The Hitler Youth

Here’s a short video titled “Aim lower, think smaller”. Some call it a “short video showing how we can better fulfil the great commission”. Personally, I’m not so sure…

Now, unless you are a Christian of both dubious and devious nature, I’m sure you will agree that that was a nasty and insipid little video that probably belongs in the archives of the Hitler Youth, despite its being dressed in nice, friendly language that even a child can understand. I mentioned as much when I saw it posted on a blog a while ago and was immediately jumped on by a Christian crying foul and quoting Godwin’s Law. It’s a sad fact also that those that didn’t argue later admitted that they’d simply ignored the comment. I must admit though, that the guy was probably right but then, so was I.

First, a little history: The first group of young members of the National Socialist German Workers Party was organised in 1926 by Kurt Gruber. Rudolf Hess suggested the name be changed to “Hitler Youth” (Hitlerjugend) and later that year, leadership transferred to Franz von Pfeffer of the Sturm Abteilung (“Storm Section” or “Storm Troopers”). In 1936, membership was made compulsory for all boys aged 15 and 18 and Baldur von Schirach formed the Jungvolk which had a compulsory membership for all boys aged 10 to 14.

The children in these groups were subjected to exactly the same kind of indoctrination that the video above advocates. They were taught Nazi dogma, how to be intolerant of those that don’t meet the Nazi ideal, to spread the doctrine and to teach Nazism wherever they went. They were also encouraged to report those that spoke out against Nazism. There were even cases of kids being so brainwashed that they were happy to pull the trigger themselves when it was their own parents who were the victims.

So how is the ideal preached in this video any better? In short, it isn’t. What the video asks us to do is to teach our children that an unfounded belief is the truth and that they will suffer for eternity if they don’t believe it. We’re also to teach them that they have no privacy, that God is looking over their shoulder and can see everything they do. They don’t even have the luxury of private thought, because God knows what they are thinking, every minute of every day. Then, if that’s not enough, we’re to send them off, armed with the three mainstays of religion - ignorance, fear and guilt - in to the world to “spread the word” and continue with “the great commission”. It really is quite disgusting.

I brought up Hitler in that comment in the hope that I might goad someone there into thinking about it, but alas. The fact that most of them managed to simply ignore the remark and dismiss it out of hand really only shows just how narrow minded, out dated and blinkered the Christian view of the world really is, and indeed needs to be in order to be able to believe in any of it it at all.