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85-470: Hitler hoped that the units assigned to Steiner would be able to stage an effective counterattack against the northern pincer of the Soviet assault on Berlin, but Steiner refused to attack upon realizing the units were inadequate. His force was made up of some soldiers, Hitler Youth teenagers, emergency Luftwaffe ground personnel, and Kriegsmarine dockworkers. The only tanks available were approximately

170-457: A Waffen-SS division made up of Hitler Youth members was first proposed by Axmann to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in early 1943. The plan for a combat division made up of Hitler Youth members born in 1926 was passed on to Hitler for his approval. Hitler approved the plan in February and Gottlob Berger was tasked with recruiting. Fritz Witt of SS Division Leibstandarte (LSSAH)

255-510: A West Berlin court fined Axman 35,000 marks (approximately £ 3,000, or US$ 8,300), about half the value of his property in Berlin. The court found him guilty of indoctrinating German youth with National Socialism until the end of the war, but concluded that he was not guilty of war crimes. German children born in the 1920s and 1930s became adults during the Cold War years. Since membership

340-655: A Lutheran youth organisation of 600,000 members, was integrated on 18 February 1934. In December 1936, a law declared the Hitler Youth to be the only legally permitted youth organisation in Germany, and stated that "all of the German youth in the Reich is organised within the Hitler Youth". By December 1936, Hitler Youth membership had reached over five million. That same month, membership became mandatory for Aryans under

425-536: A dozen captured French tanks from 1940. It was the failure of this offensive that led Hitler to admit out loud for the first time that Germany had lost the war. On the second day of the Battle of Berlin, 17 April, Generaloberst Gotthard Heinrici , the Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula , stripped Steiner's III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps (the army group's reserve) of its two strongest divisions,

510-616: A familiar concept to German society in the Weimar Republic . Numerous youth movements existed across Germany prior to and especially after World War I . They were created for various purposes. Some were religious and others were ideological, but the more prominent ones were formed for political reasons, like the Young Conservatives and the Young Protestants. Once Hitler came onto the revolutionary scene,

595-635: A flat together for a time. Gretl often accompanied Eva on her subsequent trips with Hitler to Obersalzberg . In the 1930s she bought a summer house  [ pl ] on the beach near Pobierowo (now in Poland), where she occasionally vacationed. According to Hitler's dentist, Hugo Blaschke , Braun used peroxide to dye her hair to a shade of blonde . Hitler lived with his half-niece, Geli Raubal , in an apartment at Prinzregentenplatz 16 in Munich from 1929 until her death. On 18 September 1931, Raubal

680-520: A gunshot to the head. The German public was unaware of Braun's relationship with Hitler until after their deaths. Many of the surviving colour photographs and films of Hitler were taken by Braun. Eva Braun was born in Munich and was the second daughter of school teacher Friedrich "Fritz" Braun (1879–1964) and Franziska "Fanny" Kronberger (1885–1976); her mother had worked as a seamstress before her marriage. She had an elder sister, Ilse (1909–1979), and

765-842: A member of the Hitler Youth. Despite rare instances of disaffection, overall, the Hitler Youth constituted the single most successful of all the mass movements in the Third Reich. The Hitler Youth was organised into corps under adult leaders, and the general membership of the HJ consisted of boys aged 14 to 18. The Hitler Youth was organised into local cells on a community level. Such cells had weekly meetings at which various Nazi doctrines were taught by adult leaders. Regional leaders typically organised rallies and field exercises in which several dozen Hitler Youth cells would participate. The largest gathering usually took place annually at Nuremberg , where members from all over Germany would converge for

850-568: A photographer for the Nazi Party. Later in her career, she worked for Hoffmann's art press. According to a fragment of her diary and the account of biographer Nerin Gun, Braun's second suicide attempt occurred in May 1935. She took an overdose of sleeping pills when Hitler failed to make time for her in his life. Hitler provided Braun and her sister with a three-bedroom flat in Munich that August, and

935-421: A sheltered and privileged existence and seemed uninterested in politics. One instance when she took an interest was in 1943, shortly after Germany had fully transitioned to a total war economy; among other things, this meant a potential ban on women's cosmetics and luxuries. According to Speer's memoirs, Braun approached Hitler in "high indignation"; Hitler quietly instructed Speer, who was armaments minister at

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1020-499: A sheltered life throughout World War II . She became a significant figure within Hitler's inner social circle, but did not attend public events with him until mid-1944, when her sister Gretl married Hermann Fegelein , the SS liaison officer on his staff. As Nazi Germany was collapsing towards the end of the war, Braun swore loyalty to Hitler and went to Berlin to be by his side in

1105-589: A simple source of amusement and recreation, it became a means to an end, a weapon in the hands of the All Highest. It became nationalistic. The ideal of sport for sport's sake became an object of ridicule. The real preoccupation of those who directed athletics became the mass production of cannon fodder . By 1937, there was a HJ rifle school established, partially at the behest of General Erwin Rommel , who toured HJ meetings and lectured on "German soldiering", all

1190-532: A small civil ceremony in the bunker. The event was witnessed by Joseph Goebbels and Martin Bormann. Hitler then hosted a modest wedding breakfast with his new wife. When Braun married Hitler, her legal name changed to Eva Hitler. When she signed her marriage certificate, she wrote the letter B for her family name, then crossed this out and replaced it with Hitler . After 1:00 pm on 30 April 1945, Braun and Hitler said their farewells to staff and members of

1275-499: A small holiday home on the mountain at Obersalzberg. Renovations began in 1934 and were completed by 1936. A large wing was added onto the original house and several additional buildings were constructed. The entire area was fenced off, and remaining houses on the mountain were purchased by the Nazi Party and demolished. Braun and the other members of the entourage were cut off from the outside world when in residence. Speer, Hermann Göring , and Martin Bormann had houses constructed inside

1360-569: A talent for athletics. At age 17, Braun took a job working for Heinrich Hoffmann , the official photographer for the Nazi Party . Initially employed as a shop assistant and sales clerk, she soon learned how to use a camera and develop photographs. In October 1929, she met Adolf Hitler , then 40 years old (23 years Braun's senior), at Hoffmann's studio in Munich. Hitler was introduced to her as "Herr Wolff". Braun's younger sister, Gretl, also worked for Hoffmann from 1932 onward. The women rented

1445-743: A younger sister, Margarete ( Gretl ) (1915–1987). Her father was a Lutheran and her mother a Catholic. Braun's parents divorced in April 1921 but remarried in November 1922, probably for financial reasons; hyperinflation was plaguing the German economy at the time. Braun was educated at a Catholic lyceum in Munich, and then for one year at a business school in the Convent of the English Sisters in Simbach am Inn , where she had average grades and

1530-654: The Gesetz über die Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth Law). This legal obligation was reaffirmed in March 1939 with the Jugenddienstpflicht (Youth Service Duty), which conscripted all German youths into the Hitler Youth—even if the parents objected. Parents who refused to allow their children to join were subject to investigation by the authorities. From then on, the vast majority of Germany's teenagers belonged to

1615-614: The Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung was officially renamed Hitler Jugend Bund der deutschen Arbeiterjugend (Hitler Youth League of German Worker Youth). This event took place a year after the Nazi Party was reorganised. The architect of the re-organisation was Kurt Gruber , a law student from Plauen in Saxony. After a short power struggle with a rival organisation— Gerhard Roßbach 's Schilljugend —Gruber prevailed and his "Greater German Youth Movement" became

1700-513: The Sturmjugend (Storm Youth), Junge Front (Young Front), Deutschen Jugendnachrichten (News for German Youth), and Wille und Macht (Will and Power). Other publications included Das Junge Deutschland (Young Germany), Das deutsche Mädel (a paper for girls in the BdM), and Junge Dorfgemeinschaft (Young Villager). The members of the Hitler Youth were viewed as ensuring

1785-599: The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland and the 23rd SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nederland . He placed them under the command of General der Infanterie Theodor Busse , commander of the 9th Army , as Busse had most of the other units in the III Corps. The Nordland division was sent to join Helmuth Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps defending the Seelow Heights , to stiffen

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1870-732: The Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany , the Hitler Youth is an "unconstitutional organisation" and the distribution or public use of its symbols, except for educational or research purposes, is illegal. In 1922, the Munich-based Nazi Party established its official youth organisation called Jugendbund der NSDAP . It was announced on 8 March 1922 in the Völkischer Beobachter , and its inaugural meeting took place on 13 May

1955-552: The German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth ( Deutsches Jungvolk in der Hitler Jugend or "DJ", also "DJV") for younger boys aged 10 to 14. With the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, the organisation de facto ceased to exist. On 10 October 1945, the Hitler Youth and its subordinate units were outlawed by the Allied Control Council along with other Nazi Party organisations. Under Section 86 of

2040-501: The League of German Girls (BDM). On 30 October 1931, the HJ officially became part of the SA through a decree issue by Hitler, under the notional command of Ernst Röhm . In 1923, the youth organisation of the Nazi Party had a little over 1,200 members. In 1925, when the Nazi Party was refounded, the membership grew to over 5,000. Five years later, national membership stood at 26,000. By

2125-551: The Nuremberg Rally for the first time in 1935. Hitler's half-sister, Angela Raubal (Geli's mother), took exception to her presence there and was later dismissed from her position as housekeeper at the Berghof. Researchers are unable to ascertain if her dislike for Braun was the only reason for her departure, but other members of Hitler's entourage saw Braun as untouchable from then on. Hitler wished to present himself in

2210-596: The Wehrmacht (Armed Forces). The corps offered specialised foundational training for each of the specific arms for which the member was ultimately destined. The Marine Hitler Youth (Marine-HJ), for example, served as an auxiliary to the Kriegsmarine . Another branch of the Hitler Youth was the Deutsche Arbeiter Jugend – HJ (German Worker Youth – HY). This organisation within the Hitler Youth

2295-433: The denazification process. Some Hitler Youth members were suspected of war crimes but, because they were children, no serious efforts were made to prosecute these claims. While the Hitler Youth was never declared a criminal organisation , its adult leadership was considered tainted for corrupting the minds of young Germans. Many adult leaders of the Hitler Youth were put on trial by Allied authorities, and Baldur von Schirach

2380-482: The 5th Jäger Division and the 25th Panzergrenadier Division were deployed defensively and could not be redeployed until the 2nd Marine Division arrived from the coast to relieve them. This left only two battalions of the 4th SS Division available, and they had only pistols and submachine guns with no heavy weapons. Heinrici called Hans Krebs , Chief of the German General Staff of ( OKH ), told him that

2465-561: The Finow Canal — and Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps, which was still east of Berlin with its northern flank just below Werneuchen . The three divisions to the north were to attack south from Eberswalde (on the Finow Canal and 24 km (15 miles) east of Berlin) towards the LVI Panzer Corps, so cutting the 1st Belorussian Front's salient in two. Steiner called Heinrici and informed him that the plan could not be implemented because

2550-419: The Hitler Youth combat formations, in the confusion this order was never carried out. The remnants of the youth brigade took heavy casualties from the advancing Russian forces. Only two survived. In 1945, there were various incidents of Hitler Youth members shooting prisoners, participating in executions, and committing other wartime atrocities. The Hitler Youth was disbanded by Allied authorities as part of

2635-555: The Hitler Youth were designed to undermine the values of traditional structures of German society. Their training also aimed to remove social and intellectual distinctions between classes, to be replaced and dominated by the political goals of Hitler's totalitarian dictatorship. Sacrifice for the Nazi cause was instilled into their training. As historian Richard Evans observes, "The songs they sang were Nazi songs. The books they read were Nazi books." Former Hitler Youth Franz Jagemann said that

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2720-513: The Hitler Youth. By 1940, it had eight million members. Even before membership was made mandatory in 1939, German youth faced strong pressure to join. Students who held out were frequently assigned essays with titles such as "Why am I not in the Hitler Youth?" They were also the subject of frequent taunts from teachers and fellow students, and could even be refused their diploma —which made it impossible to be admitted to university. A number of employers refused to offer apprenticeships to anyone who

2805-631: The Nazi Party's official youth organisation. In July 1926, it was renamed Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth"). The name Hitler-Jugend was taken up on the suggestion of Hans Severus Ziegler . By 1930, the Hitlerjugend HJ had enlisted over 25,000 boys aged 14 and upward. They also set up a junior branch, the Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ), for boys aged 10 to 14. Girls from 10 to 18 were given their own parallel organisation,

2890-446: The Reich postal service, the Reich railway services , and other government offices; members of the HJ also aided the army and served with anti-aircraft defence crews. In 1942 Hitler decreed the establishment of "Hitler Youth defence training camps", led by Wehrmacht officers. Nazi leaders began turning the Hitler Youth into a military reserve to replace manpower which had been depleted due to tremendous military losses. The idea for

2975-724: The Soviets likely found it in the Chancellery dental office; Sognnaes noted that the non-metallic part of the prosthesis would have been destroyed in the fire and concluded that the purported Soviet autopsy report of Braun's remains did not match her dental records. The rest of Braun's family survived the war. Her mother, Franziska, died aged 91 in January 1976, having lived out her days in an old farmhouse in Ruhpolding , Bavaria . Her father, Fritz, died in 1964. Gretl gave birth to

3060-535: The Young Folk they go on to the Hitler Youth, where we have them for another four years...And even if they are still not complete National Socialists, they go to Labor Service and are smoothed out there for another six, seven months...And whatever class consciousness or social status might still be left...the Wehrmacht will take care of that. Over time, a number of boys dropped out due to the regimented nature of

3145-534: The annual Nazi Party rally. Since the HJ and BDM were considered fully Aryan organizations by Nazi officials, premarital sex was encouraged in their ranks. This did not conform to the general beliefs of the Nazi Party, which viewed premarital sex as undesirable and a potential public health hazard. The Hitler Youth maintained training academies comparable to preparatory schools, which were designed to nurture future Nazi Party leaders. The Hitler Youth also maintained several corps designed to develop future officers for

3230-437: The appropriation of sports by contemporary dictatorial regimes such as Nazi Germany, commented that: The dictators have discovered sport. This was inevitable. Middle-aged and older persons have their roots in the ground, have affiliations with former régimes. The hope of the dictators, therefore, was to win over youth to the new conception of life, the new system. They found that they could best succeed through sport. From being

3315-401: The attempt was not serious, but was a bid for Hitler's attention. After Braun's recovery, Hitler became more committed to her and by the end of 1932 they had become lovers. She often stayed overnight at his Munich apartment when he was in town. Beginning in 1933, Braun worked as a photographer for Hoffmann. This position enabled her to travel—accompanied by Hoffmann—with Hitler's entourage as

3400-422: The compound. Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge , stated in his memoirs that Hitler and Braun had two bedrooms and two bathrooms with interconnecting doors at the Berghof, and Hitler would end most evenings alone with her in his study before they retired to bed. She would wear a "dressing gown or house-coat" and drink wine; Hitler would have tea. Public displays of affection or physical contact were nonexistent, even in

3485-554: The cyanide capsules obtained for Braun and Hitler's suicide the next day be tested on the dog. Braun's dogs and Blondi's puppies were shot on 30 April by Hitler's dog handler, Fritz Tornow . In early April 1945, Braun travelled from Munich to Berlin to be with Hitler at the Führerbunker . She refused to leave as the Red Army closed in on the capital. After midnight on the night of 28–29 April, Hitler and Braun were married in

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3570-436: The enclosed world of the Berghof. Braun took the role of hostess amongst the regular visitors, though she was not involved in running the household. She regularly invited friends and family members to accompany her during her stays, the only guest to do so. When Henriette von Schirach suggested that Braun should go into hiding after the war, Braun replied, "Do you think I would let him die alone? I will stay with him up until

3655-457: The end of 1932, it was at 107,956. In April 1932, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the Hitler Youth movement in an attempt to stop widespread political violence. However, in June, Brüning's successor as Chancellor, Franz von Papen , lifted the ban as a way of appeasing Hitler, the rapidly ascending political star. A further significant expansion drive started in 1933, after Baldur von Schirach

3740-499: The entire Hitler Youth leadership must have "defence training". On 1 May 1940, Artur Axmann was appointed deputy to Schirach, whom he succeeded as Reichsjugendführer of the Hitler Youth on 8 August 1940. Axmann began to reform the group into an auxiliary force which could perform war duties. The Hitler Youth became active in German fire brigades and assisted with recovery efforts to German cities affected by Allied bombing . The Hitler Youth also assisted in such organisations as

3825-401: The entire organization. The rank of Reichsjugendführer was only held by two people during its existence, first by Baldur von Schirach and later by Artur Axmann. Members' summer uniform consisted of black shorts and a tan shirt with pockets, worn with a rolled black neckerchief secured with a woggle , usually tucked under the collar. Headgear originally consisted of a beret , but this

3910-402: The exception of dental remains—were found by the Soviets. On 9 May 1945 the Soviets showed Heusermann a bridge uniting two false molars with the gold crowns of adjacent teeth; Heusermann was convinced that this and a gold filling were from Braun's corpse. In 1981, Heusermann told forensic odontologist Reidar F. Sognnaes that the bridge made for Braun was never actually fitted and that

3995-605: The future of Nazi Germany and they were indoctrinated in Nazi ideology, including racism. The boys were indoctrinated with the myths of Aryan racial superiority and to view Jews and Slavs as subhumans. Members were taught to associate state-identified enemies such as Jews with Germany's previous defeat in the First World War and societal decline. The Hitler Youth were used to break up church youth groups, spy on religious classes and Bible studies, and interfere with church attendance. Education and training programs for

4080-473: The heavily reinforced Führerbunker beneath the Reich Chancellery garden. As Red Army troops fought their way into the centre government district, on 29 April 1945, Braun married Hitler during a brief civil ceremony; she was 33 and he was 56. Less than 40 hours later, they died by suicide in a sitting room of the bunker: Braun by biting and swallowing a capsule of cyanide , and Hitler by

4165-411: The huge salient created by the 1st Belorussian Front's breakout. Simultaneously the 9th Army, which had been pushed south of the salient, was to attack north in a pincer attack. To facilitate this attack Steiner was assigned the three divisions of the 9th Army's CI Army Corps , the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division , the 5th Jäger Division , the 25th Panzergrenadier Division — all were north of

4250-463: The image of a chaste hero; in the Nazi ideology , men were the political leaders and warriors, and women were homemakers. Hitler believed that he was sexually attractive to women and wished to exploit this for political gain by remaining single, as he felt marriage would decrease his appeal. He and Braun never appeared as a couple in public; the only time they appeared together in a published news photo

4335-434: The inner circle. Later that afternoon, at approximately 3:30 pm, several people reported hearing a gunshot. After waiting a few minutes, Linge, accompanied by Hitler's SS adjutant, Otto Günsche , entered the small study and found the lifeless bodies of Hitler and Braun on a small sofa. Braun had bitten into a cyanide capsule, and Hitler had shot himself in the right temple with his pistol. The corpses were carried up

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4420-482: The last moment". Hitler named Braun in his will, to receive 12,000 Reichsmarks yearly after his death. He was very fond of her, and worried when she participated in sports or was late returning for tea. Braun was very fond of Negus and Stasi, her two Scottish Terrier dogs, and they appear in her home movies. She usually kept them away from Hitler's German Shepherd , Blondi . Blondi was killed by one of Hitler's entourage on 29 April 1945 when he ordered that one of

4505-470: The marriage as an excuse to allow Braun to appear at official functions, as she could then be introduced as Fegelein's sister-in-law. When Fegelein was caught in the closing days of the war trying to escape to Sweden or Switzerland, Hitler ordered his execution. He was shot for desertion in the garden of the Reich Chancellery on 28 April 1945. When Hitler purchased the Berghof in 1933, it was

4590-540: The next year the sisters were provided with a villa in Bogenhausen at Wasserburgerstr. 12 (now Delpstr. 12). By 1936, Braun was at Hitler's household at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden when he was in residence there, but she lived mostly in Munich. Braun also had her own flat at the new Reich Chancellery in Berlin, completed to a design by Albert Speer . Braun was a member of Hoffmann's staff when she attended

4675-510: The notion "Germany must live" even if the members of the HJ had to die, was "hammered" into them. The Hitler Youth appropriated many of the activities of the Boy Scout movement (which was banned in 1935), including camping and hiking. However, over time it changed in content and intention. For example, many activities closely resembled military training, with weapons familiarization, assault course circuits, and basic fighting tactics. The aim

4760-403: The organization. Some of these boys later rejoined after they learned that they could not get a job or enter university without being a member. There were a few members of the Hitler Youth who privately disagreed with Nazi ideologies. For instance, Hans Scholl —the brother of Sophie Scholl and one of the leading figures of the anti-Nazi resistance movement Weiße Rose ( White Rose )—was also

4845-414: The plan could not be implemented and asked to speak to Hitler, but was told Hitler was too busy to take his call. When, on 22 April, at his afternoon conference Hitler learned that Steiner was not going to attack, according to testimony of his secretary, he was "silent for a long time", and then insisted that the women (she and Eva Braun ) should leave Berlin immediately (but they refused). He declared that

4930-631: The position of private secretary to Hitler. This meant she could enter and leave the Chancellery unremarked, through a side entrance and a rear staircase. Görtemaker notes that Braun and Hitler enjoyed a normal sex life. Braun's friends and relatives described Eva giggling over a 1938 photograph of Neville Chamberlain sitting on a sofa in Hitler's Munich flat with the remark: "If only he knew what goings-on that sofa has seen." On 3 June 1944, Braun's sister Gretl married SS - Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein , who served as Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler 's liaison officer on Hitler's staff. Hitler used

5015-580: The realization that "they had worked and slaved for a criminal cause", which they carried for a lifetime. Some of them recalled a "loss of freedom" and claimed that their time in the HJ "had robbed them of a normal childhood." Historian Michael Kater relates how many who once served in the HJ were silent until older age when they became grandparents. While they were eventually able to look back at their place in "a dictatorship which oppressed, maimed, and killed millions", he maintains that an honest appraisal should lead them to conclude that their past contributions to

5100-677: The regime had "damaged their own souls." Once Nazi Germany was defeated by the Allied Powers, the Hitler Youth—like all NSDAP organisations—was officially abolished by the Allied Control Council on 10 October 1945 and later banned by the German Criminal Code. Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader) was the highest rank of the Hitler Youth and was held by the Nazi Party official in command of

5185-570: The same year. Another youth group was established in 1922 as the Jungsturm Adolf Hitler . Based in Munich , Bavaria , it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the main paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party at that time. One reason the Hitler Youth (HJ) so easily developed was that regimented organisations, often focused on politics, for young people and particularly adolescent boys were

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5270-652: The sector held by the 9th Parachute Division . The Nederland Division was sent south-west of Frankfurt (Oder) and assigned to the V SS Mountain Corps , where it would later be destroyed in the Battle of Halbe . Heinrici ordered the III SS Panzer Corps, reduced to three battalions and a few tanks, to scrape together whatever forces it could find to set up a screening line along the Finow Canal to protect

5355-566: The six Goebbels children , General Hans Krebs , and Hitler's dogs) were repeatedly buried and exhumed by the Soviets , ending up in Magdeburg , East Germany , before their cremation in 1970. Hitler and Braun's remains were also allegedly examined , moved and cremated, but this is most likely Soviet disinformation (as is the narrative that the couple may have escaped ). There is no evidence that any bodily remains of Hitler or Braun—with

5440-466: The southern flank of the Third Panzer Army from an attack by Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front , which had broken through the Seelow Heights' defences and was encircling Berlin. By 21 April Adolf Hitler , ignoring the facts, started to call the ragtag units that came under Steiner's command "Army Detachment Steiner". He ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of

5525-611: The stairs and through the bunker's emergency exit to the garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they were burned during the Red Army shelling in and around the area. Braun was 33 years old when she died; Hitler was 56. By 11 May 1945, two colleagues of Hitler's dentist, Hugo Blaschke —his assistant Käthe Heusermann and dental technician Fritz Echtmann—identified dental remains as belonging to Hitler and Braun. The remains of several people (including Joseph and Magda Goebbels ,

5610-470: The time, to halt production of women's cosmetics and luxuries rather than instituting an outright ban. Speer later said, "Eva Braun will prove a great disappointment to historians." Braun continued to work for Hoffmann after starting her relationship with Hitler. She took many photographs and films of members of Hitler's inner circle, some of which were sold to Hoffmann for high prices; she received money from Hoffmann's company as late as 1943. Braun also held

5695-511: The transition from seemingly innocuous youth movements to political entities focused on Hitler was swift. Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch (in November 1923), Nazi youth groups ostensibly disbanded, but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names. In April 1924, the Jugendbund der NSDAP was renamed Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung (Greater German Youth Movement). On 4 July 1926,

5780-484: The war was lost, blamed the generals and announced that he would rather stay in Berlin until the end and then kill himself. After 22 April "Army Detachment Steiner" was little mentioned in the Führerbunker . Notes Footnotes Bibliography Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( German : Hitlerjugend [ˈhɪtlɐˌjuːɡn̩t] , often abbreviated as HJ , [haːˈjɔt] )

5865-540: The west, members of the Hitlerjugend were recruited at ever younger ages . By 1945, the Volkssturm was commonly drafting 12-year-old Hitler Youth members into its ranks. During the Battle of Berlin , Axmann's Hitler Youth formed a major part of the last line of German defence, and they were reportedly among the fiercest fighters. Although the city commander, General Helmuth Weidling , ordered Axmann to disband

5950-504: The while he pressured Schirach to turn the HJ into a "junior army". During 1938, some 1.5 million HJ members were trained to shoot rifles. Starting in early 1939, the OKW began supervising HJ shooting activities and military field exercises. Upwards of 51,500 boys had earned their HJ Marksmanship Medal before the year's end. On 15 August 1939, a fortnight before the beginning of World War II, Schirach agreed with General Wilhelm Keitel that

6035-457: Was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler . Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann . She began seeing Hitler often about two years later. She attempted suicide twice during their early relationship. By 1936, Braun was a part of Hitler's household at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden , Bavaria, Germany , and lived

6120-559: Was a training ground for future labour leaders and technicians. Its symbol was a rising sun with a swastika. A program entitled Landjahr Lager (Country Service Camp) was designed to teach specifically chosen girls of the BDM high moral character standards within a rural educational setting. The Hitler Youth had a number of monthly and weekly publications: among them were the Hitler-Jugend-Zeitung (Hitler Youth Newspaper),

6205-500: Was appointed by Hitler as the first Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader). All youth organizations were brought under Schirach's control. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the membership of Hitler Youth organisations increased dramatically to 2,300,000 members by the end of that year. Much of this increase came from the forcible takeover of other youth organisations. The sizeable Evangelische Jugend (Evangelical Youth),

6290-579: Was appointed divisional commander. In 1944, the 12th SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend was deployed during the Battle of Normandy against the British and Canadian forces to the north of Caen . Over 20,000 German youths participated in the attempt to repulse the D-Day invasion; while they knocked out 28 Canadian tanks during their first effort, they ultimately lost 3,000 lives before the Normandy assault

6375-482: Was complete. During the following months, the division earned a reputation for ferocity and fanaticism. When Witt was killed by Allied naval gunfire, SS- Brigadeführer Kurt Meyer assumed command and became the divisional commander at age 33. As German casualties escalated with the combination of Operation Bagration and the Lvov-Sandomierz Operation in the east, and Operation Cobra in

6460-453: Was compulsory after 1936, it was neither surprising nor uncommon that many senior leaders of both West and East Germany had been members of the Hitler Youth. Little effort was made to blacklist political figures who had been members, since many had little choice in the matter. These German post-war leaders were nonetheless once part of an important institutional element of Nazi Germany. Historian Gerhard Rempel opined that Nazi Germany itself

6545-676: Was discarded by the HJ in 1934. One flag/symbol used by the HJ was the same as the DJ, a white Sowilo rune on a black background, which symbolised "victory". Another flag used was a red–white–red striped flag with a black swastika in the middle, inside a white shaped diamond. Full members would also receive a knife upon enrollment, with the motto "Blut und Ehre" (Blood and Honour) engraved upon it. Troop colours: Informational notes Citations Bibliography Final solution Parties Eva Braun Eva Anna Paula Hitler ( née   Braun ; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945)

6630-488: Was found dead in the apartment with a gunshot wound to the chest, an apparent suicide with Hitler's pistol. Hitler was in Nuremberg at the time. His relationship with Raubal—likely the most intense of his life—had been important to him. Hitler began seeing more of Braun after Raubal's suicide. Braun herself attempted suicide on 10 or 11 August 1932 by shooting herself in the chest with her father's pistol. Historians feel

6715-406: Was impossible to conceive without the Hitler Youth, as their members constituted the "social, political, and military resiliency of the Third Reich" and were part of "the incubator that maintained the political system by replenishing the ranks of the dominant party and preventing the growth of mass opposition." Rempel also reports that a large percentage of the boys who served in the HJ slowly came to

6800-409: Was minimal; she was never allowed to stay in the room when business or political conversations took place and was sent out of the room when cabinet ministers or other dignitaries were present. She was not a member of the Nazi Party. In his post-war memoirs, Hoffmann characterised Braun's outlook as "inconsequential and feather-brained"; her main interests were sports, clothes, and the cinema. She led

6885-406: Was not a member of the Hitler Youth. By 1936, the Hitler Youth had a monopoly on all youth sports facilities in Germany, effectively locking out non-members. Hitler spoke of the regime's ability to make Nazis out of these German youth, exclaiming in 1938: These boys and girls enter our organizations with their ten years of age, and often for the first time get a little fresh air; after four years of

6970-404: Was sentenced to 20 years in prison. However, he was convicted of crimes against humanity for his actions as Gauleiter of Vienna, not for his leadership of the Hitler Youth, because Artur Axmann had been serving as the functioning leader of the Hitler Youth from 1940 onward. Axmann only received a 39-month prison sentence in May 1949, but he was not found guilty of war crimes. Later, in 1958,

7055-543: Was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany . Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was the sole official boys' youth organisation in Germany and it was partially a paramilitary organisation. It was composed of the Hitler Youth proper for male youths aged 14 to 18, and

7140-471: Was to turn the HJ into motivated soldiers. There was greater emphasis on physical ability and military training than on academic study. More than just a way to keep the German nation healthy, sports became a means of indoctrinating and training its youth for combat; this was in keeping with tenets outlined in Hitler's notorious work, Mein Kampf . In a 1936 edition of Foreign Affairs, an article discussing

7225-495: Was when she sat near him at the 1936 Winter Olympics . The German people were unaware of Braun's relationship with Hitler until after the war. Braun had her own room adjoining Hitler's at both the Berghof and the Führerbunker complex beneath the Reich Chancellery garden in Berlin. Biographer Heike Görtemaker wrote that women did not play a big role in the politics of Nazi Germany . Braun's political influence on Hitler

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