Hitler Youth Activities: Fund Raising

Figure 1.--An important part of the Hitler Youth system was authority given to the members. The Hitler Youth made a point that "youth must be led by youth". This was an important part of the Hitler Youth ethos, meant to cultivate the image of unsullied German youth rejecting the failed old leders and their failed policies and principles.

Hitler Youth System

An important part of the Hitler Youth system was authority given to the members. The Hitler Youth made a point that "youth must be led by youth". This was an important part of the Hitler Youth ethos, meant to cultivate the image of unsullied German youth rejecting the failed old leders and their failed policies and principles. In fact, boys and girls were given leadership positions. The slogan, however, was misleading. he boys were incouraged to question or even reject some authority figures, such as parents or church leaders, which appeled to many boys. They were had, however, to accept NAZI principles without question. Hitler Youth leaders did not represent an autonomous youth culture, but were in effect functionaries of the NAZI Party bureaucracy. hy were tighty regimented by rules and regulations. [Noakes and Pridham, p. 422.]

Leadership Training

Uniform Rank Indications

HJ and BDM youth leaders recieved lanyards (Kordel, Fangschnur) with attached whistles as symbols of their authority. One BDM girl describes a red and white lanyard which was given after a basic leadership course. [Koehn, p. 143] A green lanyard mean that the person was in charge of a organizational group called Fähnlein (little flag) of maybe 100 boys or girls.

View of Youth Leaders

Sometimes there were conflicts between the HJ youth leaders and the teachers. We wonder whose idea it was that she should be in the middle of the portrait. She wears a plaited cord (Kordel, Fangschnur). We reveive different reports about these youth leaders. One German reader reports, "Often these Fähnleinführer (Faenleinfuehrer) were rather charismatic persons and loved by the younger ones." [Wellershaus] A girl who was at three KLV camps found the BDM youth leaders to be generally demanding little tyrants. [Koehn, multiple references] The youth leaders could be identified by the different colored lanyards that they were awarded. The lanyards had whistles attached.

KLV

The Hitler Youth played a major role in the Kinderlandverschickung (KLV) evacuations of German children from cities during World War II. This was a program affecting about 2.5 million German children. HJ and BDM youth leaders were assigned to help teachers supervise the children. Sometimes there were conflicts between the youth leaders and the teachers as to who was in charge.

Gender Trends

The Hitler Youth strictly separated the youth program by gender. The programs were separate as were the summer camps. We do note BDM youth leaders with KLV boys. We wonder if the BDM helped with the younger KLV campers. A German HBC reader tells us, "Of course not. Maybe she was a nurse or apprentice for nurse training and assisting the nurse at a KLV boys' facility." [Wellershaus]

Sources

Hermand, Jost. Als Pimpf in Polen. (Fischer Verlag. Frankfurt a.M. 1994). A Hitler Youth in Poland: The NAZI's Program for Evacuating Children During World War II Margot Bettauer Dembo (Translator).

Koehn, Ilse. Mischling, Second Degree: My Childhood in NAZI Germany (Puffin Plus: 1981).

Noakes and Pridham

Wellershaus, Aryaman Stefan. e-Mail, August 21, 2002.