Hitler Youth and missionary work

Has anyone seen the film Swing Kids? You know the parts where the Hitler Youth have to report on the activities they spotted that they considered mutinous? Did anyone draw a parallel between that and reporting to the (ward or full-time) missionaries the activities you have with your friends?

22 thoughts on “Hitler Youth and missionary work

  1. Hmmm… I was unaware of any such requirement. Must be a local thing.

  2. I didn’t either. But I loved the movie when I was a kid. My wife and I saw it recently and we both commented that it was a profoundly sad movie.

  3. It is a very sad movie.

    When you were a kid? It’s only 13 years old, the movie.

    Good grief, I am feeling old now. If 13 years ago, you were a child, Dan…

  4. I didn’t think of that parallel, but that movie helped me think of a different kind of moral dilemna that I wish would be the kind of thing that is discussed at church (but never is).

    As I recall, the characters in that movie are faced with a choice of “standing up for their beliefs” and suffering for it, or hiding their beleifs and ensuring their long term survival.

    At church, it seems that everyone would accept that standing up for your beliefs, or even dying for them, is a noble virtue.

    However, didn’t Nephi have to commit a blatantly immoral act (killing a defenseless person) because there was a “greater good” to be served?

    Didn’t the church instruct LDS members in Germany to put their beliefs on hold and support the regime because their long term survival was more important?

    So which is it – be the character who stands up for his beleifs in the movie, or the ones who pretend to go along with the regime hoping it will soon pass?

  5. haha, i guess i actually had graduated high school already at that point, oops! :-p

    I was into sad movies back then, so the impact wasn’t as profound as now.

  6. Is there any real difference when you have to wear something to be part of the group or does the group make the difference. Nazi’s had to wear specfic outfits. Deacons have to wear white shirts and ties. What is the differnce?

  7. A very strange question. How in the world would anyone ever connect those two dots? I’ve never known anyone “report” activities to “the missionaries.”

  8. If you have never had the ward or full-time missionaries into your home and ask you regarding what you have done with friends and neighbours for missionary work, then I am not surprised you find it a strange question. Likewise if you have not seen the movie.

  9. I always find it assuming when we get new missionaires from Utah and we the members are at fault for them not having a large teaching and converting pool of prospects.

  10. “…standing up for your beliefs, or even dying for them, is a noble virtue”

    …unless it’ll cause you embarassment, or make you miss that big promotion, or make you look like a religious zealot.

    All of which are reasons I’ve seen for members hiding the observance of their rituals and beliefs.

    I think there’s a lot of lip service to stand up for your beliefs in the church and significantly less follow-through, lief (per#8).

  11. “…standing up for your beliefs, or even dying for them, is a noble virtue”

    Is that as long as someone else is doing the dying?

    I find it amazing how quickly people will drop their beliefs.

  12. “If you have never had the ward or full-time missionaries into your home and ask you regarding what you have done with friends and neighbours for missionary work, then I am not surprised you find it a strange question. Likewise if you have not seen the movie.”

    It takes a truly creative mind to relate this to German Youth reporting on their families activities.

  13. JM

    He never said he did, he only asked if others do.

    People have a tendency to read more into what Kim says than what is meant. He often posts ideas or questions mainly to provoke discussion. It doesn’t mean he personally holds these views.

  14. People read more into it because he is very skillful at walking the line…

    Kim, you should have been a lawyer. ;-)

  15. “People read more into it because he is very skillful at walking the line…”

    Or because people think since I am expounding a point of view, I must support that point of view.

    “you should have been a lawyer”

    That was the plan when I was in high school. Then I found out how much schooling it took.

  16. Kim Siever said: That was the plan when I was in high school. Then I found out how much schooling it took.

    Trust me, Kim, you’re better off for it.

    In a way, I can understand the comparison.

    There was a large amount of social pressure to “fit in” as a Hitler youth. What better way to earn the praise of the group than to report the treasons of others. Similarly, there is a large amount of social pressure to be a “member missionary.” But social pressure is not always equal across situations. Social pressure can be a good thing in certain situations, a neutral thing in others, and dangerous in others, still.

    There may be deeper parallels, but I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t comment.

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