Youth

• The Youth Opposition:

  • skipped Hitler Youth Meetings ==> even though it was compulsory from December 1936
  • many were bored and enthusiastic about the Hitler Youth
  • people wanted to express their identity and express uniqueness which the regime was against as they believed in a Peoples Community
• Swing Youth:

  • mainly middle class teens
  • enjoyed American culture = mainly swing music such as Glenmiller Orchestra
  • 6000 teens approx
  • some prefered Jazz and were known as the Jazz Youth
  • swing was never actually completely outlawed, music was hard to regulate
  • not well organised
  • danced forbidden dances such as he Jitterbug
• Edelweiss Pirates:

  • working class teens
  • mainly boys
  • hated the Hitler Youth's military discipline and the lack of freedom
  • taunt and beat up those a part of the Hitler Youth
  • edelweiss flower symbolised resistance
  • joked about Hitler
  • difficult to catch
  • initially pretty harmless
  • Gestapo files states that 3000 were apart of the pirates, but this is only those identified
• Was opposition from the youth effective?

  Not really, as the youth only focused on laws that affected them and rarely spoke up against other issues. Physical attacks increased during WW2. But opposition was greatly outnumbered by 8 million in the Hitler Youth