Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti - Book Set #2

Bartoletti, S. (2005).  Hitler Youth. New York, NY.  Scholastic Inc.

This is a photo-essay book that captures the children who were either a part of, rebelled against, or were discriminated against by the organization Hitler Youth.  The Hitler Youth was made up of millions of girls and boys that followed the Nazi Party and Hitler.  It was started even before the Nazi's took over  in the 12 years of the Third Reich.  Hitler knew that in order to have an entire country willing to follow and die for him, he would have to start with the young who would be growing up with him as their leader.  He knew that children were more easily shaped and brain-washed and would be able to commit and contribute fully to their country and his ideology as they got older.  The book follows the true stories and accounts of actual children growing up in Germany before, during and immediately after Hitler's regime. It follows a timeline of how the Nazi party came to be and how the Hitler Youth was very much a planned part of that organization.  The true accounts, along with black and white pictures on every page of the children and the time in history that it captures are heart wrenching to say the least.  The author has done a fantastic job with accurately capturing this period in time through the stories of others giving this book a unique view and style, which she has thoroughly researched.  Some of her information is from real life conversation and correspondence and some of it from letters that were written during this time.  She describes her research process at the end of the book.  I had never even known that this organization existed until I read this book, and it played such a huge part in history.  Photography of the time is proof of what is the most shocking and saddest parts of human history.  This book will no doubt leave an imprint on children and adults alike.