Girls of the Third Reich
Tim Heath, author of Hitler’s Girls, explores the youth parties for girls and young women that underpinned the National Socialist doctrine
The philosophy that youth forms the very foundation of a society was exploited fully by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party upon their seizure of power in Germany in 1933. While females were always viewed as a subservient tool to the predominantly male-dominated German community of National Socialism, as WWII progressed their role would be subsequently redefined owing to the various social and tactical necessities of the war.
When Hitler came to power in 1933 the Hitler Youth for boys, Jungmadel Bund for girls aged from 10 to 14 and Bund Deutscher Madel for girls aged 14 to 18 soon became compulsory. The girls and women of Nazi Germany offer a misrepresented and largely ignored area of study.
It was after a chance meeting at the German Military Cemetery at Cannock Chase in the winter of 1997 with a woman who, as a young girl, had been a member of the female Hitler Youth or BDM, that I was inspired to write a book. It was intended to portray what it was like to be a young female in Nazi Germany from the rise of the Hitler to the final cataclysmic defeat of 1945. That book was released by Pen & Sword and is one of a series on living in Hitler’s Germany.
Kirsten Eckermann was the former BDM girl I had met at Cannock. She had been born and raised in the city of Berlin. She came from what she described as a poor, working class background. She explained, “After
WWI and Versailles my parents suffered intolerable hardship while the political parties fought amongst themselves. Anarchy and depression followed and the poor and working classes suffered. The rich appeared to be unaffected and many of them left Germany to live out the depression elsewhere, some returning after Hitler came to power in 1933. My parents had very little and in turn neither did us children. I often had to go to school in bare feet as once my shoes wore out my parents couldn’t afford to buy me more. All we
wanted was some coal to keep warm and some food in our stomachs. It is no wonder my parents’ generation craved for something better and were subsequently seduced by what Hitler and the Nazis were offering.”
Kirsten joined the BDM under the new laws and her grandparents paid for her uniform. She did very well within the organisation, earning various BDM proficiency clasps and certificates along the way. In the years that followed, though, she was to witness death and destruction on an ever-increasing scale.
Anna Dann was another young girl from Berlin’s Mitte, or central, district. Her two brothers, Franz and Josef, had enrolled into the Luftwaffe as Flak gun crew. She said, “I loved my brothers and they doted on me and they gave me the nickname ‘Tiny’. I joined the Jungmadel Bund and BDM which, early on in the war, was not bad at all. We were taken on summer camps into the forests, we swam in the rivers, did gymnastics and marched, singing our patriotic songs, while carrying our banners. We felt as if we were a part of something new and we felt independent of the old Germany and the old values. Of course, the Nazis were violent and achieved their aims through intimidation, murder and violence. Jews that we used to know, who owned shops, just vanished overnight, as did Jewish teachers in our schools. Soon they were all gone and we wondered where they had gone. I heard rumours of death camps – were they true? At the time I did not know as I had not seen any. Only at the war’s end was the truth revealed about the regime that we had supported.”
Anna’s two brothers ensured that Anna and their parents were smuggled out of Berlin prior to the Soviet encirclement. They later surrendered to western Allied forces.
As work on the book progressed, more contributors from Germany, France and the USA made contact:
Anita Von Schoener, Theresa Moelle, Helga Bassler, Martina Schmidt, Wiener Katte and more.
By bringing Germany’s youth under control of the three main Hitler Youth organisations the Nazis were able skilfully to indoctrinate them with the poison of National Socialism.
Their minds were full of anti-Semitic propaganda which blamed lesser races for Germany’s misfortunes. Jews, in particular, were singled out for causing many of Germany’s problems. The
Nazis worked hard to ensure that the girls understood the reasoning behind blood purity. The morals and ideals of their elders were soon eroded. As the boys aspired to become soldiers, the girls were dissuaded from thoughts of ambition and education. In effect they were reminded that their role was to be that of housekeepers, wives and childbearers, totally subservient to their menfolk. It was only with Germany’s declining fortunes in WWII that the role of young girls and women began to evolve to that of a more militaristic one. Kirsten explained, “By the end of 1943 the carefree days of patriotism had waned. We were being attacked from the air, by day and night. The summer camps where we practised fitness, gymnastics, swam in the lakes and rivers, built fires, marched and sang had all but gone. The skills we had been taught meant that now we could play an active role within the military and help the war effort.
“Soon young girls and women were
being taught how to operate range finding equipment for the Flak batteries around our cities, how to operate radar systems, man the searchlights and being taught how to use various weapons and smallarms.”
Many of these changes Kirsten talks of were endorsed and implemented by the Hitler Youth leadership, though many would deny such involvement after the war. The girls were also allocated to roles such as helping to treat wounded civilians and soldiers, fire-fighting and to feed and care for those made homeless by the bombing.
As the Red Army approached
Berlin from the east the Hitler Youth, Jungmadel Bund and BDM were instructed in sabotage techniques and formed into what became known as Werewolf Groups. The Werewolf Groups would operate alongside the Volkssturm (People’s Storm) which was a kind of people’s militia. Every able-bodied man, woman and child was expected to mobilise for the defence of German territory. It was a desperate and futile measure that would needlessly sacrifice thousands.
With the Red Army approaching Berlin, no German could have been under any illusion as to what was going to happen. Girls and women captured during and after the fall of Berlin were often subjected to the most appalling cruelty. Rape, beatings and abuse were almost arbitrary at the hands of an merciless enemy.
German girls as young as eight were
not spared the horrific abuse. It is no wonder many have chosen to remain silent over the years.
Hitler’s Girls exposes the darkness of the Third Reich, revealing how Germany’s females were raised, their education both within and outside of the Jungmadel Bund and BDM and their activities, which included meetings and conversations with leading figures within the Third Reich, including Hitler himself. Hitler’s Girls: Doves Amongst Eagles was released in 2017 and was followed by In Hitler’s Shadow: Post War Germany & The Girls of the BDM in 2018, also by Pen & Sword Books Ltd.
The collecting angle
For those wishing to invest in collectables associated with the Jungmadel Bund and BDM there is a wide range of material available. Items such as personal photographs, uniforms, documents, tinnies, award badges and their associated documentation are all available but prices are now high. As with any
Third Reich field of collecting, a sound knowledge of the subject matter is essential as the market has been flooded with fake material of every kind over the years. The best way to source material is via one of the many reputable dealers who will guarantee the authenticity of their stock.
In the photographs there are a few examples of items gifted to me by some of the former BDM members. The two German decorations illustrated were awarded in an unofficial context to BDM girl Wiener Katte. Wiener was in Aachen during the battle for the city in 1944. She was 15 at the time and had been assigned to a medical aid post in the city, where she assisted with basic surgery and first aid, helping soldiers and civilians alike. On countless occasions as the battle raged she was sent out to collect supplies and deliver messages, often under heavy fire.
When the city was finally taken by American forces a German officer arrived to instruct everyone to comply with all Allied wishes. He then presented Wiener with a small paper packet and a pencil-written note.
The officer explained that it may be impossible to have her awards ratified as the war was now over for them in Aachen but he would do his best to report her bravery and devotion which had helped save the lives of many of his men and indeed civilians within the city. When Wiener later looked inside the small packet she discovered that enclosed within was a coveted Iron Cross 2nd Class and a War Merit Cross 2nd Class, the ribbons neatly folded within the packet. The pencil-written note reiterated what the officer had told Wiener. Sadly she explained that the fragile note had perished years ago but she kept the two awards, never having worn them.
For those collectors of Iron Crosses it is interesting to note that Wiener’s Iron Cross 2nd Class is maker-stamped ‘122’ on its suspension ring, indicating the maker J.J Stahl of Austria. The War Merit Cross 2nd Class (without swords) is maker-stamped ‘65’ indicating the maker Klein & Quenzer, Germany.
The brass Russian 7.62mm Mosin Nagant rifle cartridge was one picked up by BDM girl Theresa Moelle. Theresa had been active during the fighting and used a Panzerfaust to destroy a Russian tank. She was later captured after a
struggle with Russian soldiers during which her friend was raped and killed. The cigarette tin was one discarded by an Allied soldier and has his initial scratched into its lid.
The Hitler Youth Striefendienst
SRD certificate is a rare item. The Streifendienst was a form of internal police unit that reported to the Gestapo. They were in charge of policing the Hitler Youth for boys and girls, ensuring that any misconduct was reported to the authorities. They also acted as informants reporting on anyone considered to be nonconformist or Anti-Nazi. Both boys and girls could enrol in the SRD and their affiliations with the SS meant that most SRD members went on to join the ranks of the SS as camp guards, soldiers or in other clerical duties.
The certificate in the photographs is a form of health certificate required prior to joining the SRD. A birth date, family name and address appear but the name of the actual recipient is not clear. The date indicates that he or she would have been 15 years of age at the date of issue. The certificate has been signed by an SS Untersturmfuhrer of the supplementary office of the Waffen
SS and the Hitler Youth leader for the district of Emmendingen-731. This
SRD certificate was another item gifted to me by one of the former BDM girls during the writing of Hitler’s Girls.
There is a continued fascination with the Third Reich today to the point where there is a fine line between collection and glorification. If we are to understand the emergence of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party then we must also understand the social history prior to that era. Germany’s defeat in WWI, the hated Versailles Treaty which followed, coupled with social and economic depression and political in-fighting made Germany ripe for exploitation by extreme political elements.
The fact that Hitler’s regime was prepared to sacrifice its nation’s most valuable resource, its women and children, is not altogether unique. What is ironic is the gravity of suffering many would later experience for supporting what they had initially believed would be their salvation.