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HBU does not know of any uniformed German youth group in the late 19th century. The British Boys' Brigade foprmed in the 1880s, but the first German group known to the authors is the Wandervogel which was organized in 1901. The Scouts followed a few years later. Baden Powell at first treated Wandervogel as the German Scout association.
The Hohe Meissner meeting of 1913 showed the spirit of the youth.
Scouts groups in England and France performed a variety of home front activities tonsupport the World War I effort. I'm not sure if this was the case in Germany or if the Scouts were as established as they were in England and Germany. Some special groups were formed to provide boys so that men could be released for the war effort. One group was called the Wehrkraft Jungen. They worked as mailmen, in hospitals or collected Kriegsliebesgaben (charitable gifts) for the front-line soldiers.
German youth during the 1920's were involved in an incredible diverse number of mostly small youth organiztions, perhaps as many as 2,000 such groups--although a much smaller number of groups of any size. The most popular German youth organization after the War was still the Wandervogel, but the idelism of the movement had been sapped by the War. The Wandervogel was non-political, but German boys after the War were strongly politicized. Boys were highly nationalistic and convinced that their country had been wronged by the Versailles Peace Treaty and the oldr more politically conscious boys critical of the Weimar Government. Many youth organizations were a rejection of the Weimar government, which was one of the reasons why they were so easily supportive of the Hitler Youth and NAZI regime in general. They were also disenchanted with the older generation and their new sets of values: work and money. These and other attitudes made it a relatiively easy matter for the NAZIS in 1933 to fold them and most other independent youth groups into the Hitler Youth.
Hitler's influencial ideas and powerful personality reached past the adult members of the Nazi party, to the German children. Hitler felt that by teaching the future generation about fascism, then all of his plans and ideas would succeed with the help of the children. Hitler then acted as the father of the German children. He gained their respect and support at a young age, which was a new tactic which had never been used before. This effort of course was facilitated when the NAZIs seized power in 1933 and quickly took contol of the schools as well as independent youth groups. Hitler gained the children's respect and support by teaching them strict manners and discipliary orders while they were still in school. He also enforced the teaching of Fascism and xenephobic nationalism in the schools. The guiding light behind the Hitler Youth in the early years while the NAZIs were working to take power and in the NAZI Government which seized power in 1933 was Baldur Von Schirach, who was eventually tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Von Schirach within weeks after Hitler seized power sent 50 Hitler Youth to take over the offices of the independent Federation of German Youth. Other Hitler Youth units were soon ordered to seize the offices of youth groups all over Germany. The Catholic youth and a a few other groups were spared until 1936. Of course Jewish youth groups were not folded into the Hitler Youth, but eventually their property and facilities were seized.
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The Hitler Youth remained the only legal youth program for German children during the war years. The HJ proved enormously successful in molding the attitudes and behavior of German youth. The HJ played an important role in the War effort, colecting materials on the home front, recruiting youths to the militatry, and mannning anti-air craft batteries. A very effective SS panzer division was formed of Hitler Youth boys which fought fanatically on the western fronr after D-Day. Large numbers of Hitler Youth boys were inducted in the Volksstrum (People's Storm or home guard) in ther last ditch defence of German cities during late 1944 and 1945 as the allies entered the boundaries of the Reich.
Various youthbgroups were revived in German in the pst-war era as part of the de-nazification effort. The Boy Scouts became the major gtoup, but several different national associations were formed. Other groups like Wandervogel were organized.
Quite a number of youth groups were organized in Germany in the years before and after World War I. The first group was Wandervogel. The best know groups are the Hitler Youth and Scouts. There were, however, a large number of different groups of varying size in the 1920s. HBU at this time has only limited information on the other groups, but some of them were of considerable importnce. They were all either disbanded or ansorbed into the Hitler Youth in 1933. There are today in German youth groups associated with gun clubs.
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