INSIDE THE HITLER YOUTH - Pictures taken by a former member

Revealed: Inside the Hitler Youth camps where youngsters were brainwashed to become Nazis, having their heads shaved and standing guard... as rare albums from one cadet go up for auction

Chilling photographs of Nazi group were taken by 15-year-old Friedhelm Huhn during 'Landjahr' in 1938

They show teenagers marching, having their heads shaved and gathering in front of swastika flags

Two photo albums are set to fetch £750 when they go up for auction in California later this month

The Hitler Youth ('Hitlerjugend' in German) were central to the Nazis' plan to create a nation of Aryan 'supermen' by indocrinating children into their twisted racist worldview from the age of 10.
 

The organisation was founded as early as 1922, but it was not until Hitler came to power in 1933 that the group took a prominent position in German society, as it became more or less obligatory for all teenagers to join.
 

Members would be educated in Nazi ideology, and had the genius of Hitler relentlessly drilled into them.
 

Activities such as the Landjahr, where teenagers would spend months working on a farm and practicing military discipline, helped members bond and shored up their belief in the Nazi cause.
 

After the start of the Second World War, the Hitler Youth was transformed into an auxiliary military force, initially attached to unites such as the fire brigade and postal service.
 

Later in the war, with Germany suffering increasingly devastating losses, teenagers began fighting on the front line as part of their own SS division.
 

Hundreds of boys as young as 12 helped form the last line of defence when Berlin was besieged by the Allied forces, and most were killed by the Soviet troops who entered the city.
 

Perhaps the best-known member of the Hitler Youth is Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who was forced to join the movement but refused to attend meetings due to his family's anti-Nazi views.

 

Read more and see additional pictures

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2558424/Inside-Hitler-Youth-camps-youngsters-brainwashed-Nazis.html

RELATED

Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, also belonged to the Hitler Youth
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/02/13/benedict-xvi-haunted-by-nazi-past/

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