Hitler Youth: Activities--HJ Charities

Figure 1.-- A HJ boy here in Berlin rides a circus elephant with a sign we cannot read, but we know from a newspaper caption that they were collecting money for the German Red Cross. Notice the little girl putting a coin in the boy's collecting can. Another HJ boy seems to hve a collecting can with a handel. The photograph is captioned. "Auch Zikuselefante halfen: bei der Sammelaktion für das Deutsche Rote Kreuz am vergangenen Sonntag in Berlin." The photograph is undated, but we would guess was taken some time in 1940-42, becauuse there is not yet any bomb damage. Notice the Litfaßsäule down the street. Source: Presse-Hoffmann.

The Hitler Youth were extnsively used to pass out leaflets on the street before the NAZIs seized power. After they seized power they were used to collect money for Party charities. I am not sure, but I don't think that they normally collected money just for the Party. Rather they collected for Party charities. We do not have much information on just what those charities were. We do know that Winterhilfswerk (Winter Aid) wasvery important, perhaps the most important. This was reportedly to assist poor families during the Winter. There was of course no public accounting for thse funds. Thus I am not sure just how much of the money collected actually went for charitable purposes. One 1943 report indicated a special allotments for the WHW citizens it cares for, 10 RM per person. Thus, a family with three children received 50 RM. The principal NAZI charity was the National Socialist Volunteers (NSV). There appears to have been other charitable drives, such as for the Red Cross. I think this might have been more important during the War years, but I am not positive of that.