On 10 October 1945, the Hitler Youth and its subordinate units were outlawed by the Allied Control Council along with other Nazi Party organisations.

Under Section 86 of the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Hitler Youth is an "unconstitutional organisation" and the distribution or public use of its symbols, except for educational or research purposes, is illegal.

Based in Munich, Bavaria, it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the main paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party at that time.

[3] One reason the Hitler Youth (HJ) so easily developed was that regimented organisations, often focused on politics, for young people and particularly adolescent boys were a familiar concept to German society in the Weimar Republic.

[5] Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch (in November 1923), Nazi youth groups ostensibly disbanded, but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names.

[10][11] On 30 October 1931, the HJ officially became part of the SA through a decree issue by Hitler, under the notional command of Ernst Röhm.

[14] In April 1932, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the Hitler Youth movement in an attempt to stop widespread political violence.

However, in June, Brüning's successor as Chancellor, Franz von Papen, lifted the ban as a way of appeasing Hitler, the rapidly ascending political star.

A further significant expansion drive started in 1933, after Baldur von Schirach was appointed by Hitler as the first Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader).

[28] The Hitler Youth was organised into corps under adult leaders, and the general membership of the HJ consisted of boys aged 14 to 18.

Regional leaders typically organised rallies and field exercises in which several dozen Hitler Youth cells would participate.

[29] Since the HJ and BDM were considered fully Aryan organizations by Nazi officials, premarital sex was encouraged in their ranks.

[30][d] This did not conform to the general beliefs of the Nazi Party, which viewed premarital sex as undesirable and a potential public health hazard.

[32] The Hitler Youth maintained training academies comparable to preparatory schools, which were designed to nurture future Nazi Party leaders.

[34] A program entitled Landjahr Lager (Country Service Camp) was designed to teach specifically chosen girls of the BDM high moral character standards within a rural educational setting.

[39][40][41] Members were taught to associate state-identified enemies such as Jews with Germany's previous defeat in the First World War and societal decline.

[44][45] Education and training programs for the Hitler Youth were designed to undermine the values of traditional structures of German society.

Their training also aimed to remove social and intellectual distinctions between classes, to be replaced and dominated by the political goals of Hitler's totalitarian dictatorship.

For example, many activities closely resembled military training, with weapons familiarization, assault course circuits, and basic fighting tactics.

[56] On 15 August 1939, a fortnight before the beginning of World War II, Schirach agreed with General Wilhelm Keitel that the entire Hitler Youth leadership must have "defence training".

[54][page needed] On 1 May 1940, Artur Axmann was appointed deputy to Schirach, whom he succeeded as Reichsjugendführer of the Hitler Youth on 8 August 1940.

The idea for a Waffen-SS division made up of Hitler Youth members was first proposed by Axmann to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in early 1943.

Over 20,000 German youths participated in the attempt to repulse the D-Day invasion;[63] while they knocked out 28 Canadian tanks during their first effort, they ultimately lost 3,000 lives before the Normandy assault was complete.

During the Battle of Berlin, Axmann's Hitler Youth formed a major part of the last line of German defence, and they were reportedly among the fiercest fighters.

While the Hitler Youth was never declared a criminal organisation, its adult leadership was considered tainted for corrupting the minds of young Germans.

Many adult leaders of the Hitler Youth were put on trial by Allied authorities, and Baldur von Schirach was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Since membership was compulsory after 1936, it was neither surprising nor uncommon that many senior leaders of both West and East Germany had been members of the Hitler Youth.

Historian Gerhard Rempel opined that Nazi Germany itself was impossible to conceive without the Hitler Youth, as their members constituted the "social, political, and military resiliency of the Third Reich" and were part of "the incubator that maintained the political system by replenishing the ranks of the dominant party and preventing the growth of mass opposition.

"[71] Rempel also reports that a large percentage of the boys who served in the HJ slowly came to the realization that "they had worked and slaved for a criminal cause", which they carried for a lifetime.

While they were eventually able to look back at their place in "a dictatorship which oppressed, maimed, and killed millions", he maintains that an honest appraisal should lead them to conclude that their past contributions to the regime had "damaged their own souls.