Hitler Youth Landjahr Program: Der Landdienst

Figure 1.--Here is a HJ Landjahr camp--Landjahr Ofthannoder. We think Ofthannoder is a location. The snapshot is undated, but we think it is a fairly early photograph, perhaps 1934 or 35. Notice the one boy at ight guarding the gate.

HJ boys and BDM girls completing their primry eduction had the opportunity to worked on farms. The program was called Landjahr, meaning land or country year. This was the experience. Another associated term was Landdienst or country service. This was the name of the program within the HJ organization. There was considerable support for the concerns that created the Bund der Artamenen within the NAZI Party. As a result, the NAZIs decided not only to continue the program, but to expand it. The NAZIs at Gustrow in Mecklenburg changed the name of the Bund der Artamenen to the Landdienst and incorporated it into the Hitler Jugend organization (1934). It thus became the Landdienst der Hitler Jugend or the Hitler Youth country service program. The Landdienst thus sought to give city boys the opportunity to work on farms for a year. It was hoped that this would imbue these youth with a love of the land with the hope that some would become farmers. The Bund der Artamenen had been a program for male youths. The Landdienst decided to expand the program for females as well. The youths loved in Lnd Jahr camps. Ecery morning they marched out to neigboring farms who had work for them to do. At camp when not working the children as part of the program was received a generous dose of NAZI political organization.