Youth Under Dictators

The twentieth century saw the rise and fall of many authoritarian regimes. While each of these societies had unique characteristics, much of what they did to secure, hold, and expand their power and influence exposes certain similarities between dictatorships. One such feature shared by many ideology-driven regimes is their means and methods of controlling and indoctrinating their nation's youth. In the case of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, controlling the youth was a central part of what made these regimes so dangerous. The goal of this book is to explore the similarities and differences between the youth movements of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Moreover, this work aims to shed light on what ordinary Americans could have learned about the lives of young people in both regimes during World War II and, in the case of the Soviet Union, throughout the Cold War.