The German Youth Movement (German: Die deutsche Jugendbewegung) is a collective
term for a cultural and educational movement that started in 1896. It consists of numerous
associations of young people that focus on outdoor activities. The movement
included German Scouting and the Wandervogel. By 1938, 8 million children had joined
associations that identified with the movement.
Both the kibbutz and Bruderhof Communities can trace their origins to the German Youth
Movement.[1][2] The influence of Friedrich Nietzsche on the movement was substantial, with
the philosopher described as the "Prophet of the German Youth Movement".[3]
Contents
[hide]
1Wandervogel
2Bündische Jugend
3Nazi Germany
4After the war
5Today
6Notes
7References
8External links
Wandervogel[edit]
In 1896 the Wandervogel was founded in Berlin, and soon they crystallized many vital
concepts from the ideas of earlier social critics and Romantics that came to reach great and
extensive influence on many fields at the onset of the 20th century.
To escape the repressive and authoritarian society of the end of the 19th century and the
adult values of a new modern German society increasingly transformed
by industrialism, imperial militarism, and British and Victorian influence, groups of young
people searched for free space to develop some healthy life of their own away from the
increasingly contaminated cities growing all around and from where most of them came to
be disappointed. Also a romantic longing for a pristine state of things and older cultural
diverse traditions played a part. They turned to nature, confraternity and adventure. Soon
the groups split and there originated ever more organisations, which still all called
themselves Wandervogel, but were organisationally independent. Nonetheless, the feeling
was still of being a common movement but split into several branches.
Bündische Jugend[edit]
After the First World War, the leaders returned disillusioned from the war. The same was
true for leaders of German Scouting. So both movements started to influence each other
heavily in Germany. From the Wandervogel came a stronger culture of hiking, adventure,
bigger tours to farther places, romanticism and a younger leadership structure. Scouting
brought uniforms, flags, more organisation, more camps and a clearer, more rational
ideology. There was also an educationalist influence from Gustav Wyneken.
Together, this led to the emergence of the Bündische Jugend, a movement of many
different youth associations. There were Wandervogel groups, Scouting associations and
others, all of which mixed the elements described above with new ingredients. New styles
and groups developed. A new tent form, the kohte, was invented, which are still the typical
black tents of German scouts on international scout camps. The Deutsche Freischar and
then the Jungenschaft was founded.
Nazi Germany[edit]
In the German Youth Movement one can find all the different reactions of German society
as a whole to the rise of the Nazis. Many welcomed it as a freedom movement to break
free of the perceived injustice of the Treaty of Versailles and make Germany strong again.
The notion of a 'Volksgemeinschaft', a people's community, was also popular. On the other
hand, there were also many in the German Youth Movement who saw their associations as
an elite superior to the more primitive Nazis. Some groups were genuinely democratic, or
even left wing. Many more, even some of those who tended to the right, still wanted to
carry on their independent work and existence as organisations. This led inescapably to a
confrontation with the Nazi state, since the Nazi state did not allow any youth groups
separate from the Hitler Youth, which itself adopted many of the outer forms of the
Bündische Jugend after 1933. The groups remaining outside the Hitler Youth were
outlawed and pursued, while some of them (e.g., the Edelweiss Pirates) tried to carry on.
One thing which might have been different from other sections of German society is the
following: The Youth Movement was very idealistic, romantic and moral. Therefore, its
members tended to take greater risks in following and acting upon their beliefs and
persuasions. This might be the reason why one can find significant members of the Youth
Movement on both sides, among the Nazis and among the Widerstand.
Examples for this are the following: Adolf Eichmann was one of their members from 1930 to
1931. Hans Scholl was a member of the Jungenschaft, an especially independent-minded
association of the Bündische Jugend. Claus von Stauffenberg was a member of
the Scout association of the Neupfadfinder, also an association of the Bündische Jugend.
After the war[edit]
After the war many associations were refounded in West Germany, when the allies allowed
it. In East Germany the Communist government did not allow it but instead outlawed
all independent youth organisations. On the other hand, there were some connections
between the German Youth Movement and the Free German Youth.
In West Germany the Youth Movement became strongly dominated by Scouting,
although Wandervogel, Jungenschaft and other groups were also refounded. In contrast to
the situation before the war, all groups tried to have a more rational ideology and declared
their support of the new Basic Law. German Scouting also approached world Scouting
(the World Organization of the Scout Movement and the World Association of Girl Guides
and Girl Scouts) and was admitted to the world organisations for the first time.
Today[edit]
Today there are still many groups and organisations which see themselves as part of this
movement. German Scouting is still heavily influenced by this history, although the
historical influence varies from group to group. The most distinctive features of German
Scouting trace from this history.
Notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ Bruderhof (2012-06-06), Bruderhof History Series - 2 - The German Youth
Movement's Influence on the Bruderhof, retrieved 2017-05-25
2. Jump up^ Mike Tyldesley (2003). No Heavenly Delusion?: A Comparative Study of Three
Communal Movements. Liverpool University
Press. doi:10.5949/UPO9781846313677. ISBN 978-0-85323-608-5.
3. Jump up^ Steven E. Aschheim (25 February 1994). The Nietzsche Legacy in Germany:
1890 - 1990. University of California Press. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-0-520-91480-3.
References[edit]
Howard Paul Becker. German Youth: Bond or Free. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1946. Detailed history and sociology of the various aspects of the youth
movement. Remarkable for the times, the discussion
of homoeroticism and homosexuality within some of these groups is non-
judgmental. OCLC 2083809 In 1998, Routledge reprinted this work as Volume 8 of
its International Library of Sociology and The Sociology of Youth and
Adolescence series. OCLC 761549797 ISBN 978-0-415-86351-3
Peter D. Stachura, The German Youth Movement, 1900-1945: An Interpretive and
Documentary History (London: Macmillan, 1981).
Barbara Stambolis: Jugendbewegung, European History Online, Institute for European
History, 2011, last retrieved: 21 February 2013.
Walter Laqueur: Young Germany: A History of the German Youth Movement,
Transaction Pub, 1984, ISBN 0-87855-960-4
There are many articles in the German Wikipedia about these topics. Start
with de:Jugendbewegung or the category de:Kategorie:Jugendbewegung.
