Abstract

The Law on the Hitler Youth from 1936 was tightened through the Second Execution Order, the so-called Youth Service Regulation of March 25, 1939. At once, membership in the Hitler Youth became mandatory for all Germans between 10 and 18 years of age, and those who failed to comply faced the threat of criminal prosecution. The regulation also made clear, however, that certain youths were not desirable members according to National Socialist selection criteria. The increasing pressure meant that just as children were forced to join the Hitler Youth, parents were forced to relinquish control over the manner in which their children were raised, ceding this to the National Socialists, who put children’s education in the service of their goals.

Second Execution Order to the Law on the Hitler Youth (“Youth Service Regulation”) (March 25, 1939)

Source

Second Execution Order to the Law on the Hitler Youth (Youth Service Regulation) of 25 March 1939

On the basis of Article 4 of the law for the Hitler Youth of 1 December 1936 (Reichsgestzblatt I, page 993), I order:

§ 1
Length of Service
(1) Service in the Hitler Youth is honorary service to the German people.
(2) All juveniles from the 10th to the end of the 18th year of age are obliged to serve in the Hitler Youth, and namely:
1. Boys between the ages of 10 and 14 in the Junior Hitler Youth (Deutschen Jungvolk or DJ),
2. Boys between the ages of 14 and 18 in the Hitler Youth (Hitler-Jugend or HJ),
3. Girls between the ages of 10 and 14 in the Young Girls’ League (Jungmädelbund or JM),
4. Girls between the ages of 14 and 18 in the League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel or BDM).
(3) Pupils of elementary schools who have already completed their 10th year of age are deferred from service in the Hitler Youth until they leave the classes of the elementary schools.
(4) Pupils of elementary schools who have already completed their 14th year of age remain members of the Junior Hitler Youth or the Young Girls’ League (DJ or JM), until their discharge from school.

§ 2
Child-Rearing Authority [Erziehungsgewalt]
All boys and girls of the Hitler Youth are subject to a public-law child-rearing authority, in accordance with regulations decreed by the Führer and Reich Chancellor.

§ 3
Unworthiness
(1) Those juveniles are unworthy of membership in the Hitler Youth, and thus are excluded from the community of the Hitler Youth, who
1. commit dishonorable acts,
2. were dismissed from the Hitler Youth before this law came into effect because of dishonorable acts,
3. who cause offense by their moral behavior in the Hitler Youth or in public, and thus injure the Hitler Youth.

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§ 4
Unfitness
(1) Juveniles who have been found, in the opinion of a medical officer of the HJ or of a physician contracted by the HJ, to be unfit or only partially fit for service in the Hitler Youth, must be relieved altogether or partially from service in the Hitler Youth according to the medical decision.

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§ 5
Deferment and Exemption
(1) On request of the legal guardian or the HJ leader concerned, each young person may be deferred or exempted from service in the Hitler Youth for a period of up to one year, if they:
1. are retarded considerably in their physical development,
2. cannot fulfill the demands of school without the exemption, in the judgment of the school principal.

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§ 6
German Subjects of Non-German National Origin
(1) Juveniles of German citizenship, whose parents or father belong according to their own statement to the Danish or Polish ethnic groups, are to be exempted from membership in the Hitler Youth on request of those who are charged with their care; if several persons have the right and duty to care for the young person, and not every one of them makes the request, the exemption may be granted. Young people who were born out of wedlock may be exempted from membership in the Hitler Youth on request of those who are charged with their care, if the mother belongs according to her own statement to the Danish or Polish ethnic groups; they are to be exempted if the guardian agrees to the request.

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§ 7
Racial Requirements
Jews (Article 5 of the 1st proclamation to the law of Reich citizenship of 14 November 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 1333) are excluded from membership in the Hitler Youth.

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§ 9
Registration and Induction
(1) All juveniles are to be registered with the respective Hitler Youth leader for induction into the Hitler Youth before 15 March of the calendar year during which they complete their 10th year of age. If a juvenile fulfills the conditions for acceptance into the Hitler Youth (for instance, release from official custody, receipt of citizenship, permanent residence in the German Reich) after this time, the juvenile is to be registered within one month after fulfillment of the stated conditions.
(2) The legal representative of the young person is obligated to register him or her.

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§ 12
Punitive Regulation
(1) A legal guardian will be punished with a fine up to 150 marks or with imprisonment if he intentionally acts against the provisions of Article 9 of this law.
(2) Whoever malevolently prevents or attempts to prevent a juvenile from serving in the Hitler Youth will be punished with imprisonment and a fine, or with one of these punishments.
(3) Legal punitive action will only be taken on request of the Youth Leader of the German Reich. The request can be withdrawn.
(4) Juveniles can be forced by the respective local police authorities to fulfill the duties with which they are charged on the basis of this law, and of the regulations issued for its implementation.

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Berlin, 25 March 1939

Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler
Deputy of the Führer R. Hess
Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery Dr. Lammers

Source of English translation: Second Execution Order to the Law on the Hitler Youth (Youth Service Regulation) of 25 March 1939. In United States Chief Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. IV. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1946. Document 1409-PS through 2373-PS. Document 2115-PS, pp. 744-51. English translation credited to Nuremberg staff, edited by GHI staff.

Source of original German text: Reichsgesetzblatt I, March 25, 1939, p. 710. Available online at: https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=dra&datum=1939&page=941&size=45; reprinted in Paul-Meier Benneckenstein, ed., Dokumente der deutschen Politik. Volume 7, Part II: Das Werden des Reiches 1939, edited by Hans Volz. Berlin, 1940, p. 794, pp. 796–97.