Lessons from Hitler Youth for young people today

The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center in Maitland is known for hosting significant exhibits that help visitors explore the history and lessons of mankind’s darkest times.

The Center’s newest exhibit, Tempted, Misled, Slaughtered: The Short Life of Hitler Youth, Paul B, is a rare combination of history with great modern-day implications. This collection from the Florida Holocaust Museum investigates how young people became involved in Nazi activities; more important, it asks what those powers of persuasion mean for today’s youth. It will be on display at the Center Dec. 21, 2013—March 14, 2014.

The exhibit narrates the story of the nazification of the youth of Germany by focusing on the life and death of Paul Bayer. It shows how the Nazi state, through its control of the education system and through a propaganda effort, seduced the youth of Germany into active participation in its destructive mission.

The exhibit’s opening reception will feature a compelling conversation with Angela King, a former skinhead who is now the highly regarded editor-in-chief at Life After Hate. She grew up in South Florida, raised in an environment of prejudice and hate. King says that she felt like she didn’t fit in anywhere until she met a local group of skinheads, and soon they became her “family.”  Like “Paul B” of the exhibit, she felt welcomed and important in this environment, anxious to show how well she fit in.

King was arrested in 1998 and sentenced to six years in prison for her part in an armed robbery of a small store. During her incarceration she came to terms with the choices she had made, and was determined to make a difference in the world. Since her release, Angela has devoted her life to speaking publicly about her “life after hate.”

She will be the guest speaker at the Holocaust Center on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014 at 2 p.m. She will talk about the need to reach out to young people, and talk about the lessons of the Holocaust with them, in order to make an enormous difference in their lives.

The entire community is welcome to attend. There is no admission charge. Further information is available at http://www.holocaustedu.org.