Unidentified German Youth Groups


Figure 1.--These boys were photographed in 1913. The caption reads, "young crew with standard). They were located in Tsingtau/Kiautschou, China. The photographwas in thepossession of a German military officer stationed in Tsingtau. Perhaps he helped organize the boy, although were are not sure what the group is.

The German youth movement was incredibly diverse. A few of the larger groups (Boy Scouts, Hitler Youth, and Wandervogel) are well known. Many other groups are birtually unknown. We begin to see youth groups in Germany during the late 19th century. The principal group was Wandervogel, but there were others. We are unable at this time to identify many of these groups. We note German boys wearing what look to be organization uniforms in the late 19th century, perhaps as early as the 1870s. We are not sure what these early groups are. The earliest groups may be band units. We note some 19th images of German boys wearing a variety of uniforms which are clearly not just band groups. The topic of German youth groups is difficult because there were in Germany, especially during the early 20th century, so many different groups. We have some limited information on these groups, but rarely information on their uniforms. In the aftermath of Germany's defeat in World War I the appolutical Wandervogel movement splintered and large numbers of small youth groups formed with sectarian and political agendas--bith left and right wing. The Hitler Youth was but one of those groups. It is impossible to list all of these groups. We have found quite a few images that we have not been able to identify. We will archive here phptographs of some of the unidentified groups that we have found. Hopefully our German readers will be able to identify some of them.

Chronology

We have large numbers of unidentified images imges of German children participating in youth groups. Scoiuts and Hitler Youth boys are fairly easy to identify. There were, however, large numbers of other youth groups. Many were quite small. These photographs are very difficult tio identify because we know so littkle abouty these vgroups. It is, however, fairly easy to date the photographs with a fair degree of accuracy. This may permit us to gradually identifythe groups. The chronology also helps us understand trends in the German youth movement.

Unidentified Groups

We have found quite a few images of German youth groups that we have not been able to identify. We will archive here photographs of some of the unidentified groups that we have found. Normally the Hitkler Youth and Scout uniforms are destinctiver enough thast they are fairly easy to identify. There were , however, until 1933va large numbers of different youth groups and we know virtuaslly nothing about the uniforms these groups wore. Hopefully our German readers will be able to identify some of them.









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Created: 5:51 AM 4/16/2005
Last updated: 3:53 AM 5/20/2009