Hitler Youth Uniforms: Specific Garments

Figure 1.--This boy looks to be about 12-13 and is a seasoned DJ boy. He wears the standard uniform, including brown shirt, black neckerchief, leather belt and strap, lighting belt buckle, and knife. Note the shoulder badges. I don't believe the button pants were standard. The portrait is not date, but we would guess was taken in the late 1930s.

We have begun to collect some basic information on specific Hitler Youth uniform garments. The Hitler Youth has had different styles of caps. There were was a military cap with a bill and a forage-style cap. The military cap with a bill appears to have been worn in the early years. The campaign style seems to have been done in a dark color and a light brown. There was also a black ski-style cap worn with the Winter uniform. There was a dark jacket worn with the winter uniform. The most obvious uniform item was a brown shirt based on the brown shirts worn by the SA which played a major role in the NAZIs seizure of power. Hitler Youth boys wore large black neckerchiefs. A variety of pants were worn by HJ boys. This dependended on age, season, and rank. The major uniform item were black short pants worn with the summer uniform. Younger DJ boys also wore the shorts with the winter uniform. Older boys wore long knicker ski pants. HJ leaders wore brown jodpurs. The Hitler Youth boys wore wide belts. Many also had narrower shoulder straps. The belts were worn in silver-colored belt buckles. Motice the one worn by the boy here (figure 1). The buckles were done in two styles. Sonme had the HJ single lighting bolt symbol. Other had the NAZI eage within a wreath. Hosiery and footwear varied.

Headwear

The Hitler Youth has had different styles of caps. There were was a military cap with a bill and a forage-style cap. The military cap with a bill appears to have been worn in the early years. The campaign style seems to have been done in adark color and a light brown. Some of the light brown caps had red piping. There may have been other colors. These caps were worn with the Hitler Youth pin emblem at the front. Note the cap here (figure 1). It is one of the dark caps. There was also a black ski-style cap worn with the Winter uniform. We have noted some other caps, but am unsure to what extent they were official uniform items.

Jackets

The DJ and HJ had a dark jacket worn as part of a winter uniform. We are not sure just when they were adopted. We note different styles, but all were short jackets. The principal style was a short jacket wotn to waist level. This was similar to Eisenhower jackets, prhaps just a touvh longer. We are not yet sure about the sailor styles. It was also short, but we are not yet sure about the precise length. We are not yet sure if they were black or navy blue. THis may have depended on the style. We believe that they were heavy wool jackets. y We do not have much information on these jackets, but there seem to have been different styles. We note some that had a kind of tab at the collar. Others had some sailor features. We are still working on features such as buttons and epaulttes, but will gradually work this out as we acquire more images. Some of the jackets seem to have plain brass buttons to both close the jacket and on pocket flaos as well as the tab neck closures. The boys wore these jackets over their regular uniforms. The same shirt and short pants were worn both during the summer and winter. Some boys wore ski-pants or long pants instead of shorts with the winter jacket. We think these jackets were only for the boys. We see both DJ and HJ boys wearing them and as far as we know there were no differences in the styles worn.

Shirts

The most obvious uniform item was a brown shirt. The Hitler Youth began as a unit of the SA or Storm Troopers. The shirts were acquired by the NAZIs after World War I. The German Army had a substantial surplus stock of brown shirts. The Germany Army had grey uniforms, but these uniforms were purchased for anticipated desert warfare. Only small numbers of German advisers were deployed with the Turks in the Middle East during World War I. Thus the Army had a large stock of uneeded brown shorts on their hands. The SA after purchasing the army stocks at minimal cost became known as the Brown Shirts because of these destincrive shirts. The Hitler Youth was founded as a youth auxilery of the SA and thus the same brown shirt was used by the HJ uniform. he shirts were made over several years by several manufacturers. Thus there are some differences. Many of the shirts we have noted had epauletes and button pockets with flap covers. Some shirts were made without the epaulettes and we notice differences in the flap pockets. The boys wore the shirts both buttoned and with open collars. Most if not all of the shirts had long sleeves. During the Summer the boys often rolled of their sleeves.

Neckerchief

Hitler Youth boys wore large black neckerchiefs. As far as know they were always black. we have never seen any other neckerchief than the black one. Nor have we ever seen any kind of design on these scarves, they were all plain black. This seems to be a popular device that the Hitler Youth adopted from Scouting. They were often fairly large neckerchiefs. We have seen boys wearing different size neckerchiefs. We are not sure yet about the neckerchief holder or woggle. We do not think there was any standard style, but here we are not sure yet. A kind of round woven holder seems common. We have not noted any of these holders with any kind of NAZI device on them.

Pants

A variety of pants were worn by HJ boys. This dependended on age, season, and rank. The major uniform item were black short corduroy pants worn with the summer uniform. We note not all the HJ boys were wearing the black cord shorts in the early years of the NAZI Government (1933-36). This was because the Baudar von Shirach, the NAZI Hitler Youth Director seized control of the http://histclo.com/youth/youth/org/nat/hitler/hist/gy/sig/hj-sig.htm">German Youth Movement (April 1933). Some of the member grouops were banned. Others were incorporated into the HJ. These incorporated groups wore their old uniforms for a while before kitting out in the HJ uniforms. The shirts are often similar in black and white photograph, but the shorts are clerly not the bkack HJ shorts. Younger DJ boys also wore the shorts with the winter uniform. Older boys wore long knicker ski pants. HJ leaders wore brown jodpurs. We do not yet have information on the material and styling.

Belts

The Hitler Youth boys wore wide belts. Many also had narrower shoulder straps. The belts were worn in silver-colored belt buckles. Motice the one worn by the boy here (figure 1). The buckles were done in two styles. Sonme had the HJ single lighting bolt symbol. Other had the NAXI eage within a wreath.

Hosiery

Most images of the Hitler Youth show Hitler Youth boys wearing kneesocks. Most boys seem to be wearing grey knee socks, although it is a bit difficult to tell with the black and white photography of the day. We are not sure why brown or black knee socks were not chosen to match the uniform. Perhaps grey knee socks were more common at the time. Some boys wore white knee socks for dress occassions. We do notice a variety of hosiery. I am not sure what the official regulation was. While the HJ was often strict about uniform, there seems to have been a toleration of some variety in both hosiery and footwear. A few boys wore long stockings, but this was not very common. Long stockings were very common for German boys during the 1940s and 50s, especially during the Winter. They became less common after about age 12. The age factor and the fact that the Winter uniform had long knickers, few Hitler Youth boys wore long stockings. Some boys wore ankle socks, but this was not as common. Few boys wore ankle socks, but quite a number if boys rolled down their knee socks so they looked like ankled socks. Notice how the DJ boy here has folded over his socks.

Footwear

We see Hitler Youth boys wearing a variety of footwear. The most common types appear to be low-cut oxfords znd a bariety of boot like shoes. We rarely seen HJ boys wearing sneakers (canvas shoes) which were rarely seen in Germany during the 1930s and 40s. We do see a few boys wearing strap shoes and sandals, mostly the younger DJ boys. But this was not very common. We believe the hyper-masuline ethos of the HJ discouraged strap shoes. We do not know if the HJ organization ever addressed the subject of appropriate footwear to be worn with the HJ uniform. We would be interested in any information readers may have on this subject. A reader writes, "I thought you might be interested in a German photograph I found from the 1930s. Note that three boys wear t-strap sandals, one has single bar strap. I'm still not convinced Hitler or the Nazis opposed strap shoes." HBC didn't mean to suggest thsat Hitler and top NAZIs actually spoke out on strap shoes, long stockings, ect. I doubt if they did. Rather the point we are trying to make was that the NAZIs pushed the concept masulinity most notably expressed in their pursuit of war. Masculinity was a major theme reflected in the HJ program. Thus clothing styles that were not preceived as masuline declined, esopecially for boys 10 years and older, the age at which boys joined the HJ. . I think you will find many more images of boys wearing strap shoes in the 20s and early 30s than the late 30s. Of course a factor here is age, Boys did not join the Hitler Youth until they were 10 years old. Before this the parents had more control. I think this is particularly observable in the HJ. I do see some images of younger HJ boys wearing strap shoes and/or long stockings, but they are a VERY small part of the number of boys wearing shoes and kneesocks. And this is even more true of images in HJ propaganda,

Insignia and Accessories

Many accessories were associated with the Hitler Youth uniform. These were worn with both winter and summer uniforms. The boys wore a swastica belt buckle. A proud momenent in each Hitler Youth boy's life was when he was awarded his dagger escribed with the motto "Blood and Soil" ("Blut und Ehre") Hitler Youth boys wore a leather waist belt and cross strap. For the purpose of a command structure, Germany was divided up into a number of Hitler Youth Districts or HJ-Gebiete. Arm badges in the shape of a triangle were worn on the left upper arm of their shirts or tunics which showed the name of the wearer's HJ District. All male Hitler Youth members were issued with a short bladed knife, the HJ-Fahrtenmesser or Travelling Knife. This was carried in a metal sheath worn from the waist belt. This was for many of the boys one of their most prized possessions.