Can I tell you a story?

[OneGrassRoot]

15. I interviewed a Nazi 20 years ago...

lol I'm just going to call him that.

His entree was via Hitler-Jugend - Hitler Youth. He was an excellent athlete and they were among the first recruited. In the case of the young people, who were essentially isolated in summer camp-style environments, I believe them when they say they didn't really know what was going on as far as the heinous things, not until they were conscripted into active duty.

He said you absolutely could not say no to be in Hitler Youth; it was obviously authoritarian enough from the onset that they realized they had to join. But they were treated like young gods.

Then shit got real, fast, especially since it was toward the end of the war by the time he, at 14, was forced into active duty. Holding that swastika patch was surreal, to say the least.