had, (past tense) used to be a member, and that for a short time. Is that enough to judge him for a lifetime? Believe it or not, people change, and even the greatest of people can fall under the spell of someone as charismatic as hitler.
Generally people discover their identities as people in their teens and twenties. And people do get fooled and dissilusioned, does that make them any less a person?
And Hitler Youth wasn't such an evil organisation at the start, was it? Sure, it was propaganda'd as was everything under the hitler regime, but if I recall correctly from history class, hitler youth began as a government funded boy scouts thing, possibly a kind of militia training. They would have made it fun. Peer pressure, and all that. That doesn't mean that because he was a member of the hitler youth that he still believes in its ideals. perhaps he was privatly revolted with what was happening but powerless to stop it: he decided not to do anything; I doubt he had the strength of mind back then as he does now, I also doubt that very many of you would stand up for your beliefs in such a situation, where you would be beaten and left for dead as a 'jew lover' or whatever. Theres a thin line between bravery and stupidity: generally its only brave if you get away with it.
Generally people discover their identities as people in their teens and twenties. And people do get fooled and dissilusioned, does that make them any less a person?
And Hitler Youth wasn't such an evil organisation at the start, was it? Sure, it was propaganda'd as was everything under the hitler regime, but if I recall correctly from history class, hitler youth began as a government funded boy scouts thing, possibly a kind of militia training. They would have made it fun. Peer pressure, and all that. That doesn't mean that because he was a member of the hitler youth that he still believes in its ideals. perhaps he was privatly revolted with what was happening but powerless to stop it: he decided not to do anything; I doubt he had the strength of mind back then as he does now, I also doubt that very many of you would stand up for your beliefs in such a situation, where you would be beaten and left for dead as a 'jew lover' or whatever. Theres a thin line between bravery and stupidity: generally its only brave if you get away with it.
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