Original Item: Only One Available. This is an extensive original German WWII HJ Youth uniform mannequin display associated through its insignia with Bann 565, Spittal an der Drau, Kärnten. The ensemble includes a lightweight tan shirt, black shorts, belt and buckle, cross strap, neckerchief and slide, armband, shoulder strap, leadership lanyard, several membership and proficiency badges, footwear, and a full-size mannequin. Many of the individual components retain original labels or RZM tags, making this an especially interesting assembled display of period HJ Youth clothing and insignia.

The included mannequin measures approximately 74½ inches tall and is fitted with a support positioned behind one foot, allowing the complete uniform to stand independently for display.

This is a very nice German WWII HJ National Youth organization uniform set from the district of Südoft Kärnten, complete with shirt, shorts, belt with buckle, a DJ pin, an HJ  sharpshooter pin, a tie, cord, and armband. The set comes with the mannequin, which measures 74 ½” inches tall. There is even a stand behind one foot, so it will stand on its own without issue. There were several styles of uniforms utilized by the HJ, and this example has a lightweight tan shirt and black shorts. The shoulder strap is marked with Bann number 565 and company number 9, with a Red & White leadership lanyard attached to the left shoulder. The shoulder strap insignia have no pips, denoting Hi**erjunge (Soldat).

The uniform also has an HJ Proficiency pin and a HJ Youth Shooting Proficiency Marksman's Badge attached to the front, along with a DJ pin. There is an Edelweiss flower badge on the collar. The uniform has the correct Südoft / Kärnten district triangle on the left shoulder. This uniform looks to have been used when the owner was still in the D J organization for younger boys.

The uniform set is outfitted with the correct maker marked plated steel buckle, as well as a leather cross strap. Around the neck is the correct HJ Scarf / Kerchief, with a leather scarf knot, and a great RZM tag attached. The HJ armband on the left sleeve also has an RZM tag, but has some tearing and damage as shown. Many of the items still have their original labels and RZM tags. The boots may not be HJ issue, but everything else appears to be. The boots are in good shape overall with heavy leather wear with the laces retained. Complete HJ Uniforms sets like this are very difficult to find, and this is one of the very few that we have ever been able to offer. 

The HJ Youth developed an extensive territorial hierarchy incorporating Gebiete, Banne, Stämme, Gefolgschaften, Scharen, and Kameradschaften. A Bann was a substantial regional formation encompassing several subordinate units rather than simply the equivalent of a military regiment. Bann numbers therefore served primarily as territorial identifiers, and surviving records identify Bann 565 with Spittal an der Drau in Kärnten.

The National Socialist youth movement developed from several early party-sponsored organizations during the 1920s. The organization formally known as the HJ-Jugend emerged in 1926 and expanded dramatically after the National Socialists took power in 1933. The Deutsches Jungvolk served as its junior organization for boys, while older male youths entered the HJ proper. The organizations were increasingly brought under state control during the 1930s and were used for political indoctrination, physical training, pre-military preparation, and wartime auxiliary duties.

This ensemble is particularly notable for the concentration of surviving original components associated with Bann 565, Spittal an der Drau, Kärnten, including the territorial shoulder insignia and Südost / Kärnten triangle, together with the uniform clothing, belt equipment, RZM-tagged scarf and armband, and period proficiency insignia. The red-and-white Kameradschaftsführer lanyard, DJ badge, and other individual components indicate that the display incorporates insignia representing different aspects or stages of the National Socialist youth organizations, and they should not be interpreted as proof that the entire ensemble was issued or worn together exactly as presently configured. Preserved as an assembled period mannequin display, however, it provides an unusually comprehensive representation of HJ Youth uniform material from wartime Kärnten.

AH believed German youth to be the future of his 3rd Reich. The HJ AH Jugend or HJ) was formed officially in 1935, and with the exception of NSDAP ideology indoctrination was very similar to the Boy Scouts. Beginning at about the age of ten years, both boys (AH Jugend) and girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel) were enlisted in the Party-run organization. The The Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ) was the junior branch of the HJ, for boys aged 10 to 14.

History of the HJ German National Youth Organization:
In 1922, the Munich-based NSDAP established its official youth organization called Jugendbund der NSDAP. It was announced on 8 March 1922 in the Völkischer Beobachter, and its inaugural meeting took place on 13 May the same year. Another youth group was established in 1922 as the Jungsturm Adolf “AH”. Based in Munich, Bavaria, it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the main paramilitary wing of the NSDAP Party at that time.

One reason the HJ so easily developed was that regimented organizations, often focused on politics, for young people and particularly adolescent boys were a familiar concept to German society in the Weimar Republic. Numerous youth movements existed across Germany prior to and especially after World War I. They were created for various purposes. Some were religious and others were ideological, but the more prominent ones were formed for political reasons, like the Young Conservatives and the Young Protestants. Once AH came onto the revolutionary scene, the transition from seemingly innocuous youth movements to political entities focused on AH was swift.

Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch (in November 1923), NSDAP youth groups ostensibly disbanded, but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names. In April 1924, the Jugendbund der NSDAP was renamed Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung (Greater German Youth Movement). On 4 July 1926, the Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung was officially renamed HJ Bund der deutschen Arbeiterjugend (HJ League of German Worker Youth). This event took place a year after the NSDAP Party was reorganised. The architect of the re-organization was Kurt Gruber, a law student from Plauen in Saxony.

After a short power struggle with a rival organization—Gerhard Roßbach's Schilljugend—Gruber prevailed and his "Greater German Youth Movement" became the NSDAP Party's official youth organisation. In July 1926, it was renamed H -Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend ("H” Youth, League of German Worker Youth") and, for the first time, it officially became an integral part of the SA. The name H -Jugend was taken up on the suggestion of Hans Severus Ziegler. By 1930, the Hjugend (HJ) had enlisted over 25,000 boys aged 14 and upward. They also set up a junior branch, the Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ), for boys aged 10 to 14. Girls from 10 to 18 were given their own parallel organization, the League of German Girls (BDM).

In April 1932, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the H Youth movement in an attempt to stop widespread political violence. However, in June, Brüning's successor as Chancellor, Franz von Papen, lifted the ban as a way of appeasing “AH”, the rapidly ascending political star. A further significant expansion drive started in 1933, after Baldur von Schirach was appointed by H as the first Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader). All youth organizations were brought under Schirach's control.

With the surrender of NSDAP Germany in 1945, the organization de facto ceased to exist. On 10 October 1945, the Youth and its subordinate units were outlawed by the Allied Control Council along with other NSDAP Party organizations. Under Section 86 of the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany, the H Youth is an "unconstitutional organization" and the distribution or public use of its symbols, except for educational or research purposes, is illegal.