manlandsasinGermanyamongboysandyoungmenalike.⁹¹Itshouldalsobe
notedthatthecultofthereligiouslychargedmartyrdomandthepromisedoth-
erworldlyrewardswerenotaparticularspecialtyofOttomanpropaganda.⁹²In-
deed,dailyroutineofyoungboysinwartimeGermanyandtheOttomanEmpire
wasfarfromheroic.Forthedurationofthewar,thepreviouslyregularOGDand
BJDgatheringsceased,theirinstructorsweredraftedandtheboyssimplyhadto
work.Inruralareas,manyofthemhadtoassistinfarmingandmalehandcraft
wasneededintimeoftotalmobilization.⁹³
TheOsmanlıGençDernekleribetweenAppropriationand
Originality
TheOGDcanbeseenasadefiniteappropriationoftheGermanBJDintheOtto-
mancontext.⁹⁴IntheOttomanMinistryofWar,theGermanofficerHeinrichvon
HoffandSelimSırrıandtheirstaffworkedondevisingaprogrammeofparami-
litaryeducationof 12 – 17 year-oldboysbasedontheGermanexample.Hoffs
contributionstotheOGDMareastrongindicatorforthistransfer.However,
therewerealsolimitations.Hoffwasalreadyconfrontedwithseveraldifficulties
insummer1 916 .ThefinancialsituationoftheOttomanstatedidnotpermitany
generousfundingforthelocalOGDgroupsintheempire.⁹⁵Furthermore,theOt-
tomanadministrationcouldnotprovidereliablestatisticaldataregardingthe
numberofboysaged 12 – 17 intheOttomanterritory.Hoffpointedoutthisprob-
leminanarticle⁹⁶andtheresponsibledepartmentintheMinistryoftheInterior
ThisisalsoindicatedbyBeşikçi,TheOttomanMobilizationofManpower,2 15.
ForitsuseintheOttomanyouthorganizationscf.Cora,“Asker-VatandaşlarveKahramanEr-
kekler,” 65 .Forideason“Jungdeutschland’sheavenlyrealm”,i.e.thephantasyofakindofmili-
taryparadisewherethefallenyoungsoldierswhohadsacrificedthemselvesweregreetedby
FredericktheGreatandotherprominentGermancommandersseeOttovonGottberg,“Der
Krieg,”inScherlsJungdeutschland-Jahrbuch(Berlin:AugustScherl, 191 4), 398 – 401 ;especially
themilitaryʻWalhallaʼpictureonp.4 01.
KlausSaul,“JugendimSchattendesKrieges.VormilitärischeAusbildung-Kriegswirtschaft-
licherEinsatz-SchulalltaginDeutschland1 914 – 1918,”MilitärgeschichtlicheMitteilungen 2
(1983), 91 – 184 ,fortheOttomancaseseeAteş,AskerEvlatlarYetiştirmek,4 34 ;Akcan,İttihat
veTerakkiFırkası’nın,2 95.
Cf.Ateş,AskerEvlatlarYetiştirmek,29.
In 191 7intheofficialrecordsthereweremorethan 70 6localgroupsthroughouttheempire,
wherearoundaquarterofamillionboysaging 12 – 18 wereorganized.ZaferToprak,“İttihadve
Terakki’ninParamiliterGençlikÖrgütleri”[TheParamilitaryYouthOrganizationsoftheCommit-
teeofUnionandProgress],BogaziçiÜniversitesiBeseriBilimlerDergisi7( 19 79),1 13.
Hoff,“Nüfusunistatistiği”[PopulationStatistics],OGDM 1 – 3(1Teşrin-iSani 1333 /1 91 7), 8 – 9.
122 3German-Ottoman/TurkishCooperationintheMobilizationofYouth