PROSPEROUS ARYAN german FAMILY

Berlin tiergarten Park, Summer 1935

“BY 1935, 60 PER CENT OF GERMAN YOUTH WERE HJ MEMBERS, ITS PROGRAMS SUPPLANTING FAMILY AND SCHOOL AS THEIR MAIN FORM OF MASS EDUCATION”

Dressed for the occasion, a family poses for a portrait, their Hitler-jugend (HJ) son the centre of attention. The mother wears a summer flower frock and fashionable shoes while the father wears a Nazi Party pin and carries a cane, possibly a result of WWI service. The boy, in his Hitler Youth uniform, has hooked his hand over his belt, a pose reminiscent of one often assumed by Hitler during public appearances and official photos. By 1935, 60 per cent of German youth were HJ members, its programs supplanting both family and school as the main form of mass education/indoctrination.