Socialist youth in Germany - The Falcons

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Socialist Youth of Germany -
Die Falken
(SJD - Die Falken)
logo
legal form unregistered association
founding 1904 in Berlin and Mannheim
Seat Berlin
Chair Alma Kleen & Jana Herrmann (Chair), Loreen Schreck (Deputy Chair)
Managing directors Haymo thorn
Members 27 district and state associations
in all 16 German states
Website www.wir-falken.de

The Socialist Youth of Germany - Die Falken (SJD - Die Falken) is an independent German children and youth association that emerged from the socialist youth workers' movement .

The SPD-affiliated organization sees itself as a left-wing organization that advocates the realization of socialism in political and educational work.

The falcons are members of the Socialist Youth International , the European Young Socialists and the only German association in the International Falcon Movement .

history

Origins

As early as 1904, the first youth associations of the labor movement were founded in Berlin and Mannheim . Direct forerunners of the falcons during the Weimar Republic were the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ) (from October 29, 1922) and the Kinderfreunde of Germany (from November 13, 1923). The term falcon came up towards the end of the 1920s in the groups of older child friends. But the younger ones in the SAJ also called themselves the Red Falcons . The impetus for this came from Austria. Back then, the falcons were one of the first groups to deal with children's and youth rights and to discuss alternative educational concepts ( Kurt Löwenstein ). The falcons became known then, among other things, through the first children's republics . The first children's republic took place in 1927 at Gut Seekamp in Kiel with several thousand children.

time of the nationalsocialism

As early as 1930, the district organizations of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft der Kinderfreunde in Bavaria were effectively banned. The reasons were z. B. in the common upbringing of boys and girls and in their critical attitude towards school teaching methods. In 1933 the falcons were banned across the Reich like many other social democratic and anti-fascist groups. Many falcons were imprisoned by the National Socialists from 1933 onwards. Occasionally, child friends and SAJ members were active in the resistance. Others were able to flee abroad.

New beginning after the Second World War

After 1945 the Falken were re-established as an organization for children and young people in Germany. The first association conference of the Falken, Socialist Youth Movement in Germany, took place on June 6-7. April 1947 in Bad Homburg. The former SAJ functionary Erich Lindstaedt, who was brought back from exile by Erich Ollenhauer, and the former Kinderfreunde functionary Hans Weinberger were elected as chairmen of the association with equal rights.

Development in the Soviet Zone and GDR

In contrast to the area of ​​Greater Berlin - for which the Allied Command Office granted licenses to the Falcons and the Free German Youth in 1947 - the Falcons did not receive approval as a children's and youth association for the Soviet occupation zone from the SMAD . Association sympathizers were persecuted more and more severely. This culminated in the kidnapping of Berlin falcons and the shooting of the 15-year-old falcon group leader Wolfgang Scheunemann on September 9, 1948 by the German People's Police . On June 17, 1953, 19-year-old Gerhard Santura was shot dead by police officers in West Berlin at Potsdamer Platz. Other members of the falcons lost their lives in custody ( Dietrich Medenwald , Hans Leuendorf , Karl-Heinz Sperling ), and 60 falcons received prison sentences of up to 25 years. Among them the apprentices Günther Schlierf , Horst Glanck , Lothar Otter and Gerhard Sperling.

1951–1960, under the direction of Jürgen Gerull, the Central Germany department, which, according to a principle of the falcons, was committed against rearmament in East and West, was in contact with 4,000 young people in the GDR. East Berlin falcon groups met until the Wall was built in West Berlin.

Development in the Federal Republic of Germany

At the beginning of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Falcons were relatively loyal to the SPD . But at the beginning of the 1950s, there were also people from their ranks who organized against rearmament and co-founded the Cologne Conscientious Objectors (GKW) group in Cologne in 1953 , from which the Association of Conscientious Objectors emerged in 1958 . In the 1960s, in the course of the student movement , the Falcons developed a more critical relationship with the SPD, with some of them being close to the SDS . Youth exchanges and contacts in the People's Republic of Yugoslavia since the 1950s also showed the hawks 'search for socialist alternatives - Yugoslavia was of interest to the western left because of its workers' self-government and its break with Stalinism , even if, as in the case of the hawks, contacts were never without friction and criticism expired. The final turn to a left, more independent youth association took place with the election of the later Cologne Bundestag member Konrad Gilges at the 1973 Federal Conference in Gelsenkirchen . Conflicts with the SPD mostly arose in cases in which the hawks no longer saw classical social democratic positions represented by the SPD. Examples are the Emergency Acts and the Radical Decree .

Since 1960 the falcons' large tent camps have been financed by the state of Berlin. As a “sin camp”, the holiday camp in 1969 became a “first-rate political issue” and an item in the House of Representatives. The funds were blocked. During this summer camp, which the falcons organized for 1,700 children and adolescents between the ages of eight and 23, the gender segregation was lifted without informing the parents, porn films were shown and supervisors violated their duty of supervision.

In the 1969 Bundestag elections , individual falcons took part in the Democratic Progress campaign .

After reunification

In 1990 the five East German regional associations were newly founded.

Due to the asylum compromise of 1992 and the policy of the red-green government from 1998 to 2005 with the wars in Kosovo and Afghanistan as well as the Hartz reforms , the hawks again came into conflict with the positions of the SPD. The incompatibility decision , according to which Falken membership with a party other than the SPD was prohibited, was repealed by the federal committee in October 2011.

In 2012 the SJD - Die Falken joined the Umfairteile alliance . In 2013, at the 35th Federal Falcons Conference, a dual leadership consisting of Immanuel Benz and Josephin Tischner was elected for the first time. This is the first time in 109 years of the association's history that a woman has headed the association. In 2017, the NRW regional association of the SJD-Die Falken was mentioned at the time when a bus arriving at the G20 summit in Hamburg was searched by the police and taken to a prisoner collection point. The bus occupants, some of whom were underage, were held there for 4.5 hours, and some had to undress completely. The regional association won a later trial against this approach by the police.

Content profile

The SJD - Die Falken is a political children and youth association. The proclaimed goal is to allow children and young people to grow up to be self-confident and critical personalities on a socialist basis. The children should be able to recognize and formulate their own interests. Another focus is the political representation of the needs and rights of children and young people in the political arena. The falcons refer to democratic socialism . The falcons were a member of the Central Office for Law and Protection of Conscientious Objectors until it dissolved itself at the general meeting on May 15, 2011 due to the discontinuation of civil service due to the suspension of compulsory military service.

The practical work mostly takes place on site in groups or youth centers (falcon houses). Annual highlights include vacation trips, v. a. Tent camps at home and abroad. The falcons have a large number of their own houses and tent sites. Youth leaders at the Falken call themselves helpers to make it clear that they are there to support the children and young people in organizing themselves , and not just offer a program that can be consumed. A hawk songbook with hawk songs, nursery rhymes, workers' songs and peace songs is part of the basic equipment of the tent.

membership

The falcons are open to everyone. Children can become members from the age of six and already have the right to vote. The right to stand for election in order to be elected (passive right to vote) is granted at the age of 14.

Historically, at least, the Falcons are close to the SPD , but they are independent of any party. Membership in a party other than the SPD, however, was incompatible with active membership in the Falken due to the “Leverkusen decision” from 1971 to the federal committee in Leipzig in 2011. Since 2011, membership in a party other than the SPD has been officially possible again, whereby the link between the hawks and the social democratic movement is emphasized in the corresponding resolution.

organization

The work of the children and youth groups takes place in the local chapters. These are grouped into districts or sub-districts. Districts and regional associations exist at the state level.

There are two rings to structurally separate child and youth work. Child labor takes place in the F-Ring (Falken-Ring, 6–15 years). The youth work takes place in the SJ-Ring (Socialist Youth Ring, 15 years and older). In some district or district associations there is also an RF ring (Rote-Falken-Ring), which represents the transition between F- and SJ-ring.

The Falken have maintained the Kurt Löwenstein youth education center in Werftpfuhl and the Socialist Education Center - Salvador-Allende-Haus in Oer-Erkenschwick as federal educational institutions since 1975 .

The magazine of the Federal Association for Young People, which appears three times a year, is called AJ - Die Andere Jugendzeitschrift (going back to AJ - Arbeitende Jugend, first published in 1909 ) and for the children there is friendship .

Symbols

The hawks have their own cloak with a blue hawk shirt and red cloth, but this is not worn by all members. The blue shirt is intended to indicate the association's roots in the labor movement , the red cloth to the connection to socialism and the trade unions . A red cord is often worn instead of the red cloth . The symbol of the association (often seen on shirts or flags) is the red falcon.

The greeting of the hawks both internally and externally is friendship .

Viewpoints

The association supports the unions in the fight against unemployment , right-wing extremism and environmental degradation . He is for more democracy , comprehensive school , "real equality" and calls for enough non-commercial leisure opportunities for children and young people.

Controversy

The falcons became the subject of public controversy when, in the summer of 1969, during a holiday camp with 1,700 children and adolescents, they showed pornographic films, broke gender segregation without informing their parents, set up shared showers and tolerated intercourse. Supervisors violate their supervisory duties. The “sin camp” became a “first-rate political issue” well into 1970, which the Berlin House of Representatives finally debated. The tabloids reported for months on "sex communists".

See also

literature

  • Kay Schweigmann-Greve: "Neither East nor West - for an undivided socialist world!" The contacts of the SJD - the falcons in the 50s and 60s to Yugoslavia and their aftermath up to the present, in: Arbeit - Bewegungs - Geschichte , Issue II / 2018, pp. 161–181.
  • Heinrich Eppe and Roland Gröschel: Small Chronicle of the Worker Youth Associations 1945–1985 . Series of publications of the Archives of the Workers' Youth Movement No. 13. ISBN 3-926734-01-9
  • Archives of the Workers' Youth Movement: Education Concepts of the SJD - The Falcons in the 50s. Report of a conference . ISBN 3-926734-60-4
  • Thomas Eberhardt-Köster: The influence of the student movement on the development of the “Socialist Youth in Germany - The Falcons” in the years 1966 to 1973, resonances in journals of the association , ISBN 3-926734-54-X
  • Reinhold Lengkeit: We are the building people of the world to come. 80 years of the workers' youth movement in Duisburg . Publication series of the archive no.14 , ISBN 3-926734-06-X
  • Roland Gröschel: Between tradition and a new beginning. Socialist youth in post-war Germany. Origin, structure and historical roots of the Socialist Youth of Germany - Die Falken, with an introduction by Arno Klönne. Results Verlag Hamburg 1986; ISBN 3-925622-17-9
  • Dieter Vassmers: "FDJ - The Falcons"? The work of the FDJ's children's groups in the Soviet-occupied zone until 1948 and the social-democratic child-friends movement . Text and document volume ISBN 3-926734-36-1
  • Hermann Echtermeyer: Once a falcon - always a falcon; Memories from 70 years of voluntary youth work in the socialist youth association SJD - Die Falken . ISBN 3-926734-32-9
  • Heidi and Wolfgang Beutin, Bodo Brücher (eds.): After striking back forward. Lorenz Knorr - fighting for a humane world . Festschrift for Lorenz Knorr on the 70th birthday of VSA Verlag,
  • Birgit Retzlaff: Post-war youth between the fronts 1945–1949. Conscious political opposition and persecution of members and friends of the Socialist Youth of Germany - The Falcons from 1945–1949 . Rostock: Ingo Koch Verlag 2003, 232 pages. ISBN 3-935319-68-1 .
  • Norbert Kozicki and Stefan Krämer: Upbringing and education for the future. Successful learning in the youth work of the falcons, Essen, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89861-834-2 .
  • Christa Becker-Lettow and Norbert Kozicki: Education for the future. Projects in youth work, Essen, 1995, ISBN 3-88474-240-X .
  • Bodo Brücher: The Socialist Youth Movement in Germany - Political-educational concept and reality of socialist youth and educational work in the post-war years . Paegelit Verlag Werther, September 1995. ISBN 3-928313-04-5

Web links

Commons : Sozialistische Jugend Deutschlands - Die Falken  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The 38th Federal Conference of the SJD - The Falcons is over. Socialist Youth in Germany - Die Falken, June 3, 2019, accessed on July 26, 2019 .
  2. ↑ https://www.wir-falken.de/ueber_uns/
  3. ↑ a b c Falco Werkentin : Youth opposition in the early post-war years in Berlin. The "Socialist Youth of Germany - the FALKS". In: Horch and Guck , Volume 18, No. 36 (1/2009), pp. 62–65. Worker: Youth opposition
  4. ^ Resistance of the Berlin falcons. In: jugendopposition.de. Federal Agency for Civic Education , accessed on February 17, 2020 (resistance against the SED dictatorship).
  5. ↑ Kay Schweigmann-Greve: "Neither East nor West - for an undivided socialist world!" The contacts of the SJD - the falcons in the 50s and 60s to Yugoslavia and their aftermath up to the present, in: Arbeit - Bewegungs - Geschichte , Issue II / 2018, pp. 161–181.
  6. ↑ Schmidt, Between Small Pleasures and Big Politics, pp. 83f
  7. ^ Teresa Nentwig: The support of pedosexual or pederastic interests by the Berlin Senate Administration. P. 29
  8. ↑ a b Resolution to the federal committee in Leipzig on October 2, 2011: repeal of the incompatibility resolution
  9. ↑ Christian Weßling (editor): Wir ( memento from February 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), subpage on umverteilen.de , accessed on September 30, 2012
  10. ↑ Socialist Youth in Germany - The Falcons - Twice is great! Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Sebastian Kempkens: G20 summit: fatal confusion . In: The time . October 2, 2017, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed October 30, 2019]).
  12. ^ Declaration by the SJD - Die Falken NRW as part of the handover of the check to the RAV on December 21, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  13. ^ SJD - Die Falken, LV NRW win process because of G20 bus. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  14. ^ The calendar for the 2007/08 school year of the SJD - Die Falken
  15. ↑ Mixed tents , in Der SPIEGEL 34/1969, pp. 62–63
  16. ↑ Göttingen Institute for Democracy Research (2016): Support for pedosexual interests by the Berlin Senate Administration , final report on the research project, p. 30.