Gustav Adolf Lenk (October 15, 1903 – 1987) was a German political activist. Lenk was the founder of the Youth League of the Nazi Party, the predecessor of the Hitler Youth.

Early life

Lenk was a trained piano polisher. On September 12, 1920, Lenk and his father attended a National-Socialist party meeting in Munich where Adolf Hitler gave a speech. He was captivated, but could not join the party at the time because he was younger than 18 years old. Lenk requested if he could start a youth organization that would be associated with the NSDAP, and the idea appealed to many and was allowed to be created. When Hitler, then chairman of the party, in a speech in December 1921 casually mentioned a possible youth organization, Lenk, now member of the party, came back to his idea. In March 1922 published in the party's newspaper was on Hitler's initiative ''

Völkischer Beobachter The ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (; "'' Völkisch'' Observer") was the newspaper of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 25 December 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from 8 February 1923. For twenty-four years it formed part of the official pub ...

''. The founding meeting of the Youth League on 13 May 1922 in

Bürgerbräukeller The Bürgerbräukeller (; "citizen brew cellar") was a large beer hall in Munich, Germany. Opened in 1885, it was one of the largest beer halls of the Bürgerliches Brauhaus. After Bürgerliches merged with Löwenbräu in 1921, the hall was tra ...

, Munich, Lenk began as a youth leader together with Adolf Hitler as a speaker. Initially limited to Munich, in 1922 more local groups were still being founded in Bavaria and central Germany and published their own newspapers.

German Youth Movement

After the unsuccessful

Beer Hall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and othe ...

in November 1923, the Youth League was banned in Germany just like the party, but was continued by Lenk under the name of the Patriotic Youth Association of Greater Germany. The Patriotic Youth Association of Greater Germany was then disbanded by officials because they believed that it was just a new name for the Nazi Youth League. Lenk was then imprisoned, and when he was released, he founded another group, the Greater German Youth Movement. He was then arrested again and sent to

Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a penal facility in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west-southwest of Munich and south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, a ...

, where he was released in December 1924. Lenk was released from prison at a similar time as Hitler, and shortly after Hitler's release, Hitler re-founded the Nazi Party. Lenk was hesitant of Hitler because he had declared himself undisputed leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, so he founded a new nationalist youth organization which was not affiliated with Hitler. In response, the Party spread rumors saying that Lenk was a traitor and a petty thief. This led to Lenk's downfall out of German youth movements. Kurt Gruber served as Lenk's successor as the youth organization's leader. After the establishment of the Hitler Youth in 1926, the party no longer recognized Lenk's organization as a precursor.

After the Youth Movement

In March 1932, Lenk met again at the party and became active in the SA. In 1941, working now in the SA national leadership in Berlin was expelled from the party because he had improperly taken the "

Blood Order The Blood Order (german: Blutorden), officially known as the "Decoration in Memory (of the Munich putsch) of 9 November 1923" (), was one of the most prestigious decorations in the Nazi Party (NSDAP). During March 1934, Hitler authorized the Bl ...

". A new membership application was unsuccessful.

Death

The only known fact about Lenk's death is that it occurred sometime in 1987.

Early life

German Youth Movement

After the Youth Movement

Death

References

Further reading