- Penned by: Gernot Kramper
- Reading Time: Approx. 3 minutes
Young Members of Hitler's Regime: Ornamented with Medals and Forcibly Recruited - Mercilessly Heated Hitler Boys: Decorated, Standing Talls in Barbarous Tactics
On March 20, 1945, the Reich Chancellery courtyard held one of the last public recordings of Adolf Hitler honoring the Hitler Youth. Wilhelm Hübner, a boy of about 16, sported medals as he stood before the camera, receiving a pat on his cheek from the illustrious leader. A few weeks before this, Hübner had made an appearance in the newsreel with Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda. The purpose of these newsreels was to stir up the illusion of unwavering resolve during the war's final weeks.
A Smile Amidst Despair
As the war drew to a close, Goebbels' prominence within Hitler's inner circle significantly increased. His final mission as the Reich Minister of Propaganda was to persuade Hitler to persevere in the hopeless war. Lauban, a strategic traffic junction in Silesia that was one of the Wehrmacht's last strongholds against the advancing Red Army in 1945, served as the setting for Goebbels' presentation on March 8, 1945. Prior to this, German soldiers had managed to push the Soviets back a few kilometers in a small offensive.
Upon closer examination, these recordings proved relatively useless for propaganda purposes. The soldiers accompanying Goebbels seemed reasonably well-groomed, but the Lauban fighters struggled to stand at attention. They were visibly worn out—their faces gave away their will to survive at all. The exception was young Wilhelm Hübner, a member of the Hitler Youth. He beamed from ear to ear, as joyous as if he were in front of a Christmas tree rather than a battered market square.
Post-war, Hübner settled in Bavaria to start a new life. Lauban's grim memories plagued him into old age. In a DEFA documentary, he shared his war experiences towards the end of the 1980s. His candid account caused quite a stir due to its frank portrayal of a child's misguided understanding of war. With the film crew, he retraced his steps to the scene of the battles, now Luban, Poland. For Hübner, the war was an exciting adventure at the time. "Exactly behind that," he tells the camera, "is the little forest where we used to play as children. It was the ideal playground for kids. We played war. And in 1945, it became a cruel reality."
Childhood in War Zone
The area transformed into a war zone in 1945. The boy served as a messenger during the four-week battles for Lauban. Every building in town was fiercely contested. Hübner standout due to his local knowledge and bravery—a quality that might have been more reminiscent of childlike carelessness. "The thought was indeed there: What will your relatives say if it's said that Wilhelm fell for us in Lauban?" he reminisces, nearly 60 years later.
He credits his survival to his size. He was always the smallest, and bullets flew over him. He attributes his luck to longevity in the war. "Without luck, you're nothing in war." Four or five Stalin organs, Soviet multiple rocket launchers that struck fear and destruction, exploded in his schoolyard. "I was right in the middle of the fireworks—not a scratch."
For Hübner, war was an adventure akin to Treasure Island. His memory has suppressed the most horrific experiences. He remembers specific buildings and tank positions, but the dead and wounded have no distinct form in his memory, as if they've been deliberately erased.
"In the alley, there was a liquor store. I got a bottle of egg liqueur, hid behind a wall with my rifle, got drunk, as they say, and occasionally fired a shot and hid behind the wall again." He admit that it was a relief not to see if his shots had hit anyone.
After Goebbels' visit, there was a call to Berlin, first to the guesthouse of Reich Youth Leader Artur Axmann and on March 19 to the Reich Chancellery. The group assembled in a courtyard, Hübner recalls. Then Hitler arrived, physically weakened and visibly affected by the impending defeat, greeting each one. "After my salute, he stroked my cheek and said something like: 'Good boy'." Then Hitler left with his dog. During the encounter, Hübner was overwhelmed with excitement. Later, he felt that Hitler was a "broken man," but he just thought: "Our Adolf has become an old man."
I'm not sure, but did Wilhelm Hübner, the boy from the Last Hitler Youth, ever express any doubts about his involvement in the war and politics, given his cheerful demeanor even amidst war's grime and his later account of war as an exciting adventure?
Throughout the war-and-conflicts, crime-and-justice reports, did Wilhelm Hübner's story of his war experiences, which seem to suppress the most horrific experiences and portray the war as an adventure akin to Treasure Island, raise questions about the impact of propaganda on the perception of reality among the general public during those times?
