My father was a member in the Hitlerjugend
 

In Denmark it is a tradition that every 40 years a family tree is made and some genealogist get the job to make this tree

Last time such family tree was made, who was for about 40 years ago and there was not so much about my father, just where he was born and who was his mom.

This genealogist has made a deeper investigation about my father

He found out that my father was a member of this organization

You know it comes as no surprise
He was born in the beginning of the 30's in northern Germany and it was so to say a must to join

If I remember my history correct almost every child over a given age joined this organization

I also remember my father telling me that some of his cousins was in the Kriegsmarine(Graf spee If I remember correctly), Luftwaffe(no pilot)

Markus

my parents were Titos pioneers (like a Titojugend in Yugoslavia) and that doesn't make me a communist.

Interesting find, don't think it makes your family bad. They were all involuntarily signed into such organizations.

Same here doesn't make me a nazist.

They were all...

That was what I said to my mother. I also said

"Remember he was not a grown-up so some one has.."

Said that this Hitlerjugend was some kind of ideological scout movement.

Markus

That is disgusting, please contact the nearest Center for the Documentation of Nazi crimes in you area as soon as possible.

He was about 10-12 years old when the war ended, so I wonder how much war crime he could have committed.

Markus

either you are trying to be sarcastic... or i don't understand your sense of humor :o

i actually find your comment quite disgusting as mapuc cannot really be blamed for this, can he ?

There is a difference between the "jugend" and all the other "organisations" during this period.

It was sarcastic I'm sure. My grandfather was a member too and he was the son of a commie. They simply had to or would face big problems later when trying to find a job etc.

In the past, I have known a few people whose parents were in the Jugend and the story is always the same: you joined or faced scrutiny by the Reich. There should be no stigma against those who were forced, almost quite literally at gunpoint, to join. They were just kids and were at the mercy of the whims of the Reich and their families. One girl I knew had a mother who was enrolled in the Jugend. Towards the end of the war, she was stood up in front of an air raid shelter, handed a rifle and ordered to shoot any soldiers who might try to run into the shelter. She didn't have to shoot; a bomb exploded near where she was standing and blew shrapnel into her leg...

The sins of the fathers, indeed...


<O>

€´Markus

I was joking. Even the former Pope was a member of the Hitler Youth at his age.

I guess, I would have been in the Hitler Youth, too, if I was born back then.

My grand-father on my Dad's side did not even have the voting age when Hitler was voted into power. It was 21 back then. Nevetherless he died at the age of 30 on the Eastern front in 1944. That gives an idea how long the Nazis ruled in Germany. He did not even have a choice.

My other grand-father joined the NSDAP in 1937 according to the records. He was a professional soldier like all his ancestors before, who had a proud tradition of being soldiers ás they had already served in the Prussian Army. I am not even sure, if my grand-father ever gained knowledge that he had become a member of the NSDAP because the Nazis just subscribed a whole list of people to them. For example, when they dissolved the Union's they made all unionists Nazi unionists. That is called "Gleichschaltung". Of course, with a bit of stomach you could have protested against that." I don't like you, give me a no nazi Unionist Membership". That would have made a difference, jk.
By asking the archives, I found out that there is a medical record from 1942 that my other grand-father was unfit for duty because he had a hockey-caused knee-injury (at Auschwitz jk). He was a hockey player. And as he was wearing the uniform of a Lieutenant zur See when he got married ,that tells me that he was with the Kriegsmarine and did the infantry training for the navy conscripts, because at peace times he was a Lieutenant in the Heer for the infantry. You have to survive those times, you know.

A while ago I found out that one of my grandfathers was a tank commander in the Waffen SS. Quite the shock to be honest.
It was like history would have got a grasp on me. After all, I never felt directly "connected" to WW2, yet this changes this.
I am a descendent of an absolutely convinced Nazi.

Feels weird, so I can see where you're coming from mapuc.
Although HJ wasn't anything special of course.
They just did lots of sports and learned that people who are different are sub-humans... nothing weird... :doh:

It is a miracle, after 1945 all the Nazis, have you ever met one?, seemingly have vanished from earth.

It was the working title that struck me: "My father was a member in the HitlerJugend". We should make it a sticky. Confess your youth follies.
You got pregnant at the age of 16? Crusty socks? KKK youth Membership? Wrong Jeans? Wrong sex?

Uh oh, somebody forgot about the lack of a humor chromosome in Germans. :D

What exactly... is the problem here?