Figure 1.--This is a SAJ group in Konigsberg, East Prussia, now Kaliningrad--a detached part of Russia. This group is obviously musical. They were playing at a musical venue on Kaiser Strasse. although the background looks like a scchool blackboaerd. Note the mixed gender. All of this shows the influence of Wbndervogel, leading one observer to describe them as a politicized Wandervogel group. The photograph is undated, but looks like it was taken about 1930. What has been written on the blackboard here is the name of a song: 'Im Schwarzwald steht ein Mühlrad" .("In the Black Forest there is a millwheel') along with the musical scales. If some members of this group only could lower their heads we possibly could read the rest. This is just the type of folkish songs the Wandevogel preferred.

There appear to have been several Socialist youth groups of varying sizes in Germany. This resulted from major divisions in the German Socialist movement. This is not unusual as there are great differences of opinion within the Socialist movement around the world, unless a ruling party as in the Soviet Union can impose a standard doctrine. German Socialists after World War I were particularly divided. The Socialists differed over the War, some supporting the Government while others opposing it. After the War there were divisions over the attempt by the Communists and more radical Socialists to seize power by force. The SPD's assiociation with Freikorps in suppressing the insurrections was resented by many other Socialists. We have been unable to find much information about Socialists youth groups which is curious because the Socialist Party (SPD) was the most important political party in Germany until the rise of the NAZIs. In fact, the NAZIs were only able to seize power because the Communists (KPD), following Moscow's directions, failed to cooperate with the SPD and insteaded worked along with the NAZIs to weaken the Weimar Republic. We have no information before World War I on Socialist youth organizatiions. We believe they were not very important or not existant until after World War I. The early German youth movement at the time was dominated by Wandervogel which was stridently non-political. After World War I, Germany became highly politicized and youth groups with political associations developed. The Hitler Youth was only one of many such organizations. What we find curious is that so little information is available on these youth organizations.

Sozialistische Jugend Deutschland (Die Falken--SJD)

The primary youth movement of the Socialist non-communist youth in German during the early 20th century was the Falcon--Die Falken or Sozialistische Jugend Deutschland (SJD). They were founded after World War I, we think in 1920. They were an enormously suucessful group, enrolling over 100,000 boys. This is a substantial number when, unlike the HJ where membership was compulsory, it was a voultary decesion to join. HBU has, however, no details on their activities or uniform. There are some German web pages with information, but HBC is unable to translate them.

Socialistche Arbeiter Jugend (SAJ)

We note another group named the "Socialistche Arbeiter Jugend (Socialist Workers Youth--SAJ). We have been unable to find much information about the group. We know that future German Chancellor Willy Brandt joins the in 1929. The next year he becomes a member of the Socialdemocratic Party of Germany (SPD). The many political actions, which Willy Brandt joined the SAJ (1929). He was not active very long, but joined the SPD a year later. A HBU readers has sent us an image of an SAJ group. We are not sure about the relatiionship with the SJD group. It appears to have been a smaller faction. They referred to themselves as "Ebert", which presumably is a reference Friederich Ebert (1871-1925), who was the first president of the new German republic following World War I.

Jungsozialistinnen und Jungsozialisten (Jusos)

Jungsozialistinnen und Jungsozialisten in der SPD are the Young Socialists in the SPD (Jusos) is the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The Jusos were founded in the aftermath of World War I (about 1919). They did not prove to be much of a force, never ghaving a significant membership. They were disolved in 1931 as aesult of internal differences within the SPD. The modern Jusos are a different matter and an important force in German politics. The Jusos were refounded after World War II (1946). At first they complied with the traditional role of political German youth group--loyalty to the parentb organization. The Jusos are not a traditional youth organization in the sence of a group organized for children. Rather as we understand it, it is a movement to provide a medium through which young people (older teens and young adults) can engage in politics. The cut off point is apparently 35 years of age. It would be something like the Young Democrats or Young Republicans to engage in politics. The Jusos made a major decesuion at their Bundeskongress (1969). They decided to become essentially a more indeoendent left political federation instead of being an sunservient arm of the SPD. youth of the party. Since then, the Jusos see themselves as a socialist and feminist association within the SPD. The Jusos today thus see see themselves as a socialist and feminist association within the SPD. The Socialist and other political youth movements were originally established to embue young people with the political ideology of the parent body which founded them. The modern Jusos are somewhat different. They are generally oriented to the left of the SPD proper. One should note that many of the important SPD leadership were members of the Jusos, even chaipersons of this organsiation. !erhard Schröder, former German Chancellor (1971-80) was a Juso chairman, Oskar Lafontaine was a Jusos member in 1966, Sigmar Gabriel was a 1976-89 was a member of and official in the Falken, Frank-Walter Steinmeier was a member of a Juso group during his university studies. Andrea Nahles was a Jusos chairwoman in 1995. There is a German slogan "Wer zählt die Namen ..." ("who counts the names ..."). The Jusos are not critical of more conservative political parties, but also of the SPD leadership itself. Initially every SPD member younger than 35 years of age was automatically a Jusos member. The organization modified its charter (1994). People under 35 were allowed to just join the Jusos and not the SPD itself. The current chairman of the Jusos is Sascha Vogt (2011). [Notice the name Sascha. This during Cold war era (about 1970 to 1990) a rather common name for boys and girls. It is a short form of the Russia name for Alexander/Alexandra. We assume it was most common in East Germany. Probably it is no surprise that the present chairman of the Jusos has this name, although he was raised in West Germany. We are guessing that West German parents who chose this ame were mostly SPD supporters.)] The current membership of the Jusos totals about 70,000 young people.