It is impossible to understand the life of Hitler Youth members without first understanding the unique way that they were taught to view the world. One of the primary objectives of the organization was to teach young boys and girls about National Socialist weltanschauung, meaning "worldview" or "ideology." The foundation of this ideology was a combination of social Darwinism and eugenics that culminated in a conviction that humankind was engaged in a race war. Every other aspect of the National Socialist worldview originated from this belief.

Evolution and Social Darwinism

Douglas J. Futuyma, an evolutionary biologist, points out that "in the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve." Biological evolution "is a process that results in heritable (hereditary) changes in a population spread over many generations." In 1859 Charles Darwin published The Origins of Species...