1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler’s Shadow. Scholastic Inc: New
York. 2005. ISBN 0-439-35378-3
2. PLOT SUMMARY
In a time when poverty and unemployment in Germany were at
an all-time high after World War I, the youth of Germany were looking for
someone to give them hope and to make their country great again. Many of them
found what they were looking for in a rising political leader, Adolf Hitler,
and fervently followed his ideals. These young adults joined the Hitler Youth
and gained prominence in their communities because of it. However, as the
National Socialist Party, the Nazis, grew into greater power, they began to ask
more and more of their youth, to the point where they sent boys as young as ten
were recruited to help in the army.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Susan Bartoletti had the opportunity of going and
interviewing many people by phone, e-mail, or letters, so many of her quotes
are straight from personal interviews she conducted with those who were
affected by World War II. These interviews also let her sometimes access
personal photographs, which greatly enhance the book and give faces to the many
names that are mentioned throughout the pages.
Each of her quotes is sourced, and her bibliography is not only
extensive, but broken down into section by subject with notations for entries
that would be of particular interest to young readers for further reading.
In its narrative, Bartoletti effortlessly weaves facts with a
fast moving narrative that keeps the reader involved. She includes many stories
about specific children, highlighting their successes and struggles, making the
fight more personal to the reader.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
From School Library Journal: “Hitler's
plans for the future of Germany relied significantly on its young people, and
this excellent history shows how he attempted to carry out his mission with the
establishment of the Hitler Youth, or Hitlerjugend, in
1926. With a focus on the years between 1933 and the end of the war in 1945,
Bartoletti explains the roles that millions of boys and girls unwittingly
played in the horrors of the Third Reich. […] Bartoletti lets many of the
subjects' words, emotions, and deeds speak for themselves, bringing them
together clearly to tell this story unlike anyone else has.”
From Booklist: “Bartoletti
draws on oral histories, diaries, letters, and her own extensive interviews
with Holocaust survivors, Hitler Youth, resisters, and bystanders to tell the
history from the viewpoints of people who were there. […] The handsome book
design, with black-and-white historical photos on every double-page spread,
will draw in readers and help spark deep discussion, which will extend beyond
the Holocaust curriculum. The extensive back matter is a part of the gripping
narrative.”
5. CONNECTIONS
Honestly, this would be a great book
to read as additional reading when learning about the Holocaust and/or World
War II. While there are dozens of stories about the Holocaust and the tragedies
that happened there, there are not as many about the Germans and what happened
to the people who were German citizens. It is an interesting perspective to
see, and would be great supplement material to another book.
Additional
Activities: Lesser Known Histories of WWII
The Germans
weren’t the only ones who treated the “enemy” poorly. While America didn’t
commit crimes against humanity or starve their prisoners to death, they did
create Japanese internment camps that were supposed to hold Americans that had
Japanese ancestry. Have students read books about this lesser known part of
WWII: http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/Japanese-Internment-Camps.html
WWII:
American Advertising for WWII.
Germany wasn’t
the only one to use propaganda in the war. America also enjoyed a good amount of
propaganda. Even Superman had comics that were fairly racist and heavy on the
propaganda (http://img.moonbuggy.org/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/).
Why do you think this sort of thing is used, even today?
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