Kurt Gruber (21 October 1904 in Syrau,

Vogtland Vogtland (; ) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euroregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former leadershi ...

– 24 December 1943 in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

) was a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

politician and from 1926 to 1931 the first chairman of the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...

(''Hitler-Jugend'' or HJ).

Career

After the failed Beerhall Putsch in 1923, many groups from the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

Youth League continued to be led under assumed names. In the end, only one such group in

Plauen Plauen (; ; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany with a population of around 65,000. It is Saxony's 5th most populated city after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest cit ...

in the Vogtland along with its leader, Gruber, could keep itself running. Gruber managed to increase the group's membership. In 1926, through Gruber's efforts, a few such groups came together to form what was called the Greater German Youth Movement (''Großdeutsche Jugendbewegung'' or GDJB). This movement, which at first was confined to

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, was sheltered by the now – after

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's release from

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

Landsberg am Lech Landsberg am Lech (Landsberg at the Lech (river), Lech) is a Town#Germany, town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg (district), Lands ...

– re-established NSDAP. It was, however, still not a Party youth movement as such. After a short power struggle with the "Schilljugend", founded by Gerhard Roßbach, Gruber in the end prevailed and his Greater German Youth Movement became the Nazi Party's official youth organization. In July 1926, it was given the new name "Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth" (''"Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend"''). In October 1931, Gruber was "promoted sideways" to the NSDAP Reich Leadership (''Reichsführung''). He was replaced by Theodor Adrian von Renteln, the Reich Leader of the National Socialist Schoolchildren's League (''NS-Schülerbund''). Oliver Rathkolb and John Heath (trans.) "Baldur von Schirach: Nazi Leader and Head of the Hitler Youth", 2022. Gruber transferred into the NSDAP Reich Party Leadership and the SA's High Leadership. In 1939 he became NSDAP Gauamtsleiter ( Gau office leader) for Municipal Politics in the Gau of Saxony. He was moreover the sport leader for the Gau and the publisher of the

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

''NS-Gemeinde'' (National Socialist Community). His highest rank in the SA was

Standartenführer __NOTOC__ ''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...

. Gruber died on 24 December 1943 at the age 39 after having suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruber, Kurt 1904 births 1943 deaths People from the Kingdom of Saxony Nazi Party politicians Nazi Party officials Hitler Youth members