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Authors behind Nazi youth group accounts
Interpretation A Adapted from an interview with Kurt Zeisser in the 1960s, published in 1965.
Zeisser, who was from a Protestant family, lived in a small German town. He joined the Hitler Youth in 1930 when he was 13 and worked in his father’s printing business. In 1931 Zeisser’s father joined the Nazi Party to help his business and in 1932 he was given the contract to print the town’s new, Nazi newspaper.
The interpretation is Zeisser’s recollection of life in the Hitler Youth and why he joined.
I joined the Hitler Youth because I enjoyed the activities and doing things with my friends. My parents did not mind me joining. There was no political indoctrination.
Interpretation B Adapted from Melita Maschmann’s book, ‘Account Rendered’, 1963.
Maschmann joined a Nazi youth group for girls in 1933 when she was 15 and living in Berlin. She went on to work in the Propaganda Department of the League of German Girls (BDM). Her parents were wealthy and well-educated. They were killed in an Allied bombing raid. She was arrested by the American army in July 1945 but released, aged 30, in 1948.
My parents would not allow me to join a Nazi youth group, and my friends only cared about clothes and gossip, so I joined secretly. I enjoyed the competitive nature of the activities but what really attracted me were the ideas of National Socialism and my love of Germany. As a member I learned that the Nazis would do away with unemployment and help the poorer people. I was determined to stop the spread of Communism within the working class.
Why might the authors of Interpretations A and B have a different interpretation about Nazi youth groups?
Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B and your contextual knowledge.
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Marking points
- 1 Identifies a relevant difference in the authors’ provenance, circumstances or experience.
- 2 Uses accurate information about Zeisser and Interpretation A.
- 3 Uses accurate information about Maschmann and Interpretation B.
- 4 Explains how the provenance or experience could cause the authors to hold different interpretations, rather than merely stating the difference.
Full-mark answer
Zeisser joined the Hitler Youth in 1930, when he was only 13 and before Hitler became dictator. His father later joined the Nazi Party to help his printing business and gained the contract for the town’s Nazi newspaper. Because his family benefited from good relations with the Nazis, and because his early experience centred on activities with friends, Zeisser may remember the organisation as enjoyable and not political. Maschmann joined secretly in Berlin in 1933 against her parents’ wishes, then became closely involved in the League of German Girls and its Propaganda Department. Her longer and more political exposure to Nazism helps explain why she stresses National Socialist ideas and Nazi promises much more than Zeisser does.
Why this answer loses marks
Maschmann was in the Hitler Youth for a long time, so she had a different view.
This states a background difference but does not explain its effect. Link her sustained exposure to Nazi ideas and propaganda to why her interpretation places more emphasis on political motivation.