the 8+million other HJ members experienced exactly the same.
I have demonstrated that it was written in the Decree of 1936 that a fundamental aim of the Hitler Youth was to train German youth for National Service. I have also demonstrated that some other HJ members claimed they did undergo fairly extensive pre-military training in their units.
There is a mass of evidence that members of the HJ were under-going pre-military training, and not just after 1943. For example, In 1937, a Hitler Youth rifle school was established. About 1.5 million boys were trained in rifle shooting and military field exercises over the next few years with over 50,000 boys earning a marksmanship medal that required near perfect shooting at a distance of 50 meters. I also mentioned the Preliminary Training Camps.
Regards,
André
PS: Your mentioning of “propaganda claptrap” reminded of a very useful website I sometimes use for reference. Below is a link to a German Propaganda archive, specifically relating to material from a booklet issued to Hitler Youth Leaders to convey Nazi racial thinking to impressionable young HJ members.
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/hjhandbuch.htm
It could literally be the definition of “propaganda claptrap”.