Yin and Yang? Not so much....

"That is my sister singing in the kitchen, she makes the best pancakes" and so enters the Nazi female into Hitlerjunge Quex. This is the line of direct comparison uttered minutes earlier of the "peach of the Brussels District" that is the commie female.

The concept of male and female is portrayed in two ways in the film, the communist and the Nazi way of thinking about gender issues. While side characters are introduced as girls of one political ideology or another, there are only two who we are really focused upon. From the beginning, the two girls are show as different, one fashionable, the other sensible. The communist female is one who gets by be One in uniform, entering from the kitchen while the other is carousing about in makeup and dresses .

The communist men and women are portrayed as having 'loose' morals, drinking and smoking, portraying chaos in the midst of a dark time for Germany. They do not seem to take the issue of poverty seriously in that they seem to be more concerned with their existence as the top of the food chain rather than the formulation of a useful conglomerate.

The Nazi peoples however, seem to represent order as much as the communists do chaos. Men and women do not mix (like with those reds) instead, each knows their place in the organization and as parts of the whole. They do interact, but only when appropriate. Ulla, our example of a Nazi maiden, is never with any boys without her brother being their (as though to chaperon) save for one time, when she helps the main character print the fliers to save the day. She is otherwise always following the orders of another, whether it is to hang up the phone, or watch over her brother, as any good young girl would do. She does not smoke or drink, but cooks and (presumably) cleans, maintaining order in both the Nazi youth center and her own home, despite having what one can presume to be a maid (the woman who answers the house's door.)

Our young Communist girl is not at all like dear, respectable Ulla. Despite not knowing Hienle, she kisses him and she hits the boys as though she is one of them. When she likes Hienle, she still pretends to like a Hitler Youth so that she can get her way and apparently 'rewards' him, though in what manner we are not quite told.

The men of each ideology seem to follow the lead of these women. The Hitler Youth (save the betrayer) are upstanding young men who seek only to respect each other and the flag. They work together and desire nothing more than to be a model to be proud of.

The communist young men do not seem to hold this same idea. Instead they are there for a good time, and want to just drink and play all day. If a person does not know their games, they do not teach them or take them out of their way, instead they merely shove the unknowing one away so that they may continue without interruption (like with Hienle and the card game.)

While the Hitler youth balance themselves out with order and defined gender roles, the communists are portrayed like the merry-go-round in the fair, spinning out of control and taking all understanding out of sight.