The Spirit of German Youth
The Reichsjugendführer (National Youth Leader) Axmann could inform the Führer that 70 percent of the age group from 1928 of the Hitler Youth volunteered for the military, one year before the legal age of the draft call. – 12-10-44
To the Führer, Axmann said,
That the German people don’t
Face this time impassevily,
Every boy would much rather
Be a soldier today than tomorrow,
Führer, don’t you worry.
Just look at the Hitler Youth,
Noble exemplars of German virtue.
It’s splendid, for it turned out
That from the year of birth 1928
Calculated in percentages
Eighty took to the weapons.
Fifteen, sixteen-year-old boys
Are enthusiastic and they have
An understanding of the seriousness of the times,
And they will fight for us.
And they will fall for you,
Like many others all.
Afterwards, they will be ready
To take fourteen-year-olds.
There are still groups
Of such 10, 11, 12-year-olds.
Their courage cannot be dampened,
They’re eager to fight for you,
They willingly let themselves be recruited,
To die in the fight for you.
Everyone gladly becomes a soldier,
Thirsting greatly for heroic deeds,
Everyone, everyone, except one,
Who started crying miserably.
I found such a coward disgraceful,
But it was also just – an infant.
Post-Editing: Susan Heuman
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