Hitler Youth Activities: War Work--Aufraeumungsarbeit

Hitler Youth Aufraeumungsarbeit efforts
Figure 1.--Aufraeumungsarbeit in German meant 'cleaning up' (Aufraeumungs) and 'work' (arbeit). This mean clearing up thecrubble and and looking for survivors and bodies in the collaosed and damage buildings. It was not only hard, unleasant work, but it ws dangerous. The buildings still standing were unstable as were the piles of rubble. And there were unexploded bombs. The Allied bombing campaign with rare expections did reltively little damage. This changed when the American 8th Airforce built up in Englnd during 1942 joined RAF Bomber Command in the around-the-clock bombing of the Reich (January 1943). The number and size of the raids increased. The damage was far beyond the ability of the established professional rescue services to deal with. The British did not use children for this undertaking. The Germans did abd not only the older HJ boys. We see the younger DJ boys as well (ages 10-14 years). The HJ children were at first used to aid the refugees, but as the bombing increase the boys were eventually used for more dangerous work. This photograph is undated, but we would guess thast it was taken during the summer of 1943 or 44. The children look like cthe younger DJ boys.

Aufraeumungsarbeit in German meant 'cleaning up' (Aufraeumungs) and 'work' (arbeit). This mean clearing up thecrubble and and looking for survivors and bodies in the collaosed and damage buildings. A HBU contributor writes about his HJ experience, "Most of what we did was "Aufraeumungsarbeit". That is, we had to clear rubble of the bombed out sections, search the cellars and basements - flooded and ready to collapse.- for survivors and dead. It was not fun by any imagination." [Lojewski] It was not only hard, unleasant work, but it ws dangerous. The buildings still standing were unstable as were the piles of rubble. And there were unexploded bombs. The Allied bombing campaign with rare expections did reltively little damage. This changed when the American 8th Airforce built up in Englnd during 1942 joined RAF Bomber Command in the around-the-clock bombing of the Reich (January 1943). The number and size of the raids increased. The damage was far beyond the ability of the established professional rescue services to deal with. The British did not use children for this undertaking. The Germans did abd not only the older HJ boys. We see the younger DJ boys as well (ages 10-14 years). The HJ children were at first used to aid the refugees, but as the bombing increase the boys were eventually used for more dangerous work. Part of the problem for Germany is thst as the war went agianst the Reich, more and more had to be conscripted. And by 1943-44 this included both skilled wokers and rescue workers. The Germans also employed POWs for this work, but we do not think concentration camp inmates. The choice of who was set to work depebded on who was available in the various cities hit by the Allies. It was a matter addressed by each local commuThe destruction was enormous, especially after the defeat of the Luftwaffe (early 1944). After the War women were used"--the Ttrummerfrauen, but we do not see much of this during the War.

Sources

Lojewski, Frank A. E-mail message, December 1, 2004. Frank has provided us more details about his HJ experiences.





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Created: 7:23 PM 11/9/2011
Last updated: 7:23 PM 11/9/2011