The refrain, “All the Youth for the Führer,” at the end and beginning of the appeal, is in all of von Schirach’s statements. Children know the formula in all its variations: “You, too, belong to the Führer” — “German Youth Belongs to the Führer” — “German Youth, Your Life Belongs to the Führer!” And since Party Day, 1937, there is a new oath, written by Schirach himself: “I swear this holy oath by God. I will always be true and obedient to my Führer, Adolf Hitler. As a member of the Party, I desire to fulfill my duty for the common weal of the German people, with a clear conscience and ready for any sacrifice, for the greatness and honor of the German nation: So help me God.”
The name of “God” serves as a foil, here and everywhere in the Third Reich, for the name of the “Führer.” The author of the oath led the tens of thousands of young people assembled for Party Day in the speaking of this statement of fealty, which commits their souls to the Führer, dignified always by the name of God.
ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE YOUTH
The State Youth is organized like an army. It has its corps, divisions, battalions, brigades, regiments, companies, and squadrons, with their officers. The Hitler Youth is divided into five super-divisions, twenty-two divisions, eighty-two Oberbanne and three hundred and twenty-eight Banne.
The B.D.M. ( Bund Deutscher Mädel ) is made up of five GauVerbände, twenty-two Obergaue and three hundred and thirty Untergaue.
The Jungvolk, finally, is divided into five hundred and eighty Jungbanne and the same number of Jungmädel-Untergaue.
The Jungvolk (including the Jungmädel ) is made up of children between ten and fourteen; the Hitler Youth of boys from fourteen to eighteen; and the B.D.M. of girls from fourteen to twenty-one.
Any number of titles are created for these children — altogether, there are thirty-two officers with distinct titles in the State Youth, aside from its leader.
Schirach himself, commander of this enormous and well-organized army, is a large, flabby young man, with a mixture of brutality and fondness for the fine arts which has been characteristic of his Führer, Horst Wessel the procurer hero, and the German State Youth. As Leader, he is not only prince of night marches and maneuvers; he also composes poems, recites them to his subordinates, and has them printed in the youth periodicals. The titles are bombastic: “Young Germany,” “The Drums of German Youth,” “Will and Power,” “The Jungvolk,” “Tomorrow,” “Help the Good Work Along.” “The H.J., Fighting Organ of German Youth.”
Some of these works, graced with illustrations, appear under the auspices of the N.S. Teachers’ Union, who publish comparatively readable poems such as “Help the Good Work Along.” Most of them, however, are sponsored by the “Youth” department of the Jugendverlag — the German Youth Publishers, which is attached to the Department of Schools, Cultural Work, Propaganda and Press, of Schirach’s “State Youth.”