Hitler Youth Activities: Camp

Figure 1.--These boys at a Baltic Sea Hitler Youth camp are using a medice ball for physdical conditioning. Notice the Hitler Youtyh tank top that manybof thy boys are wearing.

An important part of the Hitler Youth program was the summer camps. The camps were designed to toughen boys most physically and mentally. There were a lot of exercizes of a militay natue such as laing communications cable. Older boys might do actual fire arms training. HBU does not yet have any actual accounts from any of the boys. One interesting account comes from Richard Windmark, the American movie actor. He had just graduated from college in 1937 and as student of political science wanted to see what was happening in NAZI Germany. He and a friend spent the summer in Germany. They asked to see the Dachau Concentration Camp which was believed to be a intetnment camp for political discedents. The NAZI official they asked laughed at them and told them they didn't want to go there. Instead they were sent to a Hitler Youth camp. He took color movies there. The boys wore the standard Hitler Youth uniform of brown shirts and black short pants. As it was summer they often didn't wear their shirts. Windmark says that the boys were constantly being lined up in military ranks by "bullies"--but the boys loved it. He said some of the boys were as young as 6 years, I think he may have been wrong about that.

Tradition

HBU has few details at this time, but believes that Germany had a well established tradition of summer camps by the 1930s. Many groups like the Scouts and other groups had purchased oroerty and built summer camp facilities.

Property Seizures

When the NAZIs obtained power in 1933, the Hitler Youth seized and occupied the facilities of other youth groups all over Germany. At first the Catholic facilities were exempted, but this was only temporary. The property of Jewish youth groups were next seized, although I am not sure about the date, and the boys simply excluded. Other groups were banned or incorporated into the Hitler Youth. The boys thus had access to the old facilities and many new ones as Hitler Youth members. The YMCA had a major role in the American summer camp movement. I am not sure if this was the case in Germany.

Chronology

The Hitler Youth until 1933 had very limited facilites. They did have some camps, but finaces were very limited and it was other youth groups that had fine facilities. This cahnged in 1933 when the Hitler Youth simply seized the facilities of the other groups. The facilities of the Jewish and Catholic youth groups were first exempted, but not for long. The Hitler Youth found itself in possession of the best facilities in Germany and a major state-financed budget to improve and expand those facilities so that every Aryan boy could attend summer camp. Thus the summer camp program expanded very rapidly as the HJ membership itself expanded.

Purpose

An important part of the Hitler Youth program was the summer camps. The camps were designed to toughen boys most physically and mentally.

Ages

We do not yet know a great deal about how the HJ summer camps were organized concerning age groups. I am not sure just what age groups went to summer camps. Presumably boys 10 years and older as this was the asge that they joined the Deutche Jugend (DJ). Available images show both the youher DJ and older HJ boys at the summer camps. Generally speaking, summer camps in the Scouts movement was just for the older Boy Scout section. Cubs did not normally go to camp. The Hitler Youth was different. The younger DJ did boys who were about 10-13 years of age did go to camp, although the DJ included older boys than were normally in Cubbing. I do not know if the younger boys went for shorter periods or to what extent age groups were separated. We do not that the older boys served as youth leaders at the camps.

Gender

As all Hitler Youth programs, summer camps were single gender facilities. The girls had their own summer camps. This was not unusual at the time. Most youth summer camps in Germany and other countriesere single gender camps. There were some coed summer camps, some of which werecoperated by the Communist youth movements.

Period

I am not sure just how long boys attended summer camps. It may have been different for the various age groups.

Group Attendance

I believe the boys attended summer camp as part of their home Hitler Youth unit. This may have been different for the older boys in specialized units such as the Marine Division. There were specially designed summer camp programs for these specialized Hitler Youth divisions.

Figure 2.--These boys at summer camp are dressed in their standard Hitler Youth uniform. They appear to be receiving training in the drum and buggle corps. Notice their instruments stacked neatly in the background.

Slogans

At camp, a new boy would be selected each dy in leding a mass reciaion of slogans. There would also be different slogans each day, many writen by Hitler Youth Leaer Von Schriach himself. Typical slogans included, "Deutche Jugend boys are strong, silent, and ???," "Deutche Jugend boys are comrads," ?????.

Food

We have no idea at this time what the food was like at Hitler Youth summer camps. A American Scout camps part of the program was learning to cook camp meals over camp fires. I'm not sure if the HJ program put the same emphasis on this. Perhaps the HJ wanted the boys more involved in formal asects of the program than cooking which may have been seen as more women's work. We note army-style field kitches being set up at HJ camps. I've never noted anuthing quite like thiseven at major U.S. Scout functions like jamborees with thousands of Scouts.I have no ideas just what kind of food was produced in these kitchens. I suspect these field kitchens were similar to army rathions, but this is just a guess. Perhaps HBU readers will know more about this and be able to offer some insights.

Seasons

I belive that camps were primarily summer events. The facilities may have been used during other seasons, but HBU has no information on this.

Uniforms

The boys seem to have worn their standard Hitler Youth uniform at summer camp. Some boys had tank tops with a small Hitler Youth symbol on the front. Because of all these activities, the boys were not always formally dressed in their uniforms. We see boys loubging around barefoot or in swim trunks. For some avtivites the boys seemed to have taken off their shirts.

Cost

The HJ summer camps were free to participating HJ boys. The goal was to provide a summer camp experience for all HJ boys regardless of family background or finances. The only requirement was that that the boys be a HJ member in good standing, and thus Aryan. Parebts did have to purchase the equipment and uniforms that the boys wore to camp.

Gender

The HJ summer camp program focussed primarily on the boys. There were also camps for the girls, but they were always seperate. There were no coed HJ camps. In addition the girls were not under the same intense pressure to attend that the boys were subjected to.

Facilities

The facilities at HJ camps varied significantly. Some had elaborate faciluties had living quarters of varying design or barracks-like buildings that could be used year round. Others had cabins that were not heated for winter use or were wiklderness areas where the children camped with tents. Many were on lakes and rivers to make water sports and boating possible. There were some camps along the Baltic Sea coast or on Baltic Sea islands with especially good facilities for water sports.

Activities

Hitler Youth boys engaged in a wide range of activities at their summer camps. Many of the activities were standard summer camp fare. One of the most popular activities was of course wilderness camping. Many HJ camped in tents around camp fires. There was a wide range of other activities such as would be found in other summer camps, including athletics, boating, vamp fire ceremonies, canoeing, hiking, singing, swimming, wide games, and other activities. I assume activities like archery, arts and crafts, skirs, and other summer camp staples were also involved, but have only limited information at this time. Along with these activities which were fairly standard at summer camps around the world, were a condiderable amount of time devoted to drill. Younger boys wre taught the correct way of making the NAZI salute and to hold it for extended periods. The wide games were popular, but often much rougher than was normal in other youth movements like Scouting. The boys were incouraged to fight to toughen them up. Older boys might do actual fire arms training. There were also specialized programs such as for the units such as the Marine or Air Divisions. Boys also received training for the Drum and Buggle Corps.Some were virtual full scale fights between groups of campers. There was also various levels of para-military trainingm, depending on the ages of the boys. There were exercizes of a militay natue such as laying communications cable. The specialized HJ divisions such as the Fleger-HJ and the Marine-HJ had special facilties to focus on their specialized activity program. HBU does not yet have any actual accounts from any of the boys about there summer camp activities, but we eventually hope to acquire such accounts.

KLV

The HJ summer camp program was significantly affected by World War II whivh Hitler anf the NAZIs launched in Sptember 1939. While the summer camping program, was imapired, the HJ took on an even larger program, the KLV.. The Kinderlandverschickung (KLV) was a massive NAZI program to evacuate children from cities targetted by the Allied bombing camapign. About 2.5 million children were involved. They were housed in HJ youth camps and many other facilities in rural areas throughout the Reich. This meant year-round care, not just during the summer. Not only were HJ facilities used, but HJ youth leaders played a major role in running the camps.

Movies

HJ camps were sometimes depicted in films. The most famous was Hitler Youth Quex, the first important NAZI film. One German boy recalls seeing the film. "Communist youths were shown. All of them dressed like ruffians. Unsavoury figures. Then they set up camp and even girls were with them. Everything was really disgusting. The Hitler Youth on the other hand: all dressed the same, clean, nice, with leaders who had everything under control. I still remember today that after the film we all agreed: the NAXIs made an altogether great impression, there was discipline, one wanted to join in. The communists, on the other hand, no, our parents would never have let us be part of a bunch like that." [Heinz-Huber, p. 19.]

Personal Accounts

HBU hopes to collect some personal accounts of Hitler Youth summer camps.

Richard Windmark

One interesting account comes from Richard Windmark, the American movie actor. He had just graduated from college in 1937 and as student of political science wanted to see what was happening in NAZI Germany. He and a friend spent the summer in Germany. They asked to see the Dachau Concentration Camp which was believed to be a intetnment camp for political discedents. The NAZI official they asked laughed at them and told them they didn't want to go there. Instead they were sent to a Hitler Youth camp. He took color movies there. The boys wore the standard Hitler Youth uniform of brown shirts and black short pants. As it was summer they often didn't wear their shirts. Windmark says that the boys were constantly being lined up in military ranks by "bullies"--but the boys seemed to love it. He said some of the boys were as young as 6 years, I think he may have been wrong about that.

Sources

Karl Heinz-Huber, Jugend unterm Hakenkreuz (Frankfurt am Main: Ullstein, 1936).