Figure 1.--These children are members of the Free German Youth at a a SED (Communist) Party congress. The uniforms and torch in the back ground were mainstays at party congresses as well as various party events. Notice how the boys have rolled down their socks.

This East German film extoled the virtues of joining youth organisations. I'm a little confused about the uniforms. The white shirt and kerchief look to be the boy's Young Pioneer uniform. A Germaan reader reports that they are East German (DDR) Free German Youth. The color dates the film, probably to the late 1940s or early 19509s. HBC has only limited information, but believes it probably dates to the late 1940s or early 1950s.

Filmography

HBC has no details on the filmography of the film at this time. In fact these images may not be from the same fil,\m.

East German Films

The East Germans had a substantial Government-financed film industry. HBC has little information, however, on the films made, but the films made would have closely followed Communist Party thenes.

Story

HBC has no information about the story line in this film. Apparently the film was made to encourage German children to join youth organizations. I know nothing more about the story.

Figure 2.--These Free German Youth are receiving an award in a formal ceremony. Note the short pants and white kneesocks.

Chronology

The color suggests that the film was made in the 1940s. Color film was developed in the 1930s. (The American color film Gone With the Wind was made in 1938-39.) Most movies during World War II were made in black and white. All the NAZI films I know of were made in black and white except for the last film, I forget the title now, about Frederick the Great and his wars. The color to me suggests that this was an East German (DDR) film in the late 1940s or early 1950s. A German reader dates them to the late 1950s or early 60s.

HBC was initially unsure what group was involved here. It clearly was not a NAZI-era film. Note the lack of NAZI imagery and suybols and different uniforms. Note the torch in figure 1--a common DDR symbol. Also note the flag which does not look like a NAZI flag. I'm not sure what the word on the flag is.

Free German Youth

A German reader has informed HBC that the uniformed shown here are from the Free German Youth. I'm not sure just what this group was. Presumably it was part of the DDR Young Pioneers movement.

Figure 3.-- A German DDR Police Officer is shown here with a Police Youth group. They are apparently trying to convince the third boy to joint the group.

Clothes

The boys and girls in this film wear similar iniforms. Usually NAZI uniforms for boys and girls were different while DDR ubiforms were similar. The white shirts and scarves look like Young Pioneer uniforms to HBC. The boys in the filn appear to mostly wear short pants. Obe boy wears whire kneesocks neatly pulled up. Other boys appear to have rolled their kneesocks down. I'm not sure what type of uniform the boys with the soldier are wearing. They are quite elaborate with formal looking miitary caps and smart white jackets. Note that neither the soldier or the boys are wearing arm bands.

Created: August 23, 2000
Last updated: Jube 12, 2001