Hitler Youth Activities: Hiking--Assemblying

Figure 1.--This unidentified photograph looks to show a group of HJ boys in the city assembling for a hike, we think on Suday. Notice that there are no adult leaders to be seen. Adults in the background are admiring the boys, but UI don't think they are parents. We think that city troops like this probably took trains out into the countryside. One of the boys is a drummer, but he is not wearing mussician shoulder devices. The photograph is undated. We suspect it was taken just before World war II or at the beginning of the War about 1938-41. As the War progressed, we suspect that activities involving rail trave were discouraged.

We think most HJ boys went hiking in small units at the troop level. This was easiest enough for the boys living in villages or even small towns. It must have been a little more complicated for the boys living in cities. A hike down a city thoroughfare was not the same as out in the countryside. So we assume that the boys must have assembled in the morning for a major hike. Then they probably marched to the train station where they could get out into the country. I don't think their parents took them to the station, but rather they assembeled in their neigbothood and marched to the station. We say that because we note photographs of the boys assembling and there do not seem to be parents or even adult leaders about. Presumably the boys could ride on the rail road free of charge. Here we are largely guessing. Perhaps readers will have some dicumentary evidence to add to our understanding.