Essay #3 Prompt

Alec Aguinaldo

Professor Couch

English 160

21 November, 2022

 

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final” (Rainer Maria Rilke). This quote is presented at the end of the film Jojo Rabbit, by Taika Waititi. Jojo Betzler is a young boy raised in Nazi Germany who lives alone with his mother, Rosie Betzler, while his father is fighting in the war. Jojo is part of his local Hitler Youth unit along with several other children around the same age or older. Like many youth born during the height of Nazism in Germany, they are subjected to propaganda and indoctrination at an early age. Children became tools for the German War machine because they are easily influenced by their surroundings at their age. Propaganda has been utilized by the Nazis and used by many countries before the 1940’s and as well as the modern age of today. 

In the beginning of the movie, Jojo goes to a Hitler Youth camp that is run by Captain Klenzendorf, or Captain ‘K’. Captain K used to be on the frontlines before he was injured, resulting in a lost eye and was sent to Jojo’s town to be in charge of the Hitler Youth unit. Captain Klenzendorf briefly explains how despite his experiences of losing in the field and that Germany is losing hope, he tells them that the country is doing fine. All the boys are told that they will be learning the basics of the German Army; training to become underage soldiers. The girls instead would learn traditional first aid instead of taking part in war activities (Jojo Rabbit 00:25-02:22). Training for war to the youth of Nazi Germany is the norm for them. This is due to the indoctrination in schools, and in their Hitler Youth groups that was spread throughout all of Germany.