Young German Order

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Symbol of the Young German Order

The Jungdeutsche Orden , or Jungdo for short , was at times the largest national liberal association during the Weimar Republic , which differed from other political organizations in terms of its political goals, organization and customs , which were based on the historical Teutonic Order . He had emerged from a volunteer corps. The organization of the order was similar to the structure of medieval orders of knights. The chairman of the order was referred to as "Grand Master" or "Grand Master" and the regional associations as " Balleien ", the local groups called themselves "Brotherhoods".

The youth organization of the Young German Order, the Young German Youth , can be described as an alliance youth association . At times the order had several thousand members, most of whom belonged to the middle class. He was anti-Semitic and elitist, but not monarchist and for reconciliation with France. He gained his historical fame through the short-term merger with the left-liberal German Democratic Party to form the German State Party in 1930.

history

After the First World War , the Young German Order was founded in March 1920 in Kassel by the later chairman, Oberleutnant a. D. Artur Mahraun , founded together with other war returnees and temporary volunteers. It emerged from the "Officers-Company-Cassel" (OKC), also run by Mahraun in January 1919, which had to be dissolved as a temporary volunteer association due to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty . The number of members grew rapidly. The Reichsführer of the Young German sisters was Hanna Klostermüller . In the summer of 1921 around 70,000 members were counted. The influx was due to the hardships after the war, in which many people struggled with inflation and other consequences of the harsh conditions of the Versailles Treaty. However, Mahraun stated in an interview with Spiegel in 1949 that the number of members never exceeded 37,000.

The background was the common experience at the front and the goal of rebuilding the empire , but without a monarchy or dictatorship . The members had a more elitist consciousness, the union was "clearly anti-Bolshevik and anti-Semitic , but not necessarily consistently anti- constitutional".

During the Kapp Putsch in 1920, the Jungdo leadership around Lieutenant Mahraun declared their solidarity with the rightful Reich government (Reich Chancellor Gustav Bauer / SPD) and, on behalf of the Reich government, participated in the suppression of the radical left-wing Ruhr uprising with other voluntary corps and national defense associations .

The Jungdo declared his goal to be a “true democratic state structure” from the “manageable spaces of the neighborhoods or residential quarters”. Mahraun was critical of the influence of investors who only supported certain political parties. Above all, he criticized Alfred Hugenberg's journalistic influence, which he and the Young German Order, which he led, saw as a constant attempt to falsify the true will of the people.

In northern Bavaria in particular, the Young German Order was very anti-Semitic , also due to its strong personal ties there with the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund and against the will of the Order's leadership. Jews were no longer allowed to join the Bund since 1922 . The Schutz-und-Trutzbund-Gauleiter for Northern Bavaria from 1920 to 1923 Hans Dietrich was the 2nd Commander at the head of the Young German Ballei Franken . The Deutschvölkisch among the Young Germans in Franconia worked - an isolated case in the history of the order - closely with the National Socialists from an early age ; After the Hitler putsch in 1923, there was even a break between the Ballei Franken and the Young German order leadership. The Young German Order had pretended not to take an active part in the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 or in the Hitler Putsch. Since the Ballei Franken still supported this, Mahraun expelled them from the order.

However, the leadership of the order also took a clearly anti-Semitic stance on the “ Jewish question ”. Mahraun declared in a circular on July 9, 1922: “In Germany there is a Jewish question which has an extraordinarily fragmented effect, particularly in patriotic associations. With the admission of Jews, the ideal of the order, summary in the fraternal sense, would never be possible. Quarreling and quarreling would prevent the best of intentions. ”As a result, an Aryan paragraph was also introduced in the Young German Order : Jews were no longer accepted as members.

Towards the end of a Young German conference at the Hermannsdenkmal , August 9, 1925

The Young German Order campaigned for a reconciliation with France in 1925 and thus set itself apart from reactionary and nationalist groups. For these efforts, Artur Mahraun was accused of high treason from nationalist circles . Artur Mahraun won this trial. Politicians like Gustav Stresemann saw Artur Mahraun and his Young German Order as a respectable political partner.

In 1930 the Young German Order and its subsidiary organization “ People's National Reich Association ” merged with the liberal German Democratic Party to form the German State Party. As a result of this merger, almost the entire left wing left the DDP and founded the Radical Democratic Party , which remained insignificant .

Order structure and uniforms

The structure of the order was hierarchical. There were local groups called brotherhoods or sororities. Young members between the ages of 10 and 15 were grouped into young groups. For the 16 to 19 year olds, these groups were called young followers. Several brotherhoods and sisterhoods formed a ballei, which in turn formed a large ballei within a country or province. The leaders of the individual groups were elected and had to be confirmed by the next higher authority. This process was called "cure". The chairmen of the local groups were referred to as grand masters, those of the Balleien as commander or grand commander. The individual grand committees formed the high chapter, presided over by a grand master, this was the highest body of the order. The order's uniform was the field-gray soldier's uniform, the skirt of which was replaced by a windbreaker. However, there were no badges of rank.

Activities of the Order

In the 1920s, the order set up a so-called Geusenküche , where free food was given to those in need. With this, the Young German Order made a contribution to alleviating the immediate need.

As a further measure he strove for a general compulsory labor service, which should replace the unproductive military service with productive work. Mahraun wrote a pamphlet on this in March 1924 and sought a referendum to introduce this measure, but this failed.

In order to spread its political ideas, the order had its own publishing house, in which several magazines and series of publications were published and in which from June 1, 1924 Der Jungdeutsche appeared as a daily newspaper. In particular, the Jungdeutsche Verlag published the numerous writings of Grand Master Artur Mahraun. For example, on November 20, 1926, his work The National Peace on the Rhine , which advocated rapprochement with France, was published there.

Prohibition in 1933 and young Germans under National Socialism

After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, the Young German Order was banned across the country, except in the Prussian province, because it could not be brought into line or integrated into a National Socialist organization. The order anticipated a ban in Prussia and the associated expropriation by dissolving itself on July 3, 1933, and worked underground and in the resistance. Mahraun was arrested and ill-treated by the Gestapo on July 11, 1933 . He was released on September 8th and had to hide from being recaptured until the end of the war.

Reinhard Höhn , a political scientist with a doctorate and an important employee of Mahraun, joined the SS in 1932 and made a career in the SD main office . In 1936/37 Höhn withdrew more and more from his active SD work. After the war, he ran an "Academy for Executives" in Harzburg undisturbed . Heinz Jost , commander of Einsatzgruppe A , Walter Haensch , who commanded Sonderkommando 4b, Josias zu Waldeck and Pyrmont (SS-Obergruppenführer) and Hermann Lehmann ( SD and RSHA leader ) were members of the Young German Order in their youth.

The later Reich Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten was the leader of the Jungdo in Saxony from 1923 to 1926.

Harro Schulze-Boysen was also a member from 1928. After its compulsory dissolution in June 1933, with his rigorous will to resist National Socialism, he worked in several left-wing resistance groups until his arrest and murder in Plötzensee prison on December 22, 1942.

After 1945

After the war, Artur Mahraun rejected the immediate re-establishment of the Young German Order, as, in his opinion, the time was not yet ripe for an "order-like" union. Mahraun emphasized this at meetings e.g. B. in Langenberg, Dortmund , Hamburg or Flensburg . In personal letters he explained this view to his old comrades-in-arms and emphasized expressly: “The Young German Order will arise again at a later time. He will then be the carrier of ideas for Young German teaching. Anyone who has ever been a young German wholeheartedly has seen the level on which the great saving deed must take place which fate imposes on all German contemporaries. From afar he saw the political homeland in which the German nomads of the intellectual mass migration are to be made settled again. "

Until his death, Artur Mahraun devoted himself to building up neighborhoods in the communities and collecting his old, open-minded Jungdo colleagues and new friends.

Publications

  • Artur Mahraun: The Young German Manifesto. People against caste and money, securing peace by building new states. 2nd Edition. Jungdeutscher Verlag, Berlin 1928, OCLC 19331466 .
  • The Young German Order. Journal of the Young German Order. Kassel 1921-1922, OCLC 183394371 .
  • Yearbook of the Young German Order. Self-published, Kassel 1922–1925, OCLC 183379383 .
  • Artur Mahraun: The national peace on the Rhine. Jungdeutscher Verlag, Berlin 1926, OCLC 246260602 .
  • Poems and songs of the Young German Order. Self-published, Kassel, OCLC 180112075 .
  • The Young German Order in Politics. Ordensamt d. Young German Order, Berlin 1930, OCLC 72676975 .
  • Artur Mahraun: The protest of the individual. Neighborhood Publishing House, Gütersloh 1949, OCLC 24223853 .

literature

  • Klaus Hornung : The Young German Order (= dissertation; contributions to the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 14). Droste-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1958.
  • Heinrich Wolf : The Young German Order in its middle years 1922–1925 (= contributions to the history of the Young German Order, booklets 2 and 3, ZDB ID 528369-3 ). Lohmüller, Munich 1972–1978.
  • Alexander Kessler: The Young German Order in the years of the decision (= contributions to the history of the Young German Order. Issue 4). Lohmüller, Munich 1974, OCLC 1439822 .
  • Robert Werner: The Young German Order in Resistance: 1933–1945 (= contributions to the history of the Young German Order. Issue 6). Lohmüller, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-9800315-5-1 .
  • Günter Bartsch : Artur Mahraun's last years 1945 to 1950 and the consequences. Lohmüller, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-9802647-0-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Wolfgang Benz: Organizations, Institutions, Movements . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-027878-1 , p. 343-344 ( books.google.de ).
  2. ↑ To good neighbors . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 1949 ( online ).
  3. ↑ a b Michael Wildt: Generation of the Unconditional: The Leadership Corps of the Reich Security Main Office. Hamburger Edition, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-930908-87-5 .
  4. ↑ Artur Mahraun : The Young German Manifesto. People against caste and money, securing peace by building new states. Jungdeutscher Verlag, Berlin 1927.
  5. ^ Artur Mahraun: Political Reformation. About the creation of a new German order. Neighborhood publishing house, Gütersloh 1949.
  6. ↑ a b c d Wolfgang Lohmüller: The Young German Order. (PDF) on neueppolitik.com, accessed on May 12, 2016.
  7. ↑ Uwe Lohalm: Völkischer Radikalismus. The history of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutz-Bund. 1919–1923 (= Hamburg Contributions to Contemporary History 6). Leibniz-Verlag, Hamburg 1970, ISBN 3-87473-000-X , pp. 211-213.
  8. ^ Henning Köhler: Labor Service in Germany . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1967, p. 149 ( books.google.de ).
  9. ↑ Dieter Tiemann: The Young German Order and its "literature". In: Michel Grunewald / Uwe Puschner (eds./ Hrsg.): Le milieu intellectueervateur en Allemagne, sa presse et ses réseaux (1890–1960) / The conservative intellectual milieu in Germany, its press and its networks (1890–1960) (= Convergences, Vol. 27), Peter Lang, Bern [et al.] 2003, pp. 469-479.
  10. ^ The German Leader Lexicon . Berlin 1934, p. 498.