Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified group, at least we think it is a youth group. The boys do not wear uniforms. They are at some kind of summer camp. Te raising of a huge flag suggests a youth group despite the lack of uniforms. We are unable to identify the flag. A dealer suggests the portrait was taken in the 1930s. There are, however, a lot of long pats for the 1930s. The 1940s after the War seems more likely. Perhaps a reader will be able to offer some insight.

German until the NAZIs seized power(1933) had the most diverse youth movement in history. We have found quite a few images of German youth groups that we have not been able to identify. We will archive here photographs of some of the unidentified groups that we have found. Normally the Hitler Youth uniforms are destinctive enough that they are fairly easy to identify. The same is true of many Scout groups, although unlike Britain and the United States, there eas not a single unified Scoy movement. Thus therewere different Scout associations with varied uniforms. There were, however, until 1933 a large numbers of different youth groups and we know virtually nothing about the uniforms these groups wore. Many of these grous werevery small and not all had destinctive uniforms. Hopefully our German readers will be able to help identify some of these groups.

Figure 1: Young Crew (1900s)

We note an unidetified German youth group in of all places China on the previous page. These boys are located at Tsingtao/Kiautschou. Germany like other European countries had control of a Chinese city. These cities were called treaty port and essentially administered like colonies. The group here ay have been a local unit without any larger organizational afiliation. This photograph was taken in 1913, 1 year before the outbreak of World War I. Japan joined Britain and launched an offensive which seized Tsingtao from a German and Austrian-Hungarian garison.

Figure 2: Wandrvogel (1910s)

We have no information on this image except that it was German. It looks to us as if it was tken in the 1910s given the clothes thst the children are wearing. It may have been just a group of local youth. We suspect, however, that it may have been Wandervogel group. The Wandvogel was coeducational and was asociated with hikes and other activities in the countryside. There is no way to be sure, but it looks like the Wandervogel to us.

Figure 4: Unidentified Group (1950s)

Here we see a group of teenages on an outing, we think in the early-1950s. They are waiting for a train at a station platform. e do not know where the snap shot was taken. We tink it might be East Germany, but are not sure. Some signs are visible. Perhaps our German readers will be abel to tell where tey are at. They do not wear elaborate uniforms. But two bys have the same jackets with a triangular sleeve insignis. We assume that identifies the group. We have, however, no idea what group this is.

Figure 5: Unidentified Group (1930s)

Here we see a group in what looks like the 1930s. The snap shot is undated, but looks to have been taken in the mid-1930s. The group is not identified. The Hitler Youth Organization took over the German Youth movement (1933). Some groups were banned and their assetts and properties seized. . Others were merged into the Hitler Youth movement. Germany had a very large, diverse youth movement. After the HJ action, the organization became the principal youth group in Germany. It was not yet the only group. There were some exceptions to the grouups banned or incororated into the HJ. The principal one were the Catholic groups. Hitler to plscate the Catholics as he was consolidating his hold on Germany, allowed Catholic youth groups to operate independently for a few years. We are not sure what the group is here. It almost ceratainly is not a Hitler Youth unit because of the uniform. We think it may have been obnof these a Catholic group.

Figure 6: Unidentified Group (1930s)

Here we see an unidentified group, at least we think it is a youth group (figure 1). The boys do not wear uniforms. They are at some kind of summer camp. Te raising of a huge flag suggests a youth group despite the lack of uniforms. We are unable to identify the flag. A dealer suggests the portrait was taken in the 1930s. There are, however, a lot of long pants for the 1930s. The 1940s after the War seems more likely, but the large flag does not seem right for the 40s. Perhaps a reader will be able to offer some insight.

Figure 7: Unidentified Catholic Group

This is a Catholic school group photographed in Bonn in 1932. The boys attend the famous private school or Gymnasium known as the Collegium Josephium, an elite Roman Catholic boarding school in Bonn. We do not know if they were just a school group or a school unit of a larger nationl orgasnization. The boys are wearing their Jungschar uniform, which consists of a light tan or kahki blouse with a belt, short trousers, long black stockings, and visored school caps. The boys look about twelve to fourteen. They wear baldrics over their shoulders, presumably part of the club's insignia, and they seem to be carrying banners identifying the group. The club seems to have engaged in humanitarian projects as well as recreational activities such as hiking. They are shown with their leader, who seems to be a bit older than the rest and who doesn't wear a school cap.

Figure 8: Unidentified World War I Era Group

Here we see a group of uniformed boys with hiking canes. They presumably were photographed during a hiking expedition. There are some differences with the uniforms especially the headwear that the boys are wearing. We see some hats that look like Australian bush hats. We have seen these hats worn by other boys. We are not sure if this was a hat worn by a single group or a popular style worn by various groups. We suspect it was a style inspired by the classic Boy Scout hat. Some of the boys look like they are wearing different types of army caps. Note that these are not the familiar school caps, but actuall army styles. The hats seem to have a coockade. Some boys have collar buttoning jackets. Otghers seem to be wearing white shirts and collars under their jackets. The photograph is undated, but was probably taken during the late-1910s (World War I era) or early-1920s. The dealer suggested it was Wandervogel group. We suspect that was the only early Germn youth she may have known. We think thst this is unlikely. The Wandervogel did not have such military-looking uniforms. They had more of an artistic ethos--music and poetry. Notably we do not see a single guitar wehich the Wandervogel youth often carried. And the Wandervogel included girls. This an all-boy group. We group includes boys of various ages, including older pre-teens and teens.

Figure 9: Unidentified Scout Group

The boys here look to us like an unidentified Scout group in the arly 1930s before the NAZIs seized power Tey do not wear the icnc Baden Powell Lemon-squeezer hat which elps identify Scouts in the early years. Virtually all te cout groups when founded adopted this hat, but gradually began adopting more destinctive styles. Rather they wear a campaign cap. Unlike America and Britain, there was no one national Scout association. Germany at th time had severa Scoutassciations, many with religious afiliations. There were also secular associations. The rest of the uniform has a Scout look to it. Here we are guessing that the boys are German. The background looks like a central European city. The store sign has a German name, but there were many Germans with stores in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. The caps have a Hungarian look to us. So they coud be Scouts from either of those countries, although we think Germany is the most likely country. Perhaps our readers will have some insights. The boys look to be Cub age, but German Scous do not seem to havehad destinct Cub programs. The image can be dated more easily. The boy at the left wears a short pants soutfit with black long stockings which we see quite a bit in Germany. An as the NAZIs banned Scouting, the photograph had to be taken before 1933. Catholic Scouts were given a short reprive, but we doubt if younger Scouts would hve appeared so publically as they were sometimes attacked by HJ boy.