BDM Activities: Summer Camp

Figure 1.--This Orbis news photo was captioned, "German youth hostels! With music and song a new dayb startys!" It was dated 1933. The age of the girks and the BDM activities unifirm suggest that this as not a youth hostel, but a summer camp. So early in the NAZI era, the girls here probanly came from engthusiastic NAZI families. .

There were BDM summer camps. We do not, however, know much about them. Both boys abnd girls at age 10 years had to enroll in the Hitler Youth. So theoretically there weere equal numbers of boys and girls in the Hitler Youth. Germany was, however, still very conservstive in many ways, despite NAZI rule. And parents more tightly controlled the activities of their daughters than was the case of boys. We do not know how many of the BDM girls attended summer camp. We do not think it was obligatory. Nor do we know if there were equal numbers of girls' summer camps. The girs and boys were kept separate, but there were some mixed gender events. This was not helped when some 900 BDM girls got pregnany after the 1936 NAZI Party Rally. The HJ members did not stay in hotels, but camped out. (The girls were forced to have abotrtions.) One sources such that camping was discouraged after that. The BDM became known as the as the 'Bund Deutsche Matratzen' (League of German Mattresses). The HJ summer camps varies, but many had developed qurters. They did not spend the summer in tents, although the origrasm included camping. And as the menbership expanded there woukd have been more tents and camping. The HJ summer camps varies, but many had developed qurters. They did not spend the summer in tents, although the programs included camping. And as the membership expanded there woukd have been more tents and camping. We do know that the summer camp programs were different for the girls. An important part of the program for the boys was to tiyghen them up. This included some really rough activities including wide gane that included fighting. This was not part of the BDM oprogram. Here the focus was on developing domestic skills and to drill into gheir heads that their duty was ton learn to be a dutiful wife and mother and to have babies for the Führer. Some parents were justifably concerned that their dauhters were beung told to have illigitimate children, which did not endear them to the idea of sending them to summer camp. We are not sure how serious this resistance was. It could not have been to overt. Many Germans were impressed with what Hitler and the NAZIs were accomplishing.