Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-633-3822-05A, Flakhelfer am Horchgerät

A ''Luftwaffenhelfer'', also commonly known as a ''Flakhelfer'', was any member of the auxiliary 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-Fliegerabt ...

'' 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. 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 und ...

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, inclu ...

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 ''

'' 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'' (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 previo ...

'' 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 wo ...

(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 ...

(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 The Adven ...

author of '' Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt'' *

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 soverei ...

(

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 sovereig ...

) * Manfred Rommel (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 Sw ...

) *

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 (German historian) * Udo Walendy (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)

Establishment

In Latvia

Famous members

References

See also