Information AboutHitler Youth |
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''For the SS division with the nickname Hitlerjugend see; 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend '' The Hitler Youth ( Organization of the Nazi Party . It existed from 1922 to 1945 . The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the '' Sturmabteilung '' (the SA). ORIGINS The Hitler Youth was originally established in 1922 as the . Based in Munich , Bavaria , it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung (or "Storm Regiment"), the adult paramilitary wing of the ''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' or ''NSDAP'', the German Nazi Party . Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch (in 1923 ), the Hitler Youth was ostensibly disbanded but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names. It was formally re-established in early 1926 , a year after the Nazi Party itself had been reorganized. The architect of the re-organisation was Kurt Gruber , a law student and admirer of Hitler from Plauen, Saxony. He fused together several of the clandestine youth groups to form an embryonic national organisation. It was called the ''Großdeutsche Jugendbewegung'' or ''GDJB'' (''Greater German Youth Movement''). After a short power struggle with a rival organization - Gerhard Roßbach 's ''Schilljugend'' - Gruber prevailed and his ''Greater German Youth Movement'' became the Nazi Party 's official youth organization. In July 1926, it was renamed ''Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend'' (''Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth'') and, for the first time, officially became an integral part of the Sturmabteilung . By 1930, the ''Hitler-Jugend'' had enlisted over 25,000 boys aged fourteen and upwards. It also set up a junior branch, the '' Deutsches Jungvolk '', for boys aged ten to fourteen. Girls from ten to eighteen were given their own parallel organisation, the ''Bund Deutscher Mädel'' (or ''BDM''), the League Of German Girls . In April 1932 , the Hitler Youth was banned by Chancellor Heinrich Brüning in an attempt to stop widespread political violence. But by June the ban was lifted by his successor, Franz Von Papen as a way of appeasing Hitler whose political star was ascending rapidly. A further significant expansion drive started in 1933, when Baldur Von Schirach became the first '' Reichsjugendführer '' (Reich Youth Leader), pouring much time and large amounts of money into the project. DOCTRINE The HJ were viewed as future " Aryan supermen" and were indoctrinated in Anti-Semitism . One aim was to instill the motivation that would enable HJ members, as soldiers, to fight faithfully for the Third Reich . The HJ put more emphasis on Physical and military training than on Academic study. After the Boy Scout Movement was banned through German-controlled countries, the HJ appropriated many of its activities, though changed in content and intention. For example, many HJ activities closely resembled military training, with weapons training, assault course circuits and basic strategy. Some Cruelty by the older boys toward the younger ones was tolerated and even encouraged, since it was believed this would weed out the unfit and harden the rest. The HJ wore uniforms very like those of the SA , with similar Ranks And Insignia . ORGANIZATION The HJ was organized into corps under adult leaders, and the general membership comprised boys aged fourteen to eighteen. From 1936, membership of the HJ was compulsory for all young German men. The HJ was also seen as an important stepping stone to future membership of the elite '' Schutzstaffel '' (the SS). Members of the HJ were particularly proud to be bestowed with the single '' Sig Rune '' (victory symbol) by the SS. The SS utilized two ''Sig Runes'' as their mark, and this gesture served to symbolically link the two groups. The HJ was organized into local cells on a community level. Such cells had weekly meetings at which various Nazi Doctrine s were taught by adult HJ leaders. Regional leaders typically organized rallies and field exercises in which several dozen Hitler Youth cells would participate. The largest HJ gathering usually took place annually, at Nuremberg , where members from all over Germany would converge for the annual Nazi Party rally. The HJ maintained training academies comparable to Preparatory School s. They were designed to nurture future Nazi Party leaders, and only the most radical and devoted HJ members could expect to attend. The HJ also maintained several corps designed to develop future officers for the '' Wehrmacht ''. The corps offered specialist pre-training for each of the specific arms for which the HJ member was ultimately destined. The Marine Hitler Youth, for example, was the largest such corps and served as a water rescue auxiliary to the '' Kriegsmarine '' . THE FLAGS OF THE HJ The basic unit of the Hitler Youth was the ''Bann'', the equivalent of a military regiment. Of these ''Banne'', there were more than 300 spread throughout Germany, each of a strength of about 6000 youths. Each unit carried a flag of almost identical design, but the individual Bann was identified by its number, displayed in black on a yellow scroll above the eagle's head. The flags measured 200 cm long by 145 cm high. The displayed eagle in the center was adopted from the former Imperial State of Prussia. In its talons it grasped a white coloured sword and a black hammer. These symbols were used on the first official flags presented to the HJ at a national rally of the NSDAP in August 1929 in Nürnberg. The sword was said to represent nationalism, whereas the hammer was a symbol of socialism. The poles used with these flags were of bamboo topped by a white metal ball and spear point finial. The flags carried by the HJ ''Gefolgschaft'', the equivalent of a company with a strength of 150 youths, displayed the emblem used on the HJ armband: a tribar of red over white over red, in the centre of which was a square of white standing on its point containing a black swastika. The ''Gefolgschafts'' flag measured 180 cm long by 120 cm high with the three horizontal bars each 40 cm deep. In order to distinguish both the individual ''Gefolgschaft'' and the branch of HJ service to which the unit belonged, each flag displayed a small coloured identification panel in the upper left corner. The patch was in a specific colour according to the HJ branch. For example, there was a light-blue patch, a white Unit number, and a white piping reserved for the ''Flieger-HJ'', or Flying-HJ. The flagpoles were of polished black wood and had a white metal bayonet finial. |
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