Item:
ONSV23NAS80

Original German WWII Named USGI Bring Back Large HJ National Youth Organization 46" x 90" Flag Captured During Battle of Cologne, March 1945

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice "service worn" example of a WWII German Large HJ National Youth Association, which really looks like it has "been there"! The flag measures approximately 46" x 90", and is a double sided multi-piece design. Each side has a different HJ diamond with a dyed swas (hook cross), attached to the three piece body of the flag. These flags would have been flown during parades or during battle, and this example was retrieved during the Battle of Cologne, which took place Mar 5, 1945 – Mar 7, 1945. One side has a clear note written by the soldier that brought it back:

TAKEN-IN THE-BATTLE
OF
COLOGNE - MARCH
BY          1945
P.F.C. RICHARD. E. WROBLEWSKI

Some quick research online showed there to be only one Richard E. Wroblewski in the NARA database: ASN 35905991. He was born in St. Joseph County, Indiana, and enlisted as a Private in the U.S. Army in Indianapolis on August 4, 1944. Per his obituary he served 1944-1946, and would have been one of many reinforcements sent to Europe during early 1945.

The flag shows tears and damage from use, and has staining to the fabric consistent with use outdoors. There are also some repairs to the end hem, which look to have been field made during the war. "Worn" items such as these were often overlooked by USGI's bringing back mementos, so they are somewhat harder to find.

A genuine WW2 German HJ Youth flag in this condition with some great provenance is unlikely to be encountered again anytime soon! Comes ready to research and display!

The Battle of Cologne was part of Operation Lumberjack and refers to the Allied advance that took place from 5 to 7 March 1945, which led to the capture of the western German city of Cologne (Köln). By that point the city had endured years of bombing and had mostly been destroyed, with only about 20,000 inhabitants of the pre-war 800,000 still living in the city. It was not heavily defended, and the only major engagement involved a single German Panther Tank near the Train station. It was defeated, and the city taken, though unfortunately German forces were able to destroy the Hohenzollern Bridge over the Rhine.

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.

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