ASSESS THE IMPACT OF WW1 UPON THE GERMAN
YOUTH MOVEMENT
HISTORIOGRAPHY- WHY DOES IT CHANGE WHY ARE PEOPLE INVESTED IN
PORTRAYING THIS DEBATE IN A CERTAIN WAY HOW DOES IT REFLECT
ATTITUDES?
How are you narrowing it down? Time scale? Are you just looking at the
wandervogel(define)?
The patriotism of the Wilhelmine Empire was seen as a clumsy attempt
to enforce some kind of national identity that lacked spiritual contents
and patriotism was therefore regarded as a good example of a template
that youth should not follow. However, the war would change this
https://blackboard.le.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-1642919-dt-content-rid-
4469363_2/courses/HS1100/ADRIAANSEN%20Wanderv%C3%B6gel
%20in%20Wartime%20Flanders%20in%20Travel%20Writing%20in
%20Dutch%20and%20German.%201790-1930.pdf
In the years following World War I, in stark contrast with the elite
character of the prewar Wandervogel movement, and under the
influence of international scouting movements that intentionally
recruited from the lower middle-classes, the German movements
gradually entered the domain of an emerging mass culture.43 This
corresponded with the emergence of a new organizational structure, the
Bünde (unions). These were nation-wide organizations consisting of local
groups that were largely autonomous. In contrast to the prewar
movements, these newly formed groups instigated a resolute move
, away from the individual reform philosophy of the bourgeois
Wandervogel movement, towards an ideology of communal life.44
Rather than seeing their gatherings as an ephemeral collection of free
individuals, its members now acknowledged lasting forces binding
together individualities in permanent group structures. This new sociality
of the Bünde was seen as an antidote to the anonymity and class
divisions of modern capitalist society. Throughout the 1920s, the Bünde
became increasingly organized, and while continuing the prewar
activities of hiking and camping, they now structured these communal
experiences around customs and rituals, which were often adopted from
other youth movements. Uniform dress code, an attribute that was
previously considered too militaristic, became common practice after the
adoption of the uniform blue shirts and red neckerchiefs of the Austrian
Rote Falken(red falcons) group. The strict discipline of the British Boy
Scouts also became a major influence: the Bünde took over the
commandments and the ‘good deeds’ from international Scoutism and
the Pfadfinder.45 Thus, while the German youth movement assumed a
more disciplined approach under this international influence, it also
invoked a more rigid communal spirit in overtly national terms.
Contrasting the free unregulated movements, unstructured dancing and
naturalist body culture of the Wandervogel, but retaining their sensibility
for folklore and intimacy, a more hierarchical understanding of
communal experience – based on discipline and a sense of duty towards
the collective – gained ground. It is under this influence that the Bünde
transformed the ephemeral camping practices cultivated by the
Wandervogel into well-prescribed customs and events: the weekly Fahrt
(short excursion), the yearly Groe Fahrt (a two week hiking trip) with the
Zeltlager (communal tent camp), and the rallies featuring sportive
competitions between the different Bünde became well-known and
popular activities in German public life. Walther Riem’s Deutsches
Lagerhandbuch(German Camp Guide), a three-volume pocket guide to
setting up and managing camps, reveals the increasingly important role
of youth camps in German society. The guide was aimed at all German
2
, youth organizations and describes in great detail the organization of
youth camping: the different kinds of camp layouts, tent forms and their
internal organization, communal facilities, kitchen logistics and sanitary
requirements, but also camp games and stories, knotting and bird-
watching, pedagogical and community building techniques, and so on.46
While being entirely recreational and festive, these social practices were
also disciplined, reproducible, and standardized, and they became
central to the operation of these movements throughout the 1920 and
early 1930s. During this period, many of the Bünde were motivated by a
rightwing völkische ideology – the idea that the German race was one
large community or Volksgemeinschaft (‘folk community’) transcending
existing party and class lines.47 Whether or not these youth movements
directly strengthened or partly resisted the rise of National Socialism is
beyond the scope of this article. SAY THE LAST LINE, THEN SAY, BUT
THESE PPL TALK ABOUT IT HERE
https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2008/SOC757/um/
CUPERS_Governing_through_nature.pdf
In his history of the German youth movement, Laqueur restricts his
periodization to the 1933 Gleichschaltung, thereby clearly dissociating
‘free’ youth movements from the totalitarian Hitlerjugend. In contrast,
Mosse traces the ideology of the Third Reich back to the early German
youth movements, which he sees as predecessors to the Nazi ideology.
Unlike Laqueur’s, Stachura’s history of the German youth comprises the
entire period 1900–1945, but in opposition to Mosse, he clearly
distinguishes the group loyalty of the 1920s Bündische JugPend from the
mass regimentation of the Hitlerjugend, thereby rejecting the former’s
role as precursor. Wolschke-Bulmahn investigates the military rituals in
the Wandervogel movement, restoring a sense of ideological continuity
between preand post-war German youth movements. More recent
histories covering the Hitlerjugend tend to focus on the larger question
as to whether the German population wilfully consented or actively
3
YOUTH MOVEMENT
HISTORIOGRAPHY- WHY DOES IT CHANGE WHY ARE PEOPLE INVESTED IN
PORTRAYING THIS DEBATE IN A CERTAIN WAY HOW DOES IT REFLECT
ATTITUDES?
How are you narrowing it down? Time scale? Are you just looking at the
wandervogel(define)?
The patriotism of the Wilhelmine Empire was seen as a clumsy attempt
to enforce some kind of national identity that lacked spiritual contents
and patriotism was therefore regarded as a good example of a template
that youth should not follow. However, the war would change this
https://blackboard.le.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-1642919-dt-content-rid-
4469363_2/courses/HS1100/ADRIAANSEN%20Wanderv%C3%B6gel
%20in%20Wartime%20Flanders%20in%20Travel%20Writing%20in
%20Dutch%20and%20German.%201790-1930.pdf
In the years following World War I, in stark contrast with the elite
character of the prewar Wandervogel movement, and under the
influence of international scouting movements that intentionally
recruited from the lower middle-classes, the German movements
gradually entered the domain of an emerging mass culture.43 This
corresponded with the emergence of a new organizational structure, the
Bünde (unions). These were nation-wide organizations consisting of local
groups that were largely autonomous. In contrast to the prewar
movements, these newly formed groups instigated a resolute move
, away from the individual reform philosophy of the bourgeois
Wandervogel movement, towards an ideology of communal life.44
Rather than seeing their gatherings as an ephemeral collection of free
individuals, its members now acknowledged lasting forces binding
together individualities in permanent group structures. This new sociality
of the Bünde was seen as an antidote to the anonymity and class
divisions of modern capitalist society. Throughout the 1920s, the Bünde
became increasingly organized, and while continuing the prewar
activities of hiking and camping, they now structured these communal
experiences around customs and rituals, which were often adopted from
other youth movements. Uniform dress code, an attribute that was
previously considered too militaristic, became common practice after the
adoption of the uniform blue shirts and red neckerchiefs of the Austrian
Rote Falken(red falcons) group. The strict discipline of the British Boy
Scouts also became a major influence: the Bünde took over the
commandments and the ‘good deeds’ from international Scoutism and
the Pfadfinder.45 Thus, while the German youth movement assumed a
more disciplined approach under this international influence, it also
invoked a more rigid communal spirit in overtly national terms.
Contrasting the free unregulated movements, unstructured dancing and
naturalist body culture of the Wandervogel, but retaining their sensibility
for folklore and intimacy, a more hierarchical understanding of
communal experience – based on discipline and a sense of duty towards
the collective – gained ground. It is under this influence that the Bünde
transformed the ephemeral camping practices cultivated by the
Wandervogel into well-prescribed customs and events: the weekly Fahrt
(short excursion), the yearly Groe Fahrt (a two week hiking trip) with the
Zeltlager (communal tent camp), and the rallies featuring sportive
competitions between the different Bünde became well-known and
popular activities in German public life. Walther Riem’s Deutsches
Lagerhandbuch(German Camp Guide), a three-volume pocket guide to
setting up and managing camps, reveals the increasingly important role
of youth camps in German society. The guide was aimed at all German
2
, youth organizations and describes in great detail the organization of
youth camping: the different kinds of camp layouts, tent forms and their
internal organization, communal facilities, kitchen logistics and sanitary
requirements, but also camp games and stories, knotting and bird-
watching, pedagogical and community building techniques, and so on.46
While being entirely recreational and festive, these social practices were
also disciplined, reproducible, and standardized, and they became
central to the operation of these movements throughout the 1920 and
early 1930s. During this period, many of the Bünde were motivated by a
rightwing völkische ideology – the idea that the German race was one
large community or Volksgemeinschaft (‘folk community’) transcending
existing party and class lines.47 Whether or not these youth movements
directly strengthened or partly resisted the rise of National Socialism is
beyond the scope of this article. SAY THE LAST LINE, THEN SAY, BUT
THESE PPL TALK ABOUT IT HERE
https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2008/SOC757/um/
CUPERS_Governing_through_nature.pdf
In his history of the German youth movement, Laqueur restricts his
periodization to the 1933 Gleichschaltung, thereby clearly dissociating
‘free’ youth movements from the totalitarian Hitlerjugend. In contrast,
Mosse traces the ideology of the Third Reich back to the early German
youth movements, which he sees as predecessors to the Nazi ideology.
Unlike Laqueur’s, Stachura’s history of the German youth comprises the
entire period 1900–1945, but in opposition to Mosse, he clearly
distinguishes the group loyalty of the 1920s Bündische JugPend from the
mass regimentation of the Hitlerjugend, thereby rejecting the former’s
role as precursor. Wolschke-Bulmahn investigates the military rituals in
the Wandervogel movement, restoring a sense of ideological continuity
between preand post-war German youth movements. More recent
histories covering the Hitlerjugend tend to focus on the larger question
as to whether the German population wilfully consented or actively
3
