Greater German Confederation

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Camp of the Greater German Confederation in Grunewald, Berlin 1933

The Großdeutsche Bund was a short-lived amalgamation of numerous leagues of the Bündische Jugend that was formed in March 1933 . His aim was to counterbalance the Hitler Youth in order to ensure the survival of independent youth groups.

history

Founding members were, among others, the German Freischar , the German Scout Association , the Ringgemeinschaft Deutscher scouts , the Geusen and the Freischar Junge Nation . Vice-Admiral Adolf von Trotha , a close acquaintance of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg , was given the leadership of the federal government in order to strengthen the position of the Greater German Confederation through these contacts.

In April 1933, the federal government committed itself to National Socialism . The motives for this public commitment are disputed. At the same time he emphasized the special path of the Bündische Jugend and their will not to join the Hitler Youth. With a red swastika on a black background, the same goal should be symbolized for different paths.

When at the first and only federal meeting of the Greater German Confederation at the Munster military training area on Whitsun (June 4/5, 1933) uniforms of the Hitler Youth were burned and ridiculous verses were sung in Baldur von Schirach , the police and Hamburger SA and HJ surrounded the camp. Vice-Admiral von Trotha called on the assembly to return home voluntarily and encouraged them to use the personnel problems that soon emerged within the Hitler Youth to get involved. Thereupon the individual groups spread out in the heather and gave each other the last signals with the sounds of fanfare from far away. On June 17, 1933, the Greater German Confederation, including its member unions, was dissolved by Baldur von Schirach, the newly appointed "Youth Leader of the German Empire". Its approximately 50,000 members were incorporated into the Hitler Youth. The hope of many Bündischer to be able to bring their way of thinking and working into the Hitler Youth was soon dashed.

Hermann Giesecke , one of the most pronounced critics of the Bündische Jugend, comments on the behavior of the Greater German Confederation as follows:

“The attempt was made to overtake the Hitler Youth by means of declarations of allegiance that practically excluded democrats, socialists and Jews. The League was ideologically so close to the Hitler Youth that primarily only the elitist self-confidence of the individual leagues stood in the way of integration into the 'proletarian' mass organization of the Hitler Youth. The federal government now had about as many members as the Hitler Youth and was therefore serious competition. "

Known members

A well-known member was the botanist Kurt Mothes (alias Albin ), who joined the SA in October 1933 and was later counted by the Gestapo to the Strasser faction of the NSDAP .

literature

  • Hermann Giesecke: From the Wandervogel to the Hitler Youth . Juventa, Munich 1981. ISBN 3-7799-0556-6 online version .
  • Werner Kindt: Documentation of the youth movement. Volume III. The German Youth Movement 1920 to 1933 , p. 1234ff. Diederichs, Düsseldorf 1974. ISBN 3-424-00527-4 .
  • Kurt Schilde : Greater German Confederation in: Wolfgang Benz, Hermann Graml, Hermann Weiss (eds.): Encyclopedia of National Socialism . dtv, Stuttgart 1997. ISBN 3-423-33007-4 .
  • Hans-Gerd Warmann: Whitsun 1933: The last meeting of the Greater German Confederation. In: Gerhard Neudorf (editor): Idea and movement. Issue 100, December 2012, Asbach-Sickenberg, pp. 118–124. ISSN  1435-8883 .

swell

  1. ↑ Werner Kindt: The German Youth Movement 1920 to 1933. The Bundische Zeit. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf, Cologne 1974, ISBN 3-424-00527-4 , p. 1235.
  2. ↑ Hermann Giesecke: From the Wandervogel to the Hitler Youth . Juventa, Munich 1981. ISBN 3-7799-0556-6 , p. 186; Online version .
  3. ↑ Giesecke 1981, p. 184.

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