The Hitler Youth was an initiative formed by Adolf Hitler in 1920. Also known as the Nazi Youth League, it did not gain much attention at first, but by 1922, after Hitler was released from prison and resumed his involvement in political activities, it started to attract more members. The League was meant to be a group for young members similar to the National Socialist Worker's Party, and was known for a distinctive mode of dress and grooming (namely short pants and hiking boots).
The official name of "Hitler Youth" was not given to the group until 1926, a name created by one of its first notable leaders, Kurt Gruber. The membership of the group was mainly boys aged fourteen to eighteen. It became a requirement that members over the age of eighteen also had to join the stormtroopers. At one point before the war began, there were more than 300 regiments of Hitler Youth in Germany, with each unit comprising more than six thousand young men. By 1936, when the war was in full swing, the Hitler Youth went from being a movement to being a nationally recognized organization, and membership and training became mandatory. Other youth groups were disallowed. Membership was now encouraged for children as young as ten. By 1939 the Hitler Youth comprised more than seven million young people.
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