To understand Hitler's enormous success with the young we must understand what life has meant to the post-war generation in Germ
any, not only the children of the poor but of the middle class as well. They were children during the years of the war when the food blockade kept them half starved, when fathers were away at the front and mothers distracted with the effort to keep their families fed. They came to manhood in a country which seemed to have no use for them. –“The Youth Who Are Hitler’s Strength,” Alice Hamilton According to the author, why was Hitler influential among young people? They wanted to become members of the middle class. They wanted to achieve greater academic success. They had suffered during the war and felt purposeless. They wanted to bring an end to the many food blockades.
They had suffered during the war and felt purposeless
Explanation:
The youth that was coming to an age to be adults during Hitler's time was youth that had suffered badly from living in terrible conditions, lack of food, absent parents, so they were not seeing any purpose for their lives. This went straight into Hitler's advantage. He used his skills to convince and motivate this youth that Germany will become a great and prosperous nation, and they will be the ones that will and can do it. This gave the youth a purposes of their lives, they were highly motivated, seeing Hitler as the savior and even as the father, so they gave their best to achieve Hitler's plans, which unfortunately ended up badly for everyone.
Young people were very malleable to wanting to become successful, to have a purpose, and being able to be independent and on their feet. Hitler assures they would be fed and also potentially having the feeling of being successful if they were to win the war. This gave them a sense of empowerment and will to want to fight. The young people of the war often not having any family of their own to come back to, it gave them no reason to want to turn back. Growing up with their fathers absent and their mothers struggling, they did not want to suffer their same childhood fate growing into adulthood. They saw Hitlers campaign as a sanctuary that would uplift them.
E. However, I understood that my level of engagement with these materials was not as profound as it was with primary texts such as Shakespeare’s plays.
