Hitler Youth: Activities--Fighting Skills

Figure 1.--Here we see HJ boys, we think at camp. They look to be having a wrestling session. These would have been overseen by an older boy leader abd not an adult.

Physical fitness was a strong priority for the Hitler Youth. We are not sure to what extent this included manual combat skills like boxing and wrestling. We do note that activities included wide games that usually descended into a large scale brawl between oppossing groups. There are reports of boys being severly injured in these games. Ordinary meetings were somewhat limited because the boys were living at home ajhd their parents would have noticed if they were being roughed up. At camp there were far fewer constraints. Some boys liked the games. Other boys found them a grueling experience. We are less sure to what extent boxing and wrestling were taught. There were annual events which we believe included both events. We are less sure to what extent boys were trained for these events or if they just included interested boys who wanted to compete. We do see images of what looks likes boys wrestling and we have seen boxing competitions. We also are not sure if the training program was mandated by the central organization or if local leaders were allowed to craft their own training program.

Wide Games

We do note that activities included wide games that usually descended into a large scale brawl between oppossing groups. There are reports of boys being severly injured in these games. Ordinary meetings were somewhat limited because the boys were living at home and their parents would have noticed if they were being roughed up. At camp there were far fewer constraints. Some boys liked the games. Other boys found them a grueling experience.

Knight's Fights

Piggy-back fights were called knight's fights. We see group free-for-alls at camp. I'm not sure cwhat the rules were.

Wrestling

We are less sure to what extent wrestling was taught. The scene here looks to a wrestling session at HJ summer camp (figure 1). When we did wrestling in PE we did it from a kneeling position. Apparaently that was not the case in the HJ. We are unsure just how much instruction the boys got. Here the boys just seem to be having a go at each other. The way they are dressed, we suspect that this was a mandatory activity and each boy would have his go at it. We do not know if there were formal competitions of some kind.

Boxing

Boxing was widely practiced throughout the Hitler Youth and other Party organisations. Hitler even addressed the subject in Mein Kampf. He went into some detail. He described boxing as the "ideal sport" for men and boys. We do not know if he boxed as a boy or when he was in the military. It seemsd to be something thast he thought was good for others. And we see quite a few boxing activities at HJ camps. Here we are less sure if this was something all the boys did or something that interested boys signed up for. Nor do we know to what extent actual lessons were given. We note quite a number of boxing matches at HJ summer camps. We do not see boxing lessons, but quite a number if matches that groups of boys are watching. From the context of the picture, it is not vsomething the group will participste in in, taking turns. Of course that does not mean that there were not such sessions. Our information here is very limited. This seems more of a voluntary competition. We know that there were natiional sports competitions. We believe that boxing was one of the events involved in these competitions. One source reprts that Hitler was especially interested in promoting boxing because it developed aggrsiveness. He apparently pushed for it to be added to the school program. [Burleigh] HJ Leader Baldur von Schirach testified, "Hitler took very little interest in educational questions. As far as education was concerned, I received next to no suggestions from him. The only time when he did make a real suggestion as far as athletic training was concerned was in 1935, I believe, when he told me that I should see to it that boxing should become more widespread among youth. I did so, but he never attended a youth boxing match. My friend Von Tschammer-Osten, the Reich Sports Leader, and I tried very often to persuade him to go-to other sporting events, particularly to skiing contests and ice hockey championships in Garmisch, but apart from the Olympic Games, it was impossible to get him to attend." [Schirach]

Training Programs

We also are not sure if the training program was mandated by the central organization or if local leaders were allowed to craft their own training program.

Sources

Burleigh, Michael. The Third Reich: A New History.

Schirach, Baldur von. Testimony as adefendent at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. May 23-24, 1946.