Hitler Youth: growing up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

In 1926 Hitler and the Third Reich began attracting groups of children to be in a prestigious group called “Hitler Youth.” They enticed these naive children to join with promises of camping trips and parades. Slowly, over the years, the activities became more military: children were taught how to use guns and throw grenades as well as to hate Jews and other people who were not “perfect Germans.” The book answers the question of how the Holocaust happened. In this book you meet twelve people that were in the Hitler youth, and through interviews, pictures and diaries you see how the nation changed over many years. By 1945 there were millions of children in the Hitler Youth, and they were performing actual military duties, as well as wrecking Jewish homes and stores, thinking the victims deserved what they got. This book is very well done and is for older children who can handle this subject matter. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the Holocaust. Review by Joyce Levine