Hitler Youth

I normally wouldn't read historical nonfiction for fun. This book was interesting because I did learn things about WWII that I didn't know before. This was kind of surprising because I feel like I learned about WWII every year from 7th to 12th grade and throughout college. Classes have touched on the Hitler Youth group but never in great detail. I was unaware of the extent to which Hitler brainwashed youth. He established trust early on long before the war was in full force. It was interesting to read this after reading Night because it starts so much earlier. The reader gets a historical set-up of what was happening long before the camps and persecution.
I would not choose to use this novel in an English class. I think if a history class wanted to supplement a textbook with a novel this would be a good choice, but I don't think it's fitting for an English class. I want to use books with characters and people that my students can analyze. Though this novel contains stories of real people, there is more history in the novel than in-depth characters. We learn what the youths were thinking about the war and how they reacted to different elements of the war such as the concentration camps, but I think the fact that it is narrated by a 3rd party and contains so much historical nonfiction it would not be a novel I would choose to teach in a class. If it was between this novel and Night, I would definitely choose Night for a WWII unit. Hitler Youth could be used as a supplement for extra information, but not as a novel the class would read.