Austrian young people
The Austrian Young People (abbreviated ÖJV ) was the state youth organization in the time of Austrofascism . It was founded in August 1936 and at the time of its dissolution in 1938 had around 350,000 members between the ages of 6 and 18. It represented the youth organization of the Fatherland Front .
prehistory
As early as 1933 under Engelbert Dollfuss there were plans to set up an “apolitical, patriotic youth organization” called “Jung-Vaterland”. In March 1934, the Catholic youth associations were united in the "Austrian Young Front", officially to protect patriotic interests, but mainly to be able to confront the planned state youth in a closed and strengthened way. An organization "Jung-Vaterland" was also brought into being, but as an organization of the Heimwehr (which at the time acted as "Austrian Homeland Security"), it finally had 70,000 members in 2000 local groups across Austria.
The Fatherland Front wanted a youth organization based on the Italian Balilla or the German Hitler Youth . The establishment in 1936 was preceded by a working group of the youth organizations of the Austrian Homeland Security, Jung-Vaterland , and Ostmärkische Sturmscharen , Ostmarkjugend .
Foundation and development
On August 12, 1936, Guido Zernatto first announced the name of the planned youth organization, “Austrian Young People”. The ÖJV was founded on August 28, 1936 through the merger of Jung-Vaterland and Ostmarkjugend . In the law on the patriotic education of young people outside of school , which came into force the next day, all non-denominational youth clubs and groups outside of the state youth were made subject to a permit requirement. The continued existence of youth groups was tied to the membership of the association's membership in the ÖJV, unless they were associations exclusively for the purpose of vocational training or Catholic youth organizations.
In November 1936, the Christian-German gymnastics youth joined the ÖJV.
There was a further strong increase in membership when, in the course of 1937, the Catholic youth associations with a large number of members were incorporated into the state youth. This happened under pressure from the regime and against the agreements of the 1933 Concordat, in which the Catholic youth organizations were guaranteed to exist. However, the church retained a certain degree of independence, the members of its youth organizations were members of both organizations and they could only be involved in events of the ÖJV with the consent of the church authorities.
Even if membership was never compulsory, the ÖJV's monopoly was gradually expanded. Admission to an officer career in the armed forces or the granting of reduced school fees were linked to membership in the state youth. Even after the membership ban for the Fatherland Front (VF) on October 31, 1937, members of the ÖJV who reached the age of 18 could still be accepted into the VF.
Nevertheless, the regimen intended to bring together the entire Austrian youth in the ÖJV could not be realized in the end. This was due, among other things, to the extensive activities of anti-regime, illegal youth associations, especially the Austrian Hitler Youth, but also the Revolutionary Socialist Youth and the Communist Youth Association of Austria . These groups tried, sometimes successfully, to infiltrate the state youth and to influence the politically indifferent members in an anti-regime sense. Other reasons were the completely inadequate financial resources and the hostility of large parts of the Catholic clergy towards the state youth.
The question of whether Protestant or Jewish youth associations (such as the Betar or the Hakoah ) should also be included in the ÖJV remained unanswered for a long time . Finally, in January 1938, it was decided that the same agreements should be made with Protestant youth associations as with Catholic ones, but that the Jewish associations should be brought together in the newly founded Austrian Jewish Youth Association . This was done with consideration for the latent anti-Semitism in large parts of the population, it was officially said that this should not be regarded as anti-Semitism, but "Jewish parents can hardly be expected to send their children to an organization in which the youth adheres to the principles of the Christianity is brought up in accordance with ”and one wants“ to take into account the special position of Judaism which it has chosen itself. ”However, Jews were not explicitly prohibited from joining the ÖJV. Through the integrated, non-denominational Austrian Boy Scout Association , a large number of Jewish youth was also integrated into the state youth.
When, in March 1938, following the Berchtesgaden Agreement, the National Socialists became more and more likely to take over power, many left-wing youths, including Hugo Pepper , joined the ÖJV in the hope of being able to form a united front of youth against the National Socialist threat. In fact, in the days before the annexation of Austria , the state youth was one of the few active organizations on the part of the regime.
resolution
After the “Anschluss”, the ÖJV was dissolved. While most of the members allowed themselves to be integrated into the Hitler Youth without resistance, a small number of former members decided to actively oppose National Socialism. Well-known ÖJV members in the Catholic-conservative youth resistance were the brothers Fritz and Otto Molden and the lawyer Hubert Jurasek .
organization
According to its statutes, the ÖJV was managed by a board of directors . This consisted of Federal Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg , State Secretary Guido Zernatto , Minister of Education Hans Pernter , and the former Heimwehr leader Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg , who had been effectively disempowered since May 1936 . The federal youth leader Georg Thurn-Valsassina , a brother-in-law of Starhemberg, was in charge of the practical management . The nine regional youth leaders and subsequently the district youth leaders and local youth leaders were subordinate to him . Independently of the ÖJV local groups, there were groups of the so-called student volunteer corps at many higher schools . In contrast to the usual local groups, these were not led by adult youth leaders, but by high school students.
Educational content
The content of the ÖJV was strongly based on the state youth organizations in Germany and Italy. In the male sub-organization, physical training and pre-military education were given absolute priority. So the 14 one were in the age group to 18 year olds monthly terrain day of struggle with small-bore shooting and training on the radio as well as four physical exercise hours provided. In addition, the work program included patriotic and cultural training and, to a lesser extent, moral and religious instruction carried out by the respective local chaplain. For the female ÖJV groups, in addition to hiking afternoons and gymnastics, training in reproductive activities such as cooking, childcare and sewing was in the foreground.
Uniform and symbols
The uniform of the male members was based heavily on the adjustments made by the former Home Guard. It consisted of an olive green shirt, a black tie and a green cap with the ÖJV badge. A cross was sewn onto the sleeve . The female ÖJV members wore a dirndl dress with a shawl that was held together by a brooch with the ÖJV badge. The badge was a stylized interlocking of the letters OeJV. The flag was green on one side and showed the association symbol, on the other white with a cross.
See also
literature
- Johanna Gehmacher : Youth without a future. Hitler Youth and Association of German Girls in Austria before 1938 , Picus, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-85452-253-3 , pp. 401-420 (dissertation University of Vienna 1993, under the title: National Socialist Youth Organizations in Austria , 479 pages).
- Thomas Pammer: VF-Werk “Österreichisches Jungvolk”. History and aspects of the state organization of youth in the Dollfuss-Schuschnigg regime 1933–1938 , diploma thesis, Vienna 2011, online on the website of the University of Vienna (PDF; 1.07 MB).
- Franz Gall: On the history of the Austrian young people 1935–1938 . In: Rudolf Neck , Adam Wandruszka [ed.] Contributions to contemporary history. Festschrift Ludwig Jedlicka on his 60th birthday, St. Pölten 1976, pp. 217–235.
- Ulrike Kemmerling-Unterthurner: The state youth organization in Austria 1933-1938 with special consideration of Vorarlberg . In: Historical points of view. Festschrift for Johann Rainer, Innsbruck 1988, pp. 311–330.
- Irmgard Bärnthaler : The fatherland front. History and Organization , Europa Verlag, Vienna 1971, ISBN 3-203-50379-7 , pp. 172–177.
Web links
- Text of the Federal Act on the Patriotic Education of Young People Outside School
- Hubert Jurasek's memories of the actions of the ÖJV Student Freikorps
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fatherland. Article in: Neue Freie Presse , ERROR. 1933 4, S. Jung Vaterland. (Online at ANNO ).
- ^ Federal law on the patriotic education of young people outside of school. In: BGBl . No. 293/1936 . Vienna August 29, 1936 ( online at ALEX ).
- ↑ Austria's youth on the way to unity. In: Reichspost , August 30, 1936, p. 3 (online at ANNO ). .