![Berlin Flak Humboldthain 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Berlin_Flak_Humboldthain_1.jpg)
A ''Luftwaffenhelfer'', also commonly known as a ''Flakhelfer'', was any member of the
auxiliary
Auxiliary may refer to:
* A backup site or system
In language
* Auxiliary language (disambiguation)
* Auxiliary verb
In military and law enforcement
* Auxiliary police
* Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of ...
staff of the German ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Such terms often implied students
conscripted
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
as
child soldier
Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures.
Children in the military, includ ...
s.
Establishment
''Luftwaffenhelfer'' (literally, "air force assistants") were established on January 22, 1943, following implementation of the decree ''Kriegshilfseinsatz der Jugend bei der Luftwaffe'' ("Youth War Assistance Service in the Air Force"). The order called for drafting whole school classes of male students born in 1926 and 1927 into a military corps, supervised by
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
and ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' personnel. The draft was later extended to include 1928 and 1929 births. Deployment included ideological indoctrination by the Hitler Youth, military duties and limited continuation of the normal school curriculum, often by the original teachers.
While the official term was ''Luftwaffenhelfer (HJ)'', the term more commonly used is "''Flakhelfer''" (female: ''Flakhelferin'') (''
Flak
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
''-helper). The 1926–1929 births are commonly referred to as the "''Flakhelfer-Generation''". In German culture, the phrase is associated with the collective and incisive experience of being torn out of conventional adolescent life through circumstances of total war and being thrown into strict military service and extreme peril; in the final phase of the war, the antiaircraft batteries became preferred targets of Allied aircraft.
In August 1944, some 660,000 regular male soldiers and 450,000 female helpers (anti-aircraft personnel) in all departments served with the ''Luftwaffe'' within the 'auxiliary antiaircraft defense'. Many of the girls came from the ''
Bund Deutscher Mädel
The League of German Girls or the Band of German Maidens (german: Bund Deutscher Mädel, abbreviated as BDM) was the girls' wing of the Nazi Party youth movement, the Hitler Youth. It was the only legal female youth organization in Nazi Germany ...
'' (BDM), although they had to officially join the ''
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
'' because it was forbidden for
BDM members to do armed duty. In 1945, "''Flakhelferinnen''" and other female assistants were trained and allowed to carry weapons to defend themselves.
In Latvia
In April 1944 the Germans had requested the drafting of 7000 Latvian boys, aged 14–16, and 400 girls, all for service as Air Defense auxiliaries. However, the Self-Administration of Latvia refused and consented only to invite the youths to volunteer. As the situation at the
Eastern Front worsened, in June and July the Self-Administration did agree to draft boys born in 1927 and 1928. From July 28 to September 9, 4139 boys were enlisted, 525 of whom were volunteers.
Mangulis, V. Latvia in the Wars of the 20th Century. Chapter IX July 1941 to May 8, 1945
. Historia.lv.
Famous members
* Peter Alexander Peter Alexander may refer to:
* Pete Alexander (born Grover Cleveland Alexander; 1887–1950), American baseball player
* Peter Alexander (Shakespearean scholar) (1893–1969), professor of English language and literature at the University of Glasgo ...
(Austrian actor and singer)
* Bernhard Banaschewski (Mathematician, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada)
* Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...
(West German Minister of Foreign Affairs)
* Günter Guillaume
Günter Guillaume (1 February 1927 – 10 April 1995) was a German spy who gathered intelligence as an agent for East Germany's secret service, the Stasi, in West Germany. Guillaume became West German chancellor Willy Brandt's secretary, a ...
(West German chancellor Willy Brandt's secretary, whilst intelligence agent for East Germany's secret service)
* Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas (, ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere.
Associated with the Frankfurt School, Habermas's wor ...
(German sociologist and a philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism)
* Dieter Hildebrandt
Dieter Hildebrandt (23 May 1927 – 20 November 2013) was a German Kabarett artist.
Biography
Hildebrandt was born in Bunzlau, Lower Silesia, Weimar Germany (now Boleslawiec, Poland) where he attended school. In World War II he became a Fla ...
(German Kabarett artist)
* Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann (; ; December 8, 1927 – November 6, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and a prominent thinker in systems theory.
Biography
Luhmann was born in Lüneburg, Free State of Prussia, where his father's fa ...
(German sociologist, a prominent thinker in sociological systems theory)
* Dieter Noll
Dieter Noll (31 December 1927 – 6 February 2008) was a German writer. His best known work is the two volume novel ''Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt'' from the early 1960s which had sold over two million copies by his death. The work was filmed i ...
author of ''Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt
''Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt'' (''The Adventures of Werner Holt'') is a novel in two parts by East German author Dieter Noll. The first volume was released at 1960 and the second in 1963. Noll won the National Prize of East Germany for the b ...
''
* Joseph Ratzinger
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
(Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
)
* Manfred Rommel
Manfred Rommel (24 December 1928 – 7 November 2013) was a German politician belonging to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served as mayor of Stuttgart from 1974 until 1996. Rommel's policies were described as tolerant and liberal, an ...
(German politician and son of Erwin Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
; mayor of Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
)
* Walter Sedlmayr
Walter Sedlmayr (6 January 1926 – 14 July 1990) was a popular German stage, television, and film actor from Bavaria. His murder in 1990 was widely publicized.
Career
After his 1945 wartime ''Abitur,'' Sedlmayr served as a '' Flakhelfer'' to ...
(German stage, television, and film actor)
* Wilhelm Volkert
Wilhelm may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm"
* Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
Other uses
* Moun ...
(German historian)
* Udo Walendy
Udo Walendy (21 January 1927 – 17 November 2022) was a German author, soldier, and Holocaust denier. Like Gerd Schultze-Rhonhof, he disputed Germany's guilt for the Second World War.
Life
Walendy was born in Berlin on 21 January 1927. .
Tow ...
(German author and publisher)
* Hans Günter Winkler
Hans Günter Winkler (; 24 July 1926 – 9 July 2018) was a German show jumper. He is the only show jumper to have won five Olympic gold medals and a total of seven Olympic medals, and to compete and win medals in six different Olympic Games. In ...
(German Olympic equestrian)
* Paul Wunderlich
Paul Wunderlich (10 March 1927 in Eberswalde – 6 June 2010 in Saint-Pierre-de-Vassols) was a German painter, sculptor and graphic artist. He designed Surrealist paintings and erotic sculptures. He often created paintings which referred to ...
(German painter, draftsman, sculptor and graphic artist)
References
See also
* ''Luftwaffe'' personnel structure
{{Authority control
Military history of Germany during World War II
Hitler Youth
Children in the military