Hitler Youth - An account from one of "Hitler Youth" who escaped from Germany and reveals the dangers of the ...

Hitler Youth - An account from one of "Hitler Youth" who escaped from Germany and reveals the dangers of the "Hitler Youth" movement to the author. London, 1940 - First English Edition

HITLER YOUTH - by Hans Siemsen English translation by Trevor and Phyllis Blewitt with an introduction by Rennie Smith. Published by LINDSAY DRUMMOND LIMITED. London, 1940 - first English edition. Original cloth - cardboard cover with original dust jacket, and an illustrated plate showing Hitler Youth attached to the front cover.

"Now more than ever it is vital for us to know and understand what is the meaning of National-Socialism, and to assess beforehand the political, psychological and moral destruction that a victorious Hitler would create in Europe. For this reason we offer "Hitler Youth" as an indispensable contribution which is finally being built, and which is certainly our first line of defense against the spread of Nazi power and influence..."

Documents in the words of a German boy under the fictitious name Adolf Gross, son of a non-political Protestant middle-class family of five siblings, who was born in 1915 in the Catholic Rhine city. The boy grew up in Nazi Germany and was a member of the "Hitler Youth" movement until his escape from Germany in 1936. In February 1936, the boy met the author for the first time, and soon the connection between them turned into a series of meetings in which the boy provides the author with a detailed picture of his experiences as a boy in "Hitler Youth". The boy disclosed to him in great detail what "Hitler Youth" actually is, he described to him the daily lives of the movement's leaders, their aspirations, their daily discourse, their nightlife, corruption and embezzlement, acts of cruelty, and more. The boy describes in detail the distorted values by which he grew up - and in fact documents four years of disillusionment of a German boy in Nazi Germany. The story is told in the boy's own words as he told the author in those meetings, and he participates in documenting his experiences in the Hitler Youth movement - how they turn him into a leader, despite his aversion to military drill and meaningless ceremony; how he was presented to Hitler and other well-known people in the Nazi party, the constant fear of Hitler youth's of the concentration camp punishment for "education" if caught with a contrary view to the Nazi regime, and more.

One of the interesting passages in the book is his capture by S.A men when he was hired to work in a dress shop that was Jewish-owned at the time of Hitler's rise to power and the declaration of a boycott on Jewish stores. The boy describes fluently: "Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. The Communists set fire to the Reichstag. Hitler won an overwhelming majority in the elections. That's what we were told. And what we read in the newspapers. On April 1, 1933, a boycott against the Jews began. On that very day I was supposed to start my apprenticeship in the clothing business. And it was a Jewish company. I was supposed to be there at nine in the morning. Two S.A men with guns and rubber truncheons stood by the door. "Don't buy in Jewish shops! Jewish boycott! This is a Jewish company, " it was written outside. "What are you doing here?" the S.A men asked me. "I came to start my apprenticeship". "Don't you know this is a Jewish company." "Yes, I know that. But do you have another job for me?" "You should be ashamed of yourself, a German boy going into a Jewish store...", and more.

At some point, when he fully understands the depth of corruption of the society in which he lives, the boy decides to rebel against the values on which he was educated in "Hitler Youth" and expresses views contrary to Nazism, he is caught, sent to the cruel "Colombia House" concentration camp, and after a short stay in the camp manages to escape from Germany to France, with the Gestapo searching for him and sending threatening letters to his father.

This is the earliest known publication in which a member of the "Hitler Youth" movement reveals information about the organization, describes the corruption and demoralization of youth in Germany under Hitler's regime, and the lawlessness and moral depravity of Hitler's system and its detrimental effects on the soul and image of the new generation. "Now, when all the children and young people in Germany are victims of Hitler Youth training, that parents in Germany can no longer, even if they want to, withdraw their children from its influence. Not only Adolf Gross, but millions of children and young people are subjected to this influence. And I fear that training of this kind will have terrible consequences, not only for the poor youngsters and their parents, but for the whole of Germany, the whole of Europe and the whole world. That is why I wrote this book". (From the words of the author who interviewed Adolf, in the introduction).

279 p. Perfect copy with the original dust jacket. Tears at the top and bottom of the dust jacket. Worn cover. Good condition.