Quote:
Originally posted by MysticCat81
Well, obviously I can't speak to the specifics of that nor argue with them. They were there, I wasn't. All I have to go on is that every historical account I have read on the subject has said that joining the Hitler Youth was compulsary after 1936. If they say they didn't have to join, I have no basis on which to doubt them.
I don't think, however, that their personal experiences necessarily prove that the historical accounts are wrong about membership being compulsary, but rather would assume that, for some reason, they were able to avoid compulsary membership. In other words, their experiences don't necessarily disprove the rule but show exceptions to the rule.
I would assume that there is always the possibility that complusary participation was more rigorously enforced in some parts of Germany, or even in parts of cities like Berlin, than in others. I also wouldn't be surprised if it was more rigorously enforced among the children of members of certain professions and particular social groups than others.
Also, I wonder if it's possible that some who say they didn't "join" really mean they didn't "participate." It would not strike me as surprising if the practice was to enroll kids in the Hitler Youth whether they liked it or not (or knew it or not) and whether they actively participated or not.
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Well, they could very well be exceptions to the rule, and for all I know, they might have been enrolled but never informed of this. They did say that if their father had been a party member they would have had to join and participate, but he wasn't.
As to profession and areas of cities/ the country: They were professor's children, as were my grandmother and her siblings, maybe since the profession was considered more subversive and liberal, they didn't try to recruit those children?