Selling is a 1948 magazine article about: German youth after WWII Title: Uncle Sam Bends a Twig in Germany Author: Frederick SimpichThis article is about the efforts to ‘re-train’ the youth of Germany after WWII. Lots of info on the programs and people, though (of course) a strong pro-USA slant. Quoting the 1st page “As the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd." So Uncle Sam hopes, as his Army in Germany tackles the tough task of training some 3 million youths for a better way of life. In Army patter this job is "GYA." That's short for German Youth Activities. Both Ground and Air Forces work at it. "Hitler might never have gained such power," General Omar N. Bradley, Army Chief of Staff, told me, "and World War II might never have been fought, if German boys had been brought up in our more free, democratic way, instead of being regimented and trained as a mass of embryo soldiers." In 1933 Hitler outlawed most then existing youth groups; even church work on behalf of youth was hampered. Then came the Reich's Youth Law of 1936. This wiped out all remaining groups and drafted every German boy and girl from ten to 18 into "Hitler Youth." Thus twelve to 14 million youngsters began compulsory service with premilitary training under 30,000 leaders. Both sexes took cultural and athletic courses, and flocked to summer camps. Vocational work was closely tied in with the German Labor Front. Units of Hitler Youth were set up to study aviation, medical and signal corps work, while others trained for the Navy. Later, hordes of youngsters moved easily from civilian life into the ranks, and the fighting. Before Germany was whipped, Allied leaders saw that the problem of German youth was to be a big one. To get the ruined land back on its feet, so it could feed and clothe itself, was civilization's immediate task. And it was the young, in particular, they being more easily reoriented than their Nazi-soaked elders, who were then and still are of 1st importance. It is the youth of today, up to 25, says Army, who may soon lead the German nation. If we can train them to lead it along safe paths and make it a sane member in a peaceful family of nations, we may not have to fight it again. This GYA work involves teaching trades to boys and girls, the better use of leisure time, the problems of waifs, tramps, and juvenile delinquency, new moral and political concepts-many things. To this task our Army brings its full facilities, in support of our Military Government, or "MG" in Germany. To date, Army has aided more than 500,000 boys and girls. Working for GYA are thousands of volunteer men and women, including Army officers, enlisted men, Army women, WAC, Red Cross staffs, American and Allied civilian employees of Military Government, Air Force, and our Department of the Army - and a host of Germans. At 1st our soldiers made use of gum, candy, soft drinks, baseball gear, jeep rides-and just plain, good-natured American horseplay-and a few new-learned German phrases. But they were only curtain raisers. We've settled down, now, to hard, earnest work to change German youth's thinking habits and set it new goals in life. MG controls radio stations in Bremen, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, and Berlin's RIAS; they give 1st-hand facts about world conditions. If our President or a British Prime Minister makes a speech about ways the Allies seek to restore Germany, that's discussed without political twists. MG makes its own broadcasts, to correct false rumors. Or such talks may range from Germany's need for exports and imports to school problems, public health, civil service, and food. At 28 different Info Centers MG runs libraries full of American newspapers, magazines, books and maps, shows industrial and educational films, gives lectures, and arranges for debates and discussions and "Town Meeting of the Air," attended also by thousands of adult Germans. MG officials lead many of these round tables, whose themes may range from farm life in California to how a German boy trained in a GYA trade school can now find a job. More than a million youngsters have already seen such MG-sponsored films as Union Pacific, San Francisco, The Story of the Lin¬oln Tunnel, and The Adventures of Mark Twain…" 7” x 10”, 11 double-sided pages, twenty B&W pictures plus map. These are pages from an actual 1948 magazine. No reprints or copies. 48J4 Please note the flat-rate shipping for my magazine articles. Please see my other auctions and store items for more old articles, advertising pages and non-fiction books. Click Here To Visit My eBay Store: busybeas books and adsHundreds of items!Anything I find that looks interesting! Please see my other auctions for more goodies, books and magazines. I’ll combine wins to save on postage. No postage charge for the ads or articles if you buy a book that I can mail the ads/articles inside. Thanks For Looking! Matthew 7: 7-8 Powered by eBay Turbo Lister
