Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM)

• Prepared for NS-Womanhood.

• During the war they served in civilian defense capacity.

Berlin Victory Parade-1940

Wartime bicycle dispatch rider

Hitler-Jugend (HJ)• Used to train teenage

males for service to country and military-most training has military emphasis.

• Move from HJ to RAD, NSKK, NSFK and eventually to SA, SS or military.

• By end of war HJ actually serving as combat units.

HJ Awards ceremony for valor during air raids of

Hamburg, 1943

HJ on Eastern Front late in war

Iron Cross awardees-March 1945

Annual HJ Camp-late war

HJ captured by U.S. Troops

Hitler awards the Iron Cross to defenders of Berlin just days

before his death

Wehrmacht

• Many soldiers were not members of the NSDAP but they did support Hitler and were an important source of power.

• The army eventually connected their survival to Hitler’s.

Hitler’s Rise• In rise to power, there are potential problems

between SA and Wehrmacht.

• Night of Long Knives relieved some of that tension.

• 1938 Hitler destroyed Army leadership.– Defense Minister Field Marshal Werner von

Blomberg forced to resign (Hitler takes over).– SS framed Army Commander-in-Chief, General

Freiherr Werner von Fritsch.

Transformation of Wehrmacht to Hitler’s Army• Accomplished in part by the destruction of the

“primary group”.

• As casualties mount (especially in Russia), army groups lost cohesion and Esprit de Corps as a “local” group.

• Forced units to become more mixed and “locality” replaced by sense of National Patriotism.

• Swastika again connected party and non-party members.

Traditional German Military Discipline

• Total obedience among troops was politicized by the Nazi’s.

• Harsh discipline caused brutality among troops, as enemy is dehumanized, Hitler is deified.

Other Factors

• Large portion of army had grown up under the Nazi system.

• As war worsened, they look for “mystical” solutions.

• Nazi propaganda forced them to see enemy (especially Soviets) as the end of civilization-forced obedience to the end.