Early DAP Leadership: The Rise Of German Youth (NSDAP)

In the early twentieth century, youth groups tied to various political, social, and religious beliefs flourished throughout Germany. Many of these organizations, however, did not survive the turmoil that the country endured as the result of its overwhelming defeat in World War I. Those that did survive the war itself generally did not fare much better. So disillusioned were young Germans with the failings of their country in the Great War that they turned away almost en masse from the remnants of the youth organizations they had previously embraced. Believing that Germany’s future was in their hands, disaffected young people instead began turning to new youth groups, most of which were directly tied to the political ideologies and parties that

To the charismatic and ambitious Hitler, the country’s young people were the key to transforming Germany into a strong, united nation capable of dominating on the world stage. As Hitler’s power and influence in the DAP—which became known as the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) or Nazi Party in 1920—steadily increased, so too did his desire to reach young Germans. When he became the party’s chairman in 1921, one of his earliest moves was to create the first NSDAP youth organization, called the Jugendbund. Founded on March 8, 1922, the Jugendbund was aimed at popularizing Nazi ideals among the German youth. Other similar NSDAP youth groups were also formed during this period. In 1924, the Jugendbund, having survived the near-collapse of the NSDAP following the previous year’s disastrous Beer Hall Putsch by going underground, was renamed the Greater German Youth Movement. Two years later, the organization, by then the most popular NSDAP youth group, was chosen to be the official youth movement of the Nazi Party and was subsequently redubbed the Hitlerjugend, or Hitler