Original Item: Only One Available. This is an original German WWII period HJ fanfare trumpet, or Fanfarentrompete, in E-flat, marked by A. Brodbeck of Worms and complete with a 19" x 19" fringed HJ trumpet banner. Together they form an impressive display set of the type used by German youth organization marching and ceremonial units during the 1930s and WWII period.

The trumpet is constructed from brass with German silver fittings. It measures approximately 30" in overall length, and the bell measures approximately 5 7/8" in diameter.

The spun brass bell has a visible zipper style brazed side seam. It is cross braced to the main tubing and retains the oval bulb shaped ornamental fitting mounted near the bell. This fitting was a carryover from earlier straight fanfare trumpet designs and helped stabilize a suspended banner or pennant.

Two suspension rings are fitted for attachment of the included trumpet banner.

The trumpet is pitched in E-flat, one of the common keys encountered on German fanfare instruments. It has an adjustable leadpipe secured by a wing nut for tuning, although the leadpipe is currently frozen and should not be forced.

The upper surface of the bell is marked:

A. Brodbeck
Musik-Haus
Worms

This marking identifies the musical instrument business of A. Brodbeck in Worms as the maker or retailer.

The brass surfaces have developed an evenly oxidized and aged patina. The German silver fittings show a similarly attractive matured surface.

The bell displays several areas of damage, including dents and a visible bend. A tear extends through the rim wire and approximately 3/4" into the bell. Old solder is present in this area, most likely from an earlier attempted repair.

The attached HJ trumpet banner measures approximately 19" x 19" and is finished with 1 1/2" bullion fringe along the lower edge and both vertical sides.

The banner is constructed entirely from cotton using multiple pieces of fabric sewn together in the standard HJ design. It features a canted black mobile swas on a white diamond, superimposed over a red field with a white horizontal stripe through the center.

The banner is secured to the trumpet’s suspension rings by fabric ties, which remain in very good condition.

Overall banner condition is very good. It shows expected staining, age toning, handling wear, and light service use, but the design remains strongly defined and the bullion fringe is substantially intact.

With its 30" brass body, E-flat tuning, A. Brodbeck Worms marking, original suspension rings, distinctive spun bell construction, and complete 19" x 19" HJ fringed banner, this is a highly visual German youth organization musical display. The frozen leadpipe, bell dents, bend, rim tear, old solder repair, banner staining, and general age wear are fully disclosed. It would display particularly well in an HJ organization, German marching band, fanfare trumpet, period musical instrument, or WWII youth movement collection.

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 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.