Essay: Baldur von Schirach

Baldur von Schirach is a fairly well known member of the Nazi Party. In his lifetime, he had taken many leadership roles within the party, also he had became well known because of his work in the Hitler Youth Program. Yet, his story began with art and poetry not with Nazis and violence. I am here to explain to you how a child who grew up dreaming of becoming a well known poet, ended up controlling the entire German youth.
Baldur von Schirach was born May 9th, 1907 in Berlin, Germany. His father was a former army officer who became a theatre director in Weimar and Vienna. His mother was born in America and later came to Germany where she met his father. He was the youngest of four children. He had two sisters named Viktoria and Rosalind and a brother named Karl. Growing up with his father being a theatre director, he grew to love art. His home was filled with music, theatre, and a vast amount of literature. His primary language was English until he learned German at the age of five. At a young age, he showed talent in poetry which he later attempted to turn into a profession. He went to study the arts, at the University of Munich and attended classes on art history and literature. He never finished his studies and became the talented poet he was destined to be.
During college, he joined the Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party. Around that time, his anti-semitic views began to develop while reading The International Jew by Henry Ford. He met Hitler and Rudolf Hess in 1926, when Hitler advised him to move to Munich, so that he can improve his rank within the party. After dropping out of college and working solely with the Nazi Party, he was given a leadership position in the party in 1929. His new role as leader of the “National Socialist German Students League” took up a lot of his time which forced him to choose between his studies and the party. He decided not to continue his studies and instead took his role in the Nazi Party quite seriously. His work ethic allowed him to improve his ranks often in the next nine years of his life. In 1931, he was promoted to the job of Reich Youth Leader within the Nazi Party. By 1933, he was given SA rank of Gruppenfurer and he took charge of the whole Hitler Youth program, which he would soon build up into an organization like no other.
As he took charge of the youth he met and married Henriette Hoffmann who was the daughter of Hitler’s official photographer. Henriette was a German writer who grew up in a National Socialist oriented household. She was very close to Hitler as she grew up. She was his secretary during her studies at University of Munich. She also briefly dated Hitler after the death of his niece Geli Raubal. Later she met Baldur von Schirach and married. His parents and family disapproved of the marriage, but Hitler expressed his full support and pushed for it. Hitler and Ernst Rohm were the best men in their wedding. The couple had four kids: Angelika Benedikta, Klaus who became a lawyer, Robert who became a businessman, and Richard who became a sinologist. Baldur von Schirach’s marriage allowed his and Hitler’s relationship to strengthen and Schirach was integrated into Hitler’s inner circle. Baldur was in the inner circle for quite a long time and was invited to dinners with Hitler often. That is until Hitler and Henriette got into an argument.
One night at her hotel she heard screaming and she went out to investigate. As she says, “I saw Jewish women and children being bundled into transportation to be deported.” She made an appointment to meet with Hitler and talk. She told him what she had seen and how it upset her. She told him that he shouldn’t be doing what he was and how it was wrong. She felt that since she was close with him and they had a long history together that she was able to speak freely with him about her concerns. She was wrong. His response was “Every day 10,000 of my best soldiers die on the battlefield, while the others carry on living in the camps. That means the biological balance in Europe is not right anymore.” He then told her to leave and Baldur von Schirach and Henriette von Schirach were never invited to the dinners in the Netherlands again.
Baldur von Schirach was very successful within the Nazi Party. His biggest accomplishment was with his work regarding the Hitler Youth Program from 1931 to 1940. He convinced the german youth to join the Nazi Party through the concepts of comradeship, courage, sacrifice, and honor. Under his authority and influence, the Hitler Youth program had eight million members. His goal was to “project National Socialism through German youth into eternity” and he did just that. He organized a gigantic youth march in Potsdam where crowds of Hitler Youth marched to greet Hitler. He also was able to mobilize the german youth and convinced hundreds of thousands of children to join. The Hitler Youth Program was at its peak under Baldur Von Schirach.
During his time in the Nazi Party, Baldur von Schirach wrote plenty of novels regarding Hitler and the Hitler Youth. He wrote Die Hitler – Jugend which was used to teach the children of Hitler Youth how to be a proper Nazi and how they were going to be the superior race. He also wrote Hitler Wie ihn Keiner Kennt which contained photographs of his father in law, Hitler’s official photographer. His book Die Fahne der Verfolgten was his collection of poems that he published alongside Die Pionere des Dritten Reiches which was a collection of short biographies of Nazi leaders.He used his books and poetry to shape the minds of the youth he was in charge of.  He was teaching them that their race is superior to all and how amazing Hitler is for the country. His writings were very influential in his work with the Hitler Youth.
Baldur von Schirach was awarded many honors during his time in the army. His biggest being the Iron Cross that he was awarded. In 1940, he volunteered to fight in the army. During his time in the army, he led the evacuation of around five million kids from multiple cities that were threatened by allied bombers. His efforts to save those kids was the reason he was awarded the Iron Cross in France. During his service with the 4th Company of Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland as the Gefreiter, he was promoted to Leutnant and was acknowledged for his bravery.
Towards the start of WWII his position began to be challenged by Martin Bormann and others who made fun of his femininity which in turn hurt his tough persona and credibility for the job. He lost control of the Hitler Youth to Artur Axmann and was given a different duty. August 1940, he was appointed Governor and Gauleiter of Vienna. Under his authority, he made as he stated, “a contribution to European culture” by deporting 185,000 Jews from Vienna to Poland. Later on in the war he vouched for a moderate treatment of the Jews and Eastern Europeans. He condemned the the conditions the Jews were being put through as they were deported. The fact that he disagreed with the conditions the Jews were forced into was the reason for Hitler’s new dislike towards Schirach. Even though he was in Hitler’s disfavor, he remained at his position in Vienna. While in Vienna he became terrified of air raids and commanded that all the cellars of the Hofburg Palace be turned into bomb shelters. Due to his paranoia of air raids, the Vienna Air Defence Coordination Centre created personal facilities to accommodate Schirach.
Near the end of the war Baldur von Schirach was captured by Allied troops and was brought to the Nuremberg Trial. He was one of the few to condemn Hitler during the trial. He was said to have had a change of heart in the courtroom. In front of the judge he recognized that he wronged the German Youth and that he was also to blame for poisoning an entire generation with hatred. He took responsibility for what he had done and showed remorse. He claimed to not know about the death camps and showed proof that he protested and pleaded for humane treatment towards Jews to Martin Bormann. He was not found guilty of crimes against peace for his time building the Hitler Youth. At the end of the trial, in front of the International Military Tribunal, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison on October 1, 1946 because although he was found not guilty of creating the policy of deporting the Jews from Vienna, he participated in the deportations so he was convicted of crimes against humanity.
Baldur von Schirach was held at the Spandau Prison for twenty years. While in prison his wife Henriette Von Schirach divorced him. To combat his boredom he focused on his love for poetry . His most famous poem from his time in prison was “Dem Tod” which means “To Death.”  He served a rather short sentence compared to those also convicted in the Nuremberg Trials. He was released October 1, 1966. After his release, he lived in southwest Germany until he died less than a decade later on August 8, 1974.