Hitler Youth Winter Uniform

Figure 1.--Many of the older DJ members, as well as the Hitler Youth boys, wore long pants with the winter unifom. THe epilettes this boy wears marks his participation in the band.

Hitler Youth boys had a seasonal winter uniform. It appears to have been very similar to the DJ winter uniform. HBU has seen photograps off DJ and HJ boys in winter uniforms. The only apparent difference was that many older boys wore long pants during the winter. The decission about what type of pants were worn appears to have been made by the Hitler Youth unit as the boys in each unit seem dressed alike. The winter uniform is less readily recognized than the summer uniform. We are not I'm not sure just when the uniform was introduced, but it seens ti have beeb about 1935. .

Caps

The Hitler Youth boys for their winter uniforms wore a black ski cap as the official uniform cap.

Jacket

The Hitler Youth boys wore dark blue or black jackets. They look to be corderoy jackets, but I could be wrong about this. I have no information on the material used. Hopefully our German readers will provide more detail. One Belgian reader reports, "I have a Hitler Youth jacket, and in the collar of the jacket, you see the label: "Indanthren". A HBC reader reports that "Indanthren " is a registered trade mark and refers to a colour-fast dye. Another reader tells us, "I researced 'Indanthren' and turned up this result: 'Indanthren for a 100 years has been synonymous with hi-quality, heavy duty cotton fabric. It is a trade name coined for the first synthetic vat dye, discovered by BASF in 1901." The boys wore their insignias on the jacket. It was not worn like an outer jacket in that sence. The same insignias might be on the brown shirt he wore underneath.

Shirts

Hitler Youth boys wore brown shirts under their winter jackets. Presumably it was the same brown shirt they wore with their summer uniform.

Kerchief

Boys wore their kerchiefs on their brown shirts unfer the winter jackets,

Pants

The boys wore black or dark blue pants matching the jacket. Many of the boys wore long pants, or more correctly ski pants, in the colder winter months, but many of the younger boy still wore shorts. and matching black long pants. I'm not sure when this was introduced, but it does seem to have been a national uniform. I'm not sure why the Hitler Youth had a winter uniform. British Scouts wore shorts all year round, although they were rather long shorts and worn with knee socks. Perhaps the Hitler Youth had more outdoor activities during the winter than the British Scouts. It does appear to have been more common in Germany for boys still wearing short pants to wear longs during the winter.

Pocket Chain

Some boys wear a chain coming from under te jacket, runing into a front pocket. I believe this was a whistle. We think that this indicates a dgree of rank becuse the whistle was not something that most boys wore. The whistle was used to assembke the boys and gain their attention.

Belt

The boys wore the same belt and belt buckle that they wore with the summer uniform with the winter uniform.. As with the summer uniform, some boys wore the shoulder strap with their winter uniform while some boys chose not to do so. I do not know if this was in fact an individual or unit choice.

Shoes

Most boys wore black leather shoes with the winter uniform.