By 1939, 82% of male German youths were enrolled in the Hitler Youth. On March 25, 1939 laws were passed that essentially enforced near complete German youth participation in the Hitler youth.

Conscription was reintroduced in 1935 in the Germany military. By the end of 1941, the Wehrmacht was already facing man power shortages with the commencement of Operation Barbarossa. It is extremely likely that any young man in Germany without the right connections to avoid conscription would be conscripted within months of turning 18 years old.