Parallel Journeys

In 1939, there are over seven million Hitler Youth members. A year later, the Nazis pass a law that requires all Aryan children to join the Hitler Youth. If parents interfere, the Nazis can put the children in orphanages or with different families. Many parents like Hitler Youth discipline. Alfons says leaders remove any member under 14 from the local movie theater at 9:00 pm—the curfew. A repeat offense can result in a fine for the parents and two hours of physical punishment for the boy. The severe consequences for disobedience limit misbehavior. If the Hitler Youth expels a young person, they won’t have a bright future in Nazi Germany.

The Hitler Youth obey their leaders. On a freezing day in November 1938, Alfons’s 15-year-old leader marches him and other boys into an icy river because he didn’t like how they sang. The boys curse him covertly, but none of them openly revolt.

What the parents don’t like about Hitler Youth is its disregard for Christianity. They get upset when Hitler Youth leaders mock religion or schedule Sunday parades during church services. Alfons’s grandma is a dedicated Catholic, and she puts up with Alfons’s Hitler Youth obligations if they don’t obstruct her plan for him: becoming a priest.