Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1988-106-21,_Braunschweig,_Akademie_für_Jugendführung

Braunschweig HJ-Akademie Ehrenhalle von Suedosten (2006)

The Academy for Youth Leadership (german: Akademie für Jugendführung) was a

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. ...

(HJ) leadership school in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

. It was the highest

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

training facility for the training of full-time junior executives for Hitler Youth during the Nazi era. It was built between 1937 and 1939. Today, the Braunschweig College for Adult Education and the Abendgymnasium Braunschwieig are housed in this building. Any "Hitler Youth who is above reproach in terms of descent, health, performance, and behavior" was eligible for the one-year academy course if he had completed his labor and military service and had already taken some leadership courses. Successful completion of the academy course obligated the graduate to twelve years of HJ service. The academy had little effect because the war began soon after its founding.

Conception and history

The decision to build the Academy for Youth Leadership was based on the desire of the Nazi leaders to fill the senior leadership of Hitler Youth with a trained leadership corps of professional youth leaders between the ages of 23 and 35, to institutionalize the recruitment of young talent and to develop a career in the Hitler Youth into one's full career. Therefore, the academy was at the head of the HJ training system, which consisted in part of ''Reichsführer'' schools, ''Reichsführer'' camps, and leadership preparation 'factories' (''Führerschulungswerke'' - discussion and study groups designed to improve HJ leaders' abilities) in the years after the so-called seizure of power. The training order for the ''Führer'' Corps was issued on 18 February 1938. The one-year training at the academy was intended to cover all youth leadership responsibilities. In addition to sports and fitness, it encompassed knowledge regarding political, economic, and cultural life in addition to the natural sciences, though exclusively in propagandistic and educational use in service of the

Nazi ideology Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

such as

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

and

racial hygiene The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

from Nazi leadership's point of view. To give graduates an appropriately international appearance,

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at schoo ...

s and dance classes were also included in the

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

. Applicants had to document their

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

descent with an ''Ariernachweis'' (certification of Aryan descent) and have either passed the ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' (exam to graduate high school) or have completed

vocational training Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

. After the year at the academy, three weeks had to be spent working in industry and six months spent abroad before registering for the final exam. If it was successfully passed. the pupil would be given the Youth Leader's License (''Jügendführer-Patent'') with a leader's dagger (''Führerdolch'') and become a ''Bannführer'' (battalion leader) in the Hitler Youth. However, this concept was never fully realized. The first course began on 20 April 1939 in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

before being moved to Braunschweig. Less than four weeks after the academy was opened on 2 August 1939, with the first class of 87 pupils, the

Second World War 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 ...

began with the

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

. Almost all students and teachers were given draft orders, and the academy program quickly came to a halt. Between 1940 and 1942, the vacant rooms were used by 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 - League of German Girls), first for courses offered by the BDM Faith and Beauty Society, and later for those of the BDM junior leaders. In 1942, 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 ...

'' (Nazi military) seized the buildings to be used as a

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...

. After youth leader

Baldur von Schirach Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who is best known for his role as the Nazi Party national youth leader and head of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. He later served as ''Gauleiter'' and ''Re ...

expressed an urgent desire for the Academy's release, provisional five-month courses occurred in November 1942. The students were now former HJ leaders that were disabled in the war. The teaching operation lasted until 12 April 1945 when troops of the 30th Infantry Division Marched into the city.

Commanders

* Kurt Petter, 16 August 1938 until the beginning of the war * Ernst Schlünden, immediately after the beginning of the war until 1 July 1942 * Kurt Budäus, 1 July 1942 until 10 October 1944

Bibliography

*Christian Zentner, Friedemann Bedürftig (1991). ''

The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' is a two-volume text edited by and , first published in German in 1985. ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' is leading source material for information about Nazi Germany and the reign of Adolf Hitler a ...

''. Macmillan, New York. *A. Ponzio, ''Shaping the New Man. Youth Training Regimes in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany'', Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Academy for Youth Leadership Education in Nazi Germany Buildings and structures in Braunschweig History of Brunswick Nazi architecture 20th century in Lower Saxony Hitler Youth

Conception and history

Commanders

See also

Bibliography

References