The Fetuses of Totalitarian Regimes

by Antonella Chichizola

A critical view to the youth manipulation under totalitarianism (1919-1938)

“Those who have youth on their side control the future”

-Hans Schemm, leader of the Nazi Teachers’ League

Totalitarian regimes during the interwar period (1919-1938) had it very clear. Fascism, Nazism and Communism; all of them took special interest over the young generations of their time. While the two first ones wanted to forge boys as unbeatable and courageous warriors and prepare girls to be good mothers and procreators of the future generations, the USSR under Stalin’s reign trained the young ones to be future skilled workers for industrial, scientific and technological developments. In other words, these currents were creating “the perfect society” by planting ideas on the young and innocent minds of children. In communism for example, probably the main aim of controlling youth was to create new “socialist citizens” who will accept collectivism rather than individualistic ideas.

Education was a main tool that must be controlled by the state in order to create the perfect Nazi or Fascist or Soviet as the case may. Teachers that had contradictory ideas were eliminated. The same happened with textbooks that didn’t provide the information the government wanted to transmit impose. Everything was carefully arranged so that citizens will learn since very young “the principles of the government life”. The primary purpose of schools came to teach children the main values of Communism, Fascism, or Nazism respectively such as manliness, patriotism and obedience.

YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS

Another common fact is that the three countries (Germany, Italy and USSR) developed the system of creating “youth organizations”.  They separated them according to age and only in USSR not by sex. If you were member of these nationalistic groups, you were of course meant to give cult to the leader; either it was “Il Duce”, “Der Führer”, or “Comrade Stalin” they made a great job on making people glorify them. Another important difference between the Soviet and the fascist indoctrination was that their youth organizations were largely independent of adult party. Children on the Nazi youth groups were encouraged to spy their parents and what is more, to report them to the government when they were “not doing right”. Hence, there must have been a previous differentiation of what’s right and what’s wrong.  

As there is everywhere, (youth) opposition groups appeared rebelling again these impositions. However, the willingness of millions of young people to fight for (Nazi/ Fascist/ Communist) cause when war broke out must suggest who had the real power and major influence.

All these facts led me to ask myself… and the family? Isn’t it the first school of values? Were the families inculcating the same values as the regimes? Or… Were they too scared of the government’s police to teach them any that differed from the established ones? Were these movements really able to wash the brains of the young and therefore had a mentally-programmed future generation who will understand the imposed philosophy of their national regimes as a natural fact of life? ... But if they learned these “values” at first, could it really be considered a brainwash? Controversial, isn’t it?