Catholic Association of Young Men

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Carl Mosterts was the first president in the KJMV

The Catholic Young Men's Association (KJMV) was one of the great youth organizations of the Catholic Church at the time of the Weimar Republic and one of the last associations in National Socialism 1938 / 39 gleichgeschaltet were.

history

For the first time in 1896, around 600 Catholic youth and young men’s associations came together to form the Association of Catholic Youth and Young Men’s Associations in Germany. This association remained very close to the ideals of the Marian congregations until the end of the First World War . From 1896 to 1907, the membership increased from 40,000 to 150,000 young people.

Under the direction of the first general secretary Carl Mostert , an association headquarters was opened in Düsseldorf in 1907. Under Mosterts, the number of clubs in the association grew to 4400 with 400,000 members (in 1926). The youth center in Düsseldorf was inaugurated in 1924 . The umbrella organization of the various clubs and currents for young people as well as adults was headed here. In 1926, the diocesan president elected Ludwig Wolker to head and “ General Praeses ” of the youth center in Düsseldorf .

On October 7, 1929, the association day of the KJMV, the hiking groups became independent and formed two independent associations. One was the German Scouts Saint George , which represented a smaller part. Most of the groups joined together in the Sturmschar , which in 1933 had 23,040 members. The association was officially renamed “Catholic Youth Association of Germany” (KJMVD) in 1930. The high point of the association's history was the Reichstag in Trier in 1931, at which 15,000 young people attended.

structure

The KJMV was divided into several sub-organizations, including the German Youth Force , the German Scouts Saint Georg and the Sturmschar. The association was officially a politically neutral association, but in fact it was close to the Bavarian People's Party and the Center Party . During the 1933 election campaign, the KJMV warned against the ruling National Socialists.

As a rule, the clubs were assigned to a parish. The following ages were recorded in the membership: "Young Men" (over 18 years), " church youth " (14-18 years) and "youth group" (13-14 years). The association was led in a parish by a priest, the " Praeses ", and a "young man" as the "Prefect". The praesides had to be confirmed by the episcopal ordinariate of the respective diocese.

Resistance to National Socialism

The KJMV often took a stand against the National Socialist movement. Initially, however, double membership in the KJMV and the organizations of the NSDAP (SA, SS, etc.) was not fundamentally excluded and, like the majority of the Catholic milieu, the Nazis were positive.

Due to the immense propaganda effort of the already ruling National Socialists, the associations warned against this in the following election call:

“What has happened since the middle of March last year is a national ruin (...) We find out: Bolshevism can also become under national auspices. (...) Germany must not be delivered to extremes; neither right nor left. "

This election call had several consequences:

  • for the National Socialists it served as evidence of the anti-government attitude of the KJMV
  • the newspapers that published this election announcement were then banned:

Wolker's magazines Die Wacht and “Am Scheideweg” were banned in 1937 when the diocesan associations of the KJMV were dissolved. The KJMV in Bavaria was dissolved on January 25, 1938, and then on February 6, 1939 at the Reich level.

resolution

“140 Gestapo officers occupied the youth center. [...] We were told that we had been dismissed without notice. General Praeses wanted to address a farewell word to his employees, he was refused. "

General Praeses Ludwig Wolker and 57 employees of the youth center in Düsseldorf were arrested on February 6, 1936. Wolkers was released on May 12, 1936, after which the youth center in Düsseldorf was fully open again.

On February 6, 1939, the KJMV, including all sub-divisions, was dissolved by the Reich Security Main Office . The entire property was confiscated. The result was the closure of the Düsseldorf youth center and the dismissal of all employees.

After the official ban of the KJMV, the most trusted members went over to the parish youth and were able to maintain solidarity there as a “core group”.

Magazines

The KJMV published a total of eight different magazines: “Am Scheideweg”, “Jung-Wacht”, “Wacht”, “Voices of the Young”, “Youth Leadership”, “Correspondence Sheet for Presides” and “Youth Association”. The best known of these magazines was Die Wacht , which appeared monthly from 1905 and consisted of 24 pages as standard. In November 1938, the Nazi regime banned further printing of the magazines.

See also

Web links

literature

  • Bernd Börger, Hans Schroer: They held out: Sturmschar in the Catholic Young Men Association of Germany. Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1990, ISBN 3-7761-0007-9 .
  • Georg Pahlke: Not dead despite the ban. Catholic youth in their time. BDKJ-Verlag, Paderborn 1995, ISBN 392468006X .
  • Barbara Schellenberger: Catholic youth and the Third Reich. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3786705232 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JHD - About us
  2. ↑ Ulrich Stoll: Sturmschar, 1929–1938 / 39 in the Historisches Lexikon Bayerns .
  3. ↑ Cf. Barbara Schellenberger: Catholic Youth and Third Reich. A history of the Catholic Young Men Association 1933-1939 with special consideration of the Rhine Province. Mainz 1975, p. 2.
  4. ↑ Resolutions of the General Presidium and Reich Board of Directors of the Catholic Young Men Association on behavior under the new political conditions (excerpt). May 2/3, 1933, in: Catholic Church and National Socialism 1930-1945. A report in sources, ed. by Hubert Gruber, u. a. Paderborn 2006, pp. 63-65.
  5. ^ Call for elections (February 17, 1933). Print: Bernhard Stasiewski : Location of the Church I, No. 2, pp. 3–6:
  6. ↑ Address by A. Fehrenbach on November 9, 1951. Quoted from: Barbara Schellenberger: Katholische Jugend , p. 173.
  7. ^ Karl-Werner Goldhammer: Catholic youth in Franconia in the Third Reich. The situation of Catholic youth work with special consideration of Lower Franconia and its capital Würzburg. Würzburg 1984, ISBN 3-8204-8606-2 , p. 337.
  8. ↑ Die Wacht (from 1930: Die Wacht. Journal of Catholic Young Men ). Düsseldorf u. a. (Verlag Jugendhaus Düsseldorf), 1 (1905) - 34 (1938).