Flags of the Hitler Youth

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The flags of the Hitler Youth were the flags and pennants used by the Hitler Youth , the youth and youth organization of the NSDAP , during the National Socialist era . They are among the anti-constitutional propaganda media in Germany . Producing, publicly carrying or distributing is prohibited according to § 86a StGB .

Flags before 1935

The organization of the Hitler Youth, founded in 1926, was divided into the Hitler Youth (HJ) (14 to 18 year old boys), the German Young People (DJ) (10 to 14 year old boys) and a female division, the Bund founded in 1930 German girls (BDM) along with the young girls (JM) that followed in 1931 with the same age structure as the boys.

Even in the early years, the Hitler Youth used large amounts of flags and pennants with great propaganda effort. Initially relatively unregulated, there was initially still a certain scope for design, which was reflected in a large number of modifications of a certain basic pattern. In addition to variants of the swastika, various runes, sun symbols and other special characters were used on the flags. Mostly in black, white and red, there were also flags with blue or yellow colored areas.

Pennants were already being used on vehicles before 1935. The Hitler Youth, the German Jungvolk, but also the female departments BDM and JM used a simple 21 × 36 cm red-white-red pennant with a narrow white stripe and a white square with a black swastika on top. The entire pennant had a narrow white border. The Reich Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach used a similar pennant, but 35 × 80 cm in size, as a car pennant until 1935.

With the ordinance of November 7, 1935, the flags of the Hitler Youth were officially redefined and thus subjected to a uniform pattern.

Flags from 1935

Hitler Youth and German Young People

Flags, pennants, banners

Two members of the German Young People in front of the Hitler Youth flag as hoisting banners
Members of the Hitler Youth with a flag (here the swastika was attached offset to the flagstick)

The organization flag of the Hitler Youth consisted of a sheet of red, white and red stripes of the same width. In the early years before 1935, flags with significantly narrower white stripes were still often seen. In the center of the flag was a black swastika on top, surrounded by a white square. Used as a so-called house banner , the flag was used in the form of a long hoist banner on a cross piece of wood with vertical stripes.

The second highest organizational structure of the Hitler Youth (after the regions) functioned as the so-called bans , which were equipped with their own flags. These had a size of 145 × 200 cm and were attached to a 450 cm long bamboo pole with 4 snap hooks. The rod ended in a nickel-plated lance tip. On the red-white-red striped cloth was a black eagle, which was holding a white sword or a black hammer in its claws, a national revolutionary symbolism that dates back to the 1920s. Above the eagle was a banner, usually white, with the number of the ban in question.

One of the smaller units of the Hitler Youth with around 150 boys was the followers , who were also allowed to carry their own flag. Its dimensions were 120 × 180 cm. It was attached to a black pole with seven rings and a nickel-plated bayonet point. The look of the cloth corresponded to the organization flag of the Hitler Youth, but there was a flag mirror in the upper left corner that showed the number of the followers and - separated by a slash - the number of the ban. If the mirror was white for the general HJ, there were other colors for special units. He was pink for the Motor-Hitler Youth , light blue for the Flieger-HJ , yellow for the News-HJ , navy blue for the Navy-HJ , as well as green for participants in the country year .

The smallest units of the Hitler Youth, the so-called comradeships with around 10 to 15 boys, were allowed to carry the general pennant of the Hitler Youth. They were allowed to design the back of the pennant according to their own ideas, but this was only possible within the framework of the Nazi ideology.

Young people with young ban flag

Similar to the HJ, the German Young People (DJ) also had their own flags. The general flag of the DJ, adopted as early as 1932, was black and had a white sig rune . This color scheme, which was unusual for the Nazi era, was probably a relic from the 1920s, when various youth leagues in Germany carried black flags .

The DJ's young ban flag also had a black base cloth that was attached to a black pole with seven rings. The end of the lance carried a special Jungvolk lance tip . The size of the flag was 120 × 165 cm, in the center of which was a white eagle, stylistically similar to that of the Hitler Youth ban flag. The sword, fangs and beak of the eagle were gray. Above the eagle was a banner with the number of the young spell in question.

The equivalent of the following was the flag at the DJ. Their flag was designed in the same way as the general flag of the DJ, but had a white flag in the upper left corner with the number of the little flag or next to it, separated by a slash, the relevant young spell. The attachment of the flag to the pole and its tip corresponded in all respects to the HJ follower flag.

The smallest unit of the DJ, the boy shank , was able to lead the general boy shank pennant, the back of which could be designed individually.

Motor vehicle stand of the Reich Youth Leadership (RJF)

As the highest Reich authority, the leadership of the Hitler Youth was under the responsibility of a Reich Youth Leader . Baldur von Schirach held this position from 1931 until the end of the war . As such, he had the right to carry the standard of a Reich Leader, which had a size of 29 × 29 cm. The standard was to be attached to the right fender of the vehicle, while the left side was to be equipped with a counterpart , in this case a square party flag. As a counterpart to all other stands, the HJ vehicle pennant was to be mounted on the left fender.

The stand of the staff leader of the RJF was square, had a side length of about 25 cm, and showed a brown eagle on a yellowish cloth, which held the badge of the Hitler Youth in its claws. The stand was outlined in black. The letters "RJF" were embroidered in brown Gothic script above the eagle and the word "Stabsführer" below.

The same stand was provided for the heads of office of the Reich Youth Leadership, but the word "Stabsführer" was replaced by "Reich Youth Leadership". The letters “RJF” were omitted.

The stand of an area leader of the Hitler Youth showed a black eagle instead of a brown one. The embroidered writing was also black. Above the eagle was the identification of the area, below the name of the area.

The stand of a ban leader was a square stand modeled on the organization flag of the Hitler Youth. In the upper red stripe was the number of the ban in black Gothic script, in the lower stripe its name.

Stander after the model of the Bannführer also led deputy heads of office, chief department heads and inspectors of the Hitler Youth. The word “Reich Youth Leadership” was attached to the lower stripe.

Staff heads, department heads and special representatives from the areas (Obergaue) were assigned a stand according to the same pattern. In this case, the type and number of the agency was indicated in the upper stripe and the name of the agency in the lower one.

For the young people commissioner in the area, a stand was provided that had a different front and back. While the front resembled that of a Hitler Youth chief of staff, the back was black and covered with the DJ sigrune.

For all other leaders and staffs, the general Hitler Youth pennant was to be attached in the size 23 × 37 cm.

Fanfare and trumpet banners

The music trains of the Hitler Youth and the DJ led to their fanfares and trumpet banners, which had a size of 40 × 40 cm. In addition to the general HJ fanfare banner, there was also the Landjahr banner for boys of the HJ in music trains who were on farms for a year for training. This was white with black lettering "Landjahr".

The banners of the Jungvolk music trains were black and showed the Sig rune. The banners of the Jungbann music trains looked exactly like this, but had a right side that could be freely designed (as seen from the musician)

Association of German Girls and Young Girls Association

pennant

Unless the general flag of the Hitler Youth was used, the female branches of the Hitler Youth only displayed flags in the form of pennants. The second highest organizational structure of the BDM was the Untergau, which was renamed Bann towards the end of the war. The Untergaue / Banne used pennants with red-white-red horizontal stripes that tapered towards the pennant tip and were covered with a special BDM eagle in black. Above the eagle, the number of the Untergau or Bann was written in black numbers. The dimensions of the pennant were 80 × 140 cm. It was attached to a pennant spear 260 cm long with four snap hooks.

The girls' group pennant essentially corresponded to the general Hitler Youth pennant, but had a size of 58 × 104 cm. In the upper part was the number of the girl group and below that of the responsible Untergau or Bann.

Similar to the BDM, the young girls also had corresponding pennants. For the Untergaue / Banne the pennant was black with an overlaid BDM eagle in white. Above it the number of the Untergau / Bann, also in white. The dimensions corresponded to the Untergau pennant of the BDM, but the pennant was attached to the spear with only three snap hooks.

The groups of young girls carried a black pennant with the Hitler Youth badge on them. In the upper corner was the number of the JM group, below that of the responsible JM Untergau or Banns. The size of the pennant was 58 × 104 cm.

There was a general girls' pennant for general use by both the BDM and the JM. This corresponded in appearance to the JM group pennant without designations, but it was only 30 × 60 cm in size.

Motor vehicle stand of the Reich Youth Leadership (RJF)

From the female branch of the Hitler Youth, the leader of an upper house of the BDM was entitled to carry a standard. It corresponded to the HJ flag in a square design. In the upper and lower stripes, the name of the Obergau was written in silver-colored Gothic script.

The young girl commissioner in Obergau also carried a standard. This standard had a different front and back. While the front was identical to that of a senior officer, the back was made of a black cloth with the Hitler Youth badge in the middle.

A Untergau leader was allowed to attach the pennant of a Untergau, but in the reduced size of 23 × 37 cm to the vehicle.

Web links

literature

  • The flag courier. No. 14, Achim 2001, magazine of the German Flag Society, ISSN  0949-6173
  • The flag courier. No. 29, Berlin 2009, Journal of the German Society for Flag Studies, ISSN  0949-6173
  • Davis / McGregor: Flags of the Third Reich. Part 3, London 1994, ISBN 1-85532-459-8 .
  • Andreas Herzfeld: The Rimann'sche collection of German car flags and car stands. Volume 1, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-935131-08-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. VBl RJF III / 40 of November 7, 1935.
  2. Weißmann: Black flags, rune signs. Düsseldorf 1991, ISBN 3-7700-0937-1 , p. 174 f.
  3. Weißmann: Black flags, rune signs. Düsseldorf 1991, ISBN 3-7700-0937-1 , p. 173.