Baldur Benedikt von Schirach was born in Berlin on 9 March 1907. His father, Carl, had been an officer in the Garde-Kürassier-Regiment Wilhelm II until 1908, when he left the army to become a theatre director. Baldur von Schirach began studying Germanic folklore and art history in Munich in 1924. It was there that he fell in with a group of National Socialists. Finding that the views of this group were very similar to his own views von Schirach joined the NSDAP in 1925. He was active in recruiting students to the Nazi movement and in 1931 he was appointed Reishsjugendführer der NSDAP (Reich Youth Leader of the NSDAP). A law enacted on 1 December 1936 made the Hitler Youth the only legal organization open to German youth aged ten to eighteen years. Hitler decreed that all German youth must become members of this new youth organization. By the end of 1938 the Hitler Youth had about eight million members. That said, a large number of German children managed to avoid becoming members despite the risk of fines and possible imprisonment to their parents.
As head of the Hitler Youth von Schirach oversaw the introduction of the indoctrination programmes designed to influence young people throughout the Reich. Von Schirach married Henriette Hoffmann, the daughter of Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler’s personal photographer on 31 March 1932. The couple were members of the Führer’s inner circle; as such they were often guests at Hitler’s private residence, the Berghof on the Obersalzberg. The von Schirach’s had four children, one daughter and three sons, born between 1933 and 1942.
Baldur von Schirach organized the evacuation of many thousands of children from German cities in the face of anticipated Allied bombing. In early 1940 von Schirach volunteered. He joined the army and saw service on the western front where he won the Iron Cross. The fall of France in June 1940 and a reduction in the fighting in the west saw von Schirach recalled to Berlin. Hitler feared that von Schirach might become too powerful if he returned to his former post as head of the Hitler Youth. As a result Hitler appointed von Schirach Gauleiter (District Leader) of Vienna. Artur Axmann replaced von Schirach as Hitler Youth Leader. Axmann took up the position following his appointment on 8 August 1940.