Hitlerjugend

Oil on Cardboard 18" x 41"

2002

Portrait of a young idealist: The mark of a truly low point in one's national history is when a regime hijacks the very best of human qualities and exploits them for perverse and destructive ends- usually to maximize the power of said regime. While many states could be said to have lain in such ditches for various lengths of time in their histories, there is little debate in rational circles that Nazi Germany represent such a low point. During the Soviet assault on Berlin in 1945, one can see the greatest evidence of this in the mobilization of the Hitleryouth to help defend the city. While the veteran soldiers of the armed services could see the writing on the wall, and most adult civilians could only hope for quiet or a quick death, many, many boys, many of who had spent their conscious if not their entire lives as members of the Third Reich, threw themselves against the force of a vengeful Red Army in full momentum- itself an instrument a wholly perverted leadership. With simple weapons and faith in the government who would sacrifice them to forestall the inevitable for just a few more minutes, large numbers of them fought room to room, street to street and sewer to sewer with predictable results. We may look down on this boy for the ideology that fired him, but we can't deny the fire itself, and live now understanding that such things need to be nurtured with awareness for the ways in which they can either elevate us or bring us low.

Available for purchase.

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