“Yuri Konstantinovich, are they preparing a local Volkssturm and Hitlerjugend in Poland against Russia?,” asks a journalist of the Russian expert in the article "Volkssturm in Polish Style."
The question refers to a defensive training programme announced in early November 2025. It is a voluntary scheme designed to provide citizens with practical skills for crisis situations.
The programme offers two different pathways: The “Resilience” pathway is aimed at civilians without military experience. It includes four one-day training modules, each lasting eight hours. The “Reserves” pathway is designed for volunteers wishing to train within the national defence system without joining the professional military.
The programme is intended for adult citizens of Poland. More information is available on the official website of the Polish Armed Forces.
This very initiative provoked the editorial team of Moskovsky Komsomolets to interview Juriy Bondarenko, , formerly director of the Russian-Polish Dialogue Centre.
And the first question was: “Yuri Konstantinovich, are they preparing a local Volkssturm and Hitlerjugend in Poland against Russia?.” (Volkssturm – the people’s militia units of Nazi Germany – ed.).
Bondarenko did not answer whether he agreed with this typical piece of Russian propaganda. Instead, he shifted the discussion to Polish pensioners.
“But how do they plan to involve pensioners, who will respond with nothing but colourful curses? This is complete nonsense, because pensioners are not subject to the Minister of Defence or any other Polish authority. Living on meagre pensions, they are certainly not eager to serve the militaristic ambitions of the Polish government in any way,” he said—apparently without fully understanding the rules of the programme.
Another Russian portal recently headlined its article about the voluntary three lesson programme “Education with the Army”, conducted in schools by Polish soldiers, as: “Tusk’s Hitlerjugend: In Poland, children start learning to fight from the age of 14.”
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Source: Фольксштурм по-польски: Варшава гонит в ополчение школьников и пенсионеров
Volkssturm was a paramilitary formation created in Nazi Germany by a decree of Adolf Hitler on 25 September 1944. It was intended to supplement the regular armed forces of the Reich. It functioned as a people’s militia and included men aged 16 to 60 who had not previously served in the army.
Hitlerjugend (HJ), or Hitler Youth, was a paramilitary youth organisation active in Germany from 1922 to 1945. Established as an auxiliary to the NSDAP, it aimed to indoctrinate young people with Nazi ideology. From 1936 onward, membership was compulsory for German youth aged 10 to 18.
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