Swing youth

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The swing youth was an oppositional youth culture and generation in many major German cities during the time of National Socialism , especially in Hamburg , Frankfurt and Berlin - also there after the annexation of Austria in 1938 and from 1939 in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . It consisted of young people between 14 and 21 years of age, mostly from the middle class and the upper middle class , high school students from wealthy families, but also apprentices and students from working-class families. The swing youth sought in the American-English lifestyle, especially in swing music and swing dance , an autonomous means of expression and a way of differentiating itself from National Socialism , mainly against the Hitler Youth .

term

The term swing youth probably originally came from the National Socialist law enforcement authorities to identify young people who openly showed their enthusiasm for American swing music. The terms "Swings" or "Swingheinis" also existed. They gave themselves nicknames like "Swing-Boy", "Swing-Girl" or "Old-Hot-Boy". A derogatory term in Germany was "Tangobubi".

In Austria, the term shuffle was common, a derogatory term that is still used today for an unkempt man with hair that extends from the neck to the shirt collar. In relation to the Austrian swing youth , this swear word was used as a self-designation without any value. The Viennese Schlurfs, most of which came from the working-class districts of Vienna, were recognizable by their clothing, hat, pomadized hairstyle, a preference for American music and associated fashion dances, and the preference for certain public places as meeting places and thus attracted the public's attention.

There is also a parallel in style and forms of expression to the Zazous in France. Similar counter-movements were the Leipzig packs or the edelweiss pirates .

The Czech writer Josef Škvorecký writes in several of his books, including a. in A great season , about his youth in what was then the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, about a similar youthful subculture. Typical in his stories are situations of jazz concerts kept secret from the Nazi authorities, interrogations, and attempts to save the lyrics and song titles of jazz classics from censorship by giving them harmless titles or the appearance of folk songs on paper.

history

The swing youth is a phenomenon that first appeared in the Hamburg educated and upper middle class. The followers tried to differentiate themselves through a counterculture and striking clothing based on the Anglo-American style. First by meeting with swing music. They organized dance events and dedicated jazz bands . On swing hits they wrote mocking verses in which they made fun of Nazis, soldiers and especially the unpopular Hitler Youth. They wore English coats and hats, read foreign newspapers and greeted each other with "Swing Heil! " Instead of " Sieg Heil!" ". The swings often had long hair, checked jackets, hats and umbrellas and would meet in cafes or clubs to listen to swing and use anglicisms .

, From the war in 1943 as the top student of the years from 1926 to 1928 successively as Luftwaffenhelfer were canceled, formed in Flak - batteries loose groups of swing fans. Thus, the formed Flakturm VI in Wilhelmsburg the meeting point of the "penny band", a group of young people carrying a distinctive mark a penny with the scraped out swastika on the lapel. In Berlin the night just was Wehrmachts nationals opened vaudeville Haus Vaterland on Potsdamer Platz, a tip for the Luftwaffenhelfer from Flakturm zoo, because there played the popular dance orchestra Kurt Widmann in traditional big band line-up American swing, which was announced under innocuous-sounding German title name. (" In the mood " meant "in a good mood ".)

In other cities in the German Reich , too, young people met to listen to swing music and to go dancing in Anglo-American clothing. Among other things, there is a scientific study about the swing youth in Bremen.

Youth culture on the way to the opposition

Like the Edelweiss Pirates , the members of the Swing Youth were initially apolitical. They expressed their contradiction to National Socialism through civil disobedience by openly living a culture other than the National Socialist youth culture . Without having a decidedly political and oppositional stance, it was only in their appearance and behavior that they differed greatly from the National Socialist example of youth . As a result of the forced violent persecution of the swing cliques by the Gestapo and the HJ patrol service in cooperation with the high school councilor and Senate councilor Albert Henze , parts of the swing youth became politicized from 1940 onwards .

The "Police Ordinance for the Protection of Young People" issued in 1940 forbade young people under the age of 18 from attending "public dance pleasures". As a result, the Swings themselves increasingly organized private parties with swing and jazz music.

On August 18, 1941, the "immediate action against the swing youth" came into force, so over 300 members of the swing youth were arrested. The repression ranged from cutting off long hair, protective custody and expulsion from school, to the arrest of alleged ringleaders and their deportation to concentration camps. The wave of arrests meant that some swing youth began to reject National Socialism also politically. For example, they distributed leaflets critical of the regime.

In January 1943 Günter Discher was classified as the “ringleader” of the Swing youth and sent to the Moringen youth concentration camp.

Contact to the White Rose

During the increasingly severe persecution, some swing boys came into contact with the Hamburg branch of the White Rose . Members of the White Rose partly sympathized with the lifestyle of the swing youth, especially with the music genre. Among other things, there was a personal connection, as Bruno Himpkamp had been a tutor of Hans Leipelt . In May 1943 the contacts intensified through joint discussions and planning.

There was no concrete collaboration because another wave of arrests against the swing youth set in, during which Himpkamp and two of his friends, Gerd Spitzbart and Thorsten Müller , were arrested. These three were the accusation of decomposition of the German youth also because of high treason , subversive propaganda and military morale before the People's Court accused. The trial took place in Hamburg on April 19, 1945, while the English troops were already near the city. Only Thorsten Müller could be presented. The public prosecutor applied for 10 years in prison for him , the verdict was postponed and never took place. Bruno Himpkamp and Gerd Spitzbart had already been freed on April 12, 1945 by American forces in the Stendal regional court prison . Thorsten Müller was released from the Hamburg remand prison at the end of May 1945 after the liberation by the British occupation forces .

Quotes

“The members of the Swing youth are negative or at least uninterested in today's Germany and its police, the party and its branches, the Hitler Youth, labor and military service, including the events of the war. They perceive the National Socialist institutions as a “mass pressure”. They are not moved by the great events of the time, on the contrary, they rave about everything that is not German but English. This must be prevented with all the power we have at our disposal. "

- From a report by the Reich Youth Leadership

“In my opinion, the whole evil must now be radically eradicated. I am against our taking only half measures here. All ringleaders [...] are to be sent to a concentration camp [...]. The stay in the concentration camp for this youth must be longer, 2-3 years [...] Only if we take brutal action will we be able to avoid dangerous encroachment of this Anglophile tendency at a time when Germany is fighting for its existence. "

- Instructions from Heinrich Himmler

Swing dancing prohibited - a myth?

Swing dance bans were imposed from 1937 "on a local or regional level" and primarily affected dance halls in which swing was regularly danced. From 1938 , signs warning that swing dancing were forbidden were placed around the Moka Efti dance palace in Berlin , where Erhard Bauschke's orchestra played. “Waiters acted politely but decisively against offenders.” These bans came “in any case with the express support of the Berlin regime”; In 1939 the Wehrmacht and party organs followed suit. The then leading swing musician Teddy Stauffer also reported about bans on playing swing music in dance halls.

It is a modern legend that it is mandatory to have no swing dancing signs in all restaurants . Such signs were invented as a marketing gag in the 1970s and have been sold ever since. Contemporary witnesses also report that restaurateurs who were loyal to the line, or those who wanted to avoid trouble with the Reich Chamber of Culture or the Gestapo, made and hung up such signs themselves. After the start of the war in 1939, public dance events were increasingly banned anyway. After the German defeat with the sinking of the 6th Army in the Battle of Stalingrad in February 1943, the general ban on dancing issued by the Reich Minister of the Interior and SS leader Heinrich Himmler had to be strictly observed.

Movie

The topic was also shown in the films Swing Kids (USA 1993) and Schlurf - Im Swing against the lock step (Austria 2007). The episode "Wehrkraftzersetzung" (Wehrkraftzersetzung) in the TV series Löwengrube is about members of the swing youth who wanted to avoid being drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1940.

musical

The musical Swinging St. Pauli takes up the topic. It is set in a Hamburg bar in 1941. The musical “Swing Time! We dance on ” with the topic apart.

literature

  • Alenka Barber-Kersovan, Gordon Uhlmann (Hrsg.): Danced freedom. Swing culture between Nazi dictatorship and the present. Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-935549-05-9 . (on behalf of the Landesmusikrat Hamburg and the Hamburg Cultural Foundation)
  • Otto Bender, Heiko Haupt: Swing under the swastika, Hamburg 1933 to 1945 . 1993, ISBN 3-7672-1168-8 .
  • Wolfgang Beyer, Monica Ladurner: Swing against lockstep. The youth, the jazz and the Nazis. Residenz Verlag, Salzburg 2011.
  • Wilfried Breyvogel (Ed.): Pirates, Swings and Young Guard. Youth resistance in National Socialism. JHW Dietz Nachf., Bonn 1991.
  • Jens Kolata: Between social discipline and "racial hygiene". The persecution of "anti-social", "work-shy", "swing youth" and Sinti. In: Ingrid Bauz, Sigrid Brüggemann, Roland Maier (eds.): The Secret State Police in Württemberg and Hohenzollern. Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-89657-138-0 , pp. 321-337.
  • Jan Kurz: Swinging Democracy. Youth protest in the 3rd Reich. In: History of Youth. Vol. 21. Lit, Münster 1995.
  • Sascha Lange: packs, swings & edelweiss pirates. Youth culture and opposition under National Socialism , Ventil Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-95575-039-8 .
  • Bettina Leder: Lauingers. A family story from Germany. Hentrich and Hentrich, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-95565-080-3 (= Jewish Memoirs , Volume 26; about Artur Lauringer and his son Wolfgang).
  • Bernd Polster , Astrid Eichstedt: Like the wild ones. Dances at the height of their time. Rotbuch, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-88022-709-8 .
  • Bernd Polster (Ed.): Swing Heil! Jazz under National Socialism. Transit, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-88747-050-8 .
  • Fred K. Prieberg: Music in the Nazi State. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 978-3-920862-66-8 (important correspondence).
  • Kerstin Rathgeb: Heroes against their will. Frankfurt Swing Youth - Persecution and Idealization. Westphalian steam boat, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-89691-705-6 .
  • Uwe Storjohann : ‹Main thing: Survival›: a youth in war 1936 - 1945 Hamburg, Dölling and Galitz, 1993
  • Anton Tantner: "Schlurfs" - approaches to a subcultural style of young workers in Vienna. Diploma thesis at the University of Vienna: Institute for Contemporary History, 1993; Lulu, Morrisville 2007, ISBN 978-1-84753-063-9 ; ( E-Text and other publications ).
  • Jörg Überall: Swing Kids. Archive of Youth Cultures, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-943774-21-4 .
  • Joseph Wulf: Culture in the Third Reich. Music. Ullstein, Berlin 1989.
  • Mike Zwerin : La tristesse de Saint-Louis, swing under the Nazis. Hannibal, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-85445-039-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Merighi: Change in the musical taste of the Austrian youth from 1900 to 1950. Diploma thesis . GRIN, 2004, ISBN 3-638-68520-9 ( full text in the Google book search).
  2. ↑ A great season. A novel about the most important things in life . Translated from the Czech by Marcela Euler, Deuticke: Vienna-Munich 1997; ISBN 3-216-30322-5 .
  3. ↑ Swing na Malem městě. Vzpomínky na orchestr Miloslava Zachovala, výsnamný amatérský swing band protektorátní éry . Compiled by Josef Škvorecký and Boris Mědílek. Ovo Železný, Praha 2002, ISBN 80-237-3710-4 .
  4. ↑ “Kulturkurier” newsletter, September 2012
  5. ^ Frank Lehmann, Wilhelmsburg History Workshop (ed.): Broken Time: Wilhelmsburg in the years 1923–1947. Dölling and Galitz, 1993, p. 162.
  6. ↑ Birgit Köhler, "... whenever Glenn Miller played 'In the Mood', I had forgotten all the pain in the world!" Bremen swing youth in the Third Reich. Master's thesis, Bremen 1997.
  7. ↑ Brief biography of the German Resistance Memorial Center on Bruno Himpkamp, accessed on May 9, 2012.
  8. ↑ Ursel Hochmuth , Gertrud Meyer : Streiflichter from the Hamburg resistance. 1933-1945. Frankfurt 1980, ISBN 3-87682-036-7 , pp. 404 and 420 f.
  9. ↑ Michael H. Kater : Daring game. Jazz under National Socialism . Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 1995, p. 203 f.
  10. ↑ stockpress.de
  11. ↑ On the bold front: a forgery makes history, pop history
  12. ^ The Lauingers - an evil family story in FAZ from June 2, 2015, page 31.