“Books!” he repeats, in his young, hard-boiled way, surprise in his face. “I don’t have to crack a book. This is an exam in defense — Wehrsport — but it’s a big one, this time; I just can’t flunk it. It’s the most important one of the whole twenty-two. Gotta go,” he says, “and I hurt all over as it is. I’ve got another hour of training… Heil Hitler!”
TESTS AND UNIFORMS
There are countless tests; one might ask the little boy, for instance, whether he intended to take the tests in the sick-nursing course. An examination beyond that will give one the title of Krankenträger (stretcher bearer), and a still further degree is Feldscher (field surgeon, from one of the many medieval terms long out of usage, which have been resurrected by the Nazis). These last are permitted to wear the Red Cross badge, and during meetings, exercises or marches, they may administer first-aid to those who happen to have had bad luck while flying, or during target practice, or when they were mountain-climbing in full uniform.
The uniform itself is watched over by the guardians of the law, and regulations have made it very difficult for some of these boys, whose families have not enough money for food and food substitutes. In the Pirmasenser Zeitung of May 18, 1937, the District Leaders wrote: “A circular has informed the Hitler Youth as to the precise appearance of their summer service uniforms. But it has proved necessary to call general attention to the fact that the entire H.J., including its subdivisions, the D.J., B.D.M. and J.M. must wear the appointed laced half-shoe and not the Bundschuh (a peasant’s boot that can be slipped on; the term was current during the Peasants’ Wars) that can still be seen here and there. It is forbidden for any member of the H.J. to wear a Bundschuh. The summer uniform is to be accompanied in the case of all Hitler Boys by the summer service cap, known as camp cap. Furthermore, it must be repeated that only black trousers may be worn, so that the brown trousers now on hand must by dyed. We especially ask the parents to attend to these matters and to see that the service uniforms of their boys are absolutely according to regulations. The Scout Service will watch over the wearing of the proper summer service uniform on the part of all Hitler Boys in our district.”
If this is extravagance, it is counteracted on the next page of the same paper, by an official notice:
“It has repeatedly been observed during inquests that the dead are buried in valuable clothing, sometimes even newly bought. I consider it the duty of a citizen to omit all unnecessary pomp as regards funerals. — The Mayor.”
THE GERMAN GIRLS
The B.D.M. — Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls) — brackets all German girls between fourteen and twenty-one; those from ten to fourteen belong to the Jungmädels (Young Girls). Both organizations have set out to prepare the girls for their two future professions, National Socialist motherhood and war-machines, either as nurses in the field or as “defenders of the homeland.” Everything about race and motherhood is taught them, as well as everything about Eintopfgerichte (one-pot dishes), Ersatz fat, the uses of slops, how to risk one’s life for the cause, and first aid.
“Maidens, practice sport!”
That is Herr von Schirach addressing The German Girl. On May 9, 1937, he issued an appeal typical of the confusion about voluntary membership. “German youth,” it goes on, “belongs to the Führer! The law according to which the H.J. and the B.D.M. once were constituted has now become the law governing all of German youth. The will to stake one’s life, accomplishment and restraint today inspires all German boys and girls. And so we count upon you, German maidens between seventeen and twenty-one years of age, upon those of you who do not belong to the B.D.M. We are eager to bring up a young and healthy people. And so the duty of the B.D.M. for physical efficiency is valid for you, too. Practice sport; train your bodies, grow healthy and fortify your powers of resistance and so grow up to be healthy women, conscious of yourselves, ready to stake your lives and with strong powers of resistance. Report at once in the building of the daily paper of the above-named Reichsbund for physical exercise and fulfill your sports duties!