Did you ever hear about the Edelweiss Pirates? They were loose bands of renegade youths during the Nazi era in Germany,objecting to the harsh drill of the Hitler Youth.Some of them were outright Hitler Youth drop-outs,others came from the "Bundische Jugend" (a scout-like movement),whiich had been a melting pot for young people with very different backgrounds before Hitler took power.Those kids were`nt exactly left-wing or politically conscious resistance in any way,though most of them were working-class kids.With conditions in Germany deteriorating through the war,they found more and more loopholes in the system,especially in the big cities alongside the Rhine river.Living in bombed-out houses,stealing and looting goods from freight trains and defending themselves against the Gestapo,Hitler Youth and normal police with knives and guns they made a miserable but Nazi-free living.What you see with the Edelweiss Pirates is a strange mix of pre-beat Hippiedom,traits of an autonomous youth culture(they even styled a certain look to recognize each other!),political resistance and dare devil mentality.In the end there must have been thousands of them.They had to pay heavily for their dissent.Many of them were tortured by the Gestapo,sent to concentration camp-like compounds,and even killed.On October 27th,1944,for instance,eleven of then were hanged by the Nazis in Cologne,the youngest being 16.Normal people despised then as criminals,cranks, and they had very few friends beside their own kind.After the war this perception of the Edelweiss Pirates didn`t change substantially,and I know of only one small plaque in Cologne reminding of them(especially of the hanging).
I think one reason why they`re loooked upon with contempt and suspicion is that they made everybody else look so bad.They were only kids and yet they confronted people like Heinz Schmitz,The Gestapo Chief of Cologne,who for all the terror he inflicted on others was sentenced to one year and seven months in prison(served 1yr 2mnths).
Maybe the Edelweiss Pirates used tactics we would frown upon under normal conditions.Maybe they just had nothing to lose.Yet they were brave to an almost unbelievable extent.And I think they deserve respect from what they did.
This is my first post on this forum.I hope some of you find it interesting. It certainly brought tears to my eyes. What do you think?
Regards Jerry.
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A great first post, Jerry! Welcome to the boards
I don't suppose you'd like to write a short history of them (<2000 words) for our history page would you? Or know of such a text which exists already?
www.enrager.net/history