Wunderkind Warrior: The Youngster Decorated with Medals and Exploited by the Nazi Regime
- by Gernot Kramper
- 3 Min
Youth Members of Nazi Party: Honored with Orders and Brutally Leveraged for Propaganda and Military Service - Honorable Boys of Hitler: Adorned with Honors and Relentlessly Pursued with Fiery Zeal
On March 20, 1945, as the Reich was on its last legs, Adolf Hitler awarded members of the Hitler Youth in the courtyard of the Reich Chancellery. These were the last public film recordings before his demise. One of the boys, whom Hitler patted on camera, was a wunderkind named Wilhelm Hübner. Already a few weeks earlier, the then approximately 16-year-old could be seen frolicking in the newsreel with Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. The newsreel, a crucial propaganda tool for the Nazis, was intended to showcase endless fighting spirit during the game's final months.
The Only Smiling Face
Towards the end, Goebbels skyrocketed in political power. The dying days' mission was to reinforce Hitler in continuing an unwinnable war. In Lauban, a strategic town in Silesia, German troops had managed to halt the Red Army's advance for a few days.
The footage showed soldiers who still kept their heads high. But when you take a closer look, it's clear that these soldiers were weary, exhausted, and happily relieved to have survived at all. The exception? Wilhelm Hübner, a representative of the Hitler Youth. Instead of the grim determination of a seasoned fighter, the boy was beaming with both cheeks, as if posing for a Christmas family photo rather than standing in front of the war-ravaged market square.
Life after the war brought Wilhelm to Bavaria, where he started anew but the demons from Lauban haunted him until his twilight years. In a DEFA documentary in the late 80s, he spoke candidly about his military service, causing an uproar due to the boyish perspective on war. With the film crew, Wilhelm returned to the battleground, now known as Luban. He explained, "Exactly behind that little wood where we used to play as children, it became a cruel battlefield in 1945."
A Child in a War Zone
The area became a theater of war. In 1945, this young soldier served as a courier during the four-week fierce battles in Lauban. Every building in the city was contested fiercely. Hübner stood out amongst the troops with his local knowledge and unwavering courage—courage that may have seemed more childlike than military. "The thought was actually there: "What will your relatives say if they hear: Wilhelm fell in Lauban?"' he recalled, now a nearly 60-year-old man.
His survival, according to Hübner, was a combination of luck and being small enough that the bullets flew over him. "I was right in the middle of the fireworks – came out with not a scratch." The war was like an adventure to Hübner, much like Treasure Island, with many of the horrors buried in his memory. He could recallstalin organ shells' fire, shattered houses, and burnt out tanks with precision but could not recollect the fallen or injured clearly - as if he’d carefully blanked them out.
Drunken Courage on the Battlefield
There was one moment in the war where Wilhelm became thoughtful. With a solemn voice, he admitted that he had once gotten drunk, hid behind a wall with his rifle, and fired a shot. He found it was a significant relief that he never knew if his shots had hit anyone.
Hitler the Broken Man
After Goebbels' visit, Wilhelm received an invitation to Berlin. He first stayed at Reich Youth Leader Artur Axmann's guest house and on March 19, at the Reich Chancellery. The group gathered in a courtyard, remembers Wilhelm. Then Hitler came, visibly weakened by the imminent defeat, and greeted everyone. After his report, Wilhelm said Hitler stroked his cheek and mumbled something like "good boy." Hitler then departed with his dog, leaving Wilhelm overwhelmed with nervousness. The encounter stayed etched in his memory: "Our Adolf had aged."
Footnote:
While exact details about Wilhelm Hübner's post-war experiences are unavailable, it's evident that young soldiers like Wilhelm faced significant psychological trauma and difficulties reintegrating into society after the war, as they grappled with the horrors of combat and the dissolution of Nazi ideology they were indoctrinated into as children.
"I'm not sure if Wilhelm Huebner, the young boy who was a representative of the Hitler Youth and appeared in war-and-conflicts newsreels, found solace in politics or general news after the war, as the experiences he had as a child in a war zone and the psychological trauma he faced might have made adjusting to a new life challenging."
"In the twilight years of his life, Wilhelm Huebner, who once seemed so carefree amidst the horrors of war, might have questioned the glorification of war and politics, given his candor about his military service in the late 80s, a perspective that could be seen as a result of his exposure to war-and-conflicts at a young age, and the moral and political confusion that followed."
