Hitler Youth - The Generations of Lost Innocence.
10 frame (160 pages) multiple awarded (e.g 7 x gold, and grand award winner) thematic exhibit (US Display category exhibit) by Dr Edwin J. Andrews, an APS accredited Chief Philatelic Judge and know philatelic author. Dr. Andrews was the lead author of the 7th edition of the APS Manual of Philatelic Judging.
Purpose and Treatment: This is a 10 frame Display Division exhibit detailing the creation, exploitation and demise of the Hitler Youth from their inception in 1922 to denazification in 1945. The story is captured in six chapters which extend from two to three decimal places in detail. As a display exhibit a wide variety of original philatelic and non-philatelic elements were used, over 65 different types throughout. These include letters, photographs, news/magazine/article clippings, badges and medals, uniform accoutrements, autographs, awards, certificates, advertising and cigarette cards, ticket stubs, various types of currency, etc. The philatelic elements cover the gamut from mint stamps, revenue stamps, and semi-postal stamps, to Cinderella material including facsimiles, labels, vignettes, letter seals, poster stamps, and various types of postal history elements such as express mail, registered mail, field post covers, event covers and cancels, slogan cancels, postal stationery, pneumatic mail, errors of various kinds such as pre-print paper creases, double transfers, etc. There are 691 elements used of which 420 or 61% are philatelic, thus, more than adequately by US Guidelines, carrying the story line. There are some pages with only philatelic material (26) and others with only non-philatelic material (15) but overall (119 or 74%), the pages have a mixture of both elements, averaging 3.9 elements per page with a range of 1 to 7 elements. In almost all cases the elements are tied chronologically to the time period of the story line.
The plan begins with a prologue to set the stage for the development of the German youth movement and, the influences of governments and war on the rise of socialism and therein, the genesis of the Hitler Youth. The plan ends with an epilogue reviewing the aftermath of the war and the resurgence of German youth organizations. The ability to detail each facet of this story is limited simply by the space available. Accordingly, in many sections examples carry the story line rather than an exhaustive presentation of every fact.
Importance:
Subject importance - Historically, the Hitler Youth program affected two generations of children, teens and young adults in Germany and all occupied countries, spanning the period of 1922 through the end of WW II. The Allies spent millions of dollars and manpower in reversing the brainwashing effects of the program in order to rehabilitate youth to meaningful places in post war European society. Hitler had, through the HJ, created the largest para-military force ever assembled, numbering 8 million youth by 1940. By comparison, the Nazi Party itself had only 6 million members. The blatant exploitation of youth and the often fatal use of HJ in military operations, is second only to the holocaust itself. The exhibit provides a series of historical vignettes guiding the viewer through the creation of the HJ, its administration, operations, militarization and final demise.
Philatelic importance stems from the necessity for the Third Reich to create a myriad of philatelic items to support the HJ. This included new issues of revenue and savings stamps specifically designated for HJ use, annual semi-postal issues used for propaganda and focused on the HJ, and following militarization of the HJ, the necessity for various postal stationery items, field post cards and envelopes and a large variety of propaganda and special event cancels related to the HJ. The exhibit shows all of these items as elements intertwined with the story and providing support for the text.
Exhibit importance r
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