On this day, 25 March 1939, the Nazis brought in a tougher new law forcibly conscripting all 10 to 18-year-olds into the Hitler Youth. But despite years spent trying to mould “national socialist” youths, thousands of working class young people formed gangs known as the “Edelweiss Pirates” to socialise and organise their own fun activities. They began to get into fights with Hitler Youth patrols and when the war started they conducted sabotage, slacked at work and began to help Jewish people, deserters and POWs. Some became partisans and launched armed attacks on Nazi officials. Some of them were executed, but many survived the war, where young workers slacking off continued to be a problem for the Allied occupiers.
We tell their story in our podcast episode 4, available on every major podcast app or our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/04/04/wch4-anti-nazi-youth-movements-in-world-war-ii/
Pictured: a group of Edelweiss Pirates https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1679743072210836/?type=3
