Los hijos de Hitler

I have always wanted to watch this movie if only for the title alone. Bonita Granville plays Anna, a young lass at the American school in Berlin. It is 1933, not a good year to be a German born Yank residing in the Deutschland (not a good year for anyone to be there). The film opens with our freedom loving friends fighting a bunch of Nazi Youth. During the fracas Tim Holt, a strapping example of Germany's future meets the spunky Bonita. He quickly succumbs to her cheeky charms and after a bit of resistance Bonita returns his affection.

Time passes and Holt rises in the Nazi machine while Bonita remains in Germany (why didn't she leave? Because then we would have no movie) Eventually Bonita ends up in a labor camp unwilling to renounce her loyalty to the USA and suffers fierce reprisals for her stubbornness. Holt ultimately allows his love for her to overcome his Nazi leanings. How does this turn out? Watch and find out.

This film made a lot of money for RKO in 1943 but today it seems like an obvious piece of wartime propaganda, melodramatic and shrill but for a few interesting moments. A close-up of Holt and Granville embracing in shadow was beautiful and a fine example of German Expressionism. There were scenes of Anna fleeing her enemies in the woods. These were lovely and evoked again those fabulous Universal horror films of the thirties. Nice film noir touches. Granville's flogging by the Nazi's was appropriately brutal. Otto Kruger and Hans Conried are always a welcome addition to any movie. H.B. Warner plays a very talkative Catholic priest.

Directed by Jules Dassin, it is interesting to see for that reason alone.

I used to think this film quite dated, but still moving.

Now that I know more about Hitler Youth and about "lebensborn", forced sterilization, training in cruelty, and other Hitler Youth goals, this film stands up extremely well.

***What was 'lebensborn'? Basically, those considered "racially pure" were encouraged to have tons of kids...in or out of wedlock. About 10,000 born in Germany & 10,000 born in Norway from German soldier fathers, per one Internet source. Do your own internet search to learn more about "lebensborn".

In the movie, Bonita Granville's character refuses to deliberately sire a child out of wedlock even with her love, Tim Holt.

***Forced sterilization. Bonita's character is threatened with forced sterilization since she is not cooperative. Again, this was a historical Nazi tactic. She would rather undergo the procedure than bring a child into such a regime.

***Hitler Youth cruelty...One sees some of the Hitler youth trained to

be cruel. One need only listen to the old former Hitler Youth speak (some with tears & great sorrow) about various ways they were so abused (i.e. trained to be cruel) by the Nazi regime.

***Harrassment of Christians...The resistance of some Christian leaders to the Nazis. Near the end of the movie, the priest rebukes the Nazis who apparently dare not carry him off for punishment. This happened sometimes...A Christian leader might rebuke the Nazis such as Bishop Von Galen who stood against the destruction of retarded, etc. Some Christian leaders went to jail like Pastor Niemoller. Some Christian leaders were martyred for their stance against Nazis (including anti Jewish policies) like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Here again, the movie is quite timely.

From these main examples, I conclude that this movie is **not** merely propaganda but reflects many historical accuracies (at least what was known at the time). Does it cover all the Nazi atrocities? No. (One movie alone wouldn't be long enough to do so.)

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Hitler's Children could be shown on a "Movie in Time" sequence on History Channel. The corrections, amendations to it based on actual history, I predict, would be slight. It's from a book on Nazi education of youth written by educator and correspondent Gregor Ziemer who also taught in the American School in Berlin. (Hit Ziemer's name in the credits for details!)

Don't let the black & white film & slightly older dialogue deter you from using this film to teach yourself (or your kids, or your class) as to how German youth were abused thru Hitler Youth and lebensborn programs.

Do your own research. Verify for yourself. While Hitler's concentration camp murders were the most cruel of his abuses, his other abuses of even the so called "nordic" peoples, especially women and girls, should also be REMEMBERED! (PS real life Hans and Sophie Scholl, college age German resisters to the Nazis, would also be a great research topic!)

I saw this as a young girl in 1943. It was in the middle of WW2 and the end of the war was not clear cut as it might seem now. People were getting tired of rationing certain foods and gasoline and the restrictions of war time precautions on the East Coast.

Looking back I see now that this type of propaganda was necessary in the view of the Movie crowd. Many young men were being killed and taken prisoner in France and Germany and Italy. I think people needed to be reminded that the war was necessary because of the aggression forced upon the United States people.

I suppose not too many of us are alive now to remember those days so it is easy to put the movie down as exaggerated propaganda. And it was but I see it as one of those things that one would expect during a war.

Truthfully I saw the movie as being very real at the time and I loved Bonita Granville and Tim Holt as the stars. I see it now as part of a pattern of keeping the ordinary people stirred up against our enemies. So be it. How will todays movies be interpreted in 60 years?

It's just interesting to have lived through 5 wars and be able to look at things more objectively.

The very much critically acclaimed Hitler's Children is still quite a powerful film today. Potential lovers Tim Holt and Bonita Granville can never quite get together because of the Nazi ideology that Tim espouses.

The film has certain similarities to MGM's The Mortal Storm though without the A list cast of that one. The two go to different schools across the street from each other. Bonita is German born, but a naturalize American living with her grandparents while she attends the American school run by Kent Smith. Tim goes to the German all boys school for the new Hitler Youth and it was new when this film's action starts in 1933.

It's no accident that this was a boys school for the German youth. The Nazi ideology was firmly patriarchal and eloquently expressed the fact that women were child bearing vessels and nurturers of future Nazis and nothing more. No accident when you see Nazi rally newsreels for the young and old it's an all male cast. Hitler's Children explores that issue far more than most wartime films made by the Allies.

Kent Smith has the Nick Carroway narrative part in the story, we see it through his eyes up to the moment he departs for Paris and knowing full well the Nazis will be there shortly.

Holt and Granville are an attractive pair. Hitler's Children has aged far better than most American war films of the World War II era.

War time propaganda films must be viewed in the context of the times in which they were made. It is sometimes difficult to appreciate a film because of the framework of propaganda. This film, made at the beginning of the war with Germany, attempts to depict what was happening in that country and the threat it posed to the world. It may be somewhat simplified but it gets the point across.

Bonita Granville, an appealing actress who began her career as a child star, does a fine job as the German/American young woman who is caught up in the maelstrom of Nazism. Tim Holt, as the German officer, seems miscast somehow.....I still see him searching for the Treasure of Sierra Madre with Humphrey Bogart but maybe that's just my problem. Kent Smith, a yeoman actor, whose face was everywhere during the 40's, is his usual bland self. The coup of casting is Otto Kruger as Tim Holt's mentor.....he was an underrated actor, who always gave good performances.....see him in "Murder My Sweet" as the sleazy Anthor to really appreciate his talents. Hans Conreid, usually thought of as a comic actor, plays against type here and it works well enough. Since hindsight is 20/20, we notice that some of the major atrocities of the Nazi regime, such as concentration camps (mentioned briefly) and the "Jewish question" are not addressed. View this film for what it is....propaganda....an attempt to show the audience that other world, where terrible things were happening and why America was fighting to preserve freedom. It's a piece of history that is worth watching.