To understand hitler's enormous success with the young we must understand what life has meant to the post-war generation in germany, not only the children of the poor but of the middle class as well. they were children during the years of the war when the food blockade kept them half starved, when fathers were away at the front and mothers distracted with the effort to keep their families fed. they came to manhood in a country which seemed to have no use for them.  –“the youth who are hitler’s strength,” alice hamilton
according to the author, why was hitler influential among young people? they wanted to become members of the middle class. they wanted to achieve greater academic success. they had suffered during the war and felt purposeless. they wanted to bring an end to the many food blockades.