Projects | Jungsein 33/45 (2012)

"Jungsein 33/45" (Being Young 33/45) is the title of our German-language video archive. The collection was produced in 2012 and features interviews with eight contemporary witnesses of the Nazi regime. When the NSDAP came to power in January 1933, the oldest of them was 12 years old, while the youngest was just learning to walk. Their accounts illustrate how comprehensively the National Socialist education system functioned. Regardless of whether the young people reacted with enthusiasm, obedience, indifference, thoughtfulness or reluctance, they were moulded into accomplices of a system that despised humanity. When the German Reich surrendered unconditionally on 8 May 1945, they experienced this in different roles: as a military hospital nurse, Wehrmacht officer, SS secretary, prisoner of war, anti-aircraft assistant, SS recruit, and as a "Pimpf" and "Jungmädel".

They all have passed away since the initial publication of the jungsein-website. This video archive is dedicated to their memory.

Access the archive: Media | Jungsein 33/45