Friday 29 July 2011

The girls, boys and the Hitler Youth

I’m rapidly getting towards the real letters. I’m now up to March 1941 and the real letters begin in December 1941. This is the last round before I get on to the real ones.
The girls are now 14-15 and are beginning to get interested in boys. In fact, a couple of the older ones have quite serious boyfriends. There may well be questions to do with conscription coming up later.
I’ve put in some instances of the Hitler Youth that I learnt from yesterday’s research – including some incidents with Charlotte’s quite troublesome younger brother, Thomas. I will have to find out some more about the BDM. (Bund Deutscher Mädel) There isn’t much mention of it in the letters, though I’m sure the girls would have been involved when they were younger.
I’m getting a sense of this “duty” year that young unmarried women used to have to do. It seems form the letters that it’s quite easy to find an opportunity within the family. Hence, Charlotte manages to look after her own blind grandmother. Gerda’s work on the family farm will probably also count.
The more I write, the more questions I ask myself.
Well, I’ve managed over 2000 words since breakfast again today.

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