“TheideawasborninGermanSouthwestAfrica[...]tomaketheGermanyouthhealthyand
strong,willingtomakesacrificesandreadytohelp[...][and]alsotogivewillinglythelast
blooddropforthemagnitudeandthehonorofthefatherland.”¹⁶Soon,aGermanBoyScoutmovementanditsmoreparamilitaryversion,the
Wehrkraftmovement,grew.Thesegroupswereagrass-rootmovementthator-
ganizedamongtheurbanmiddleandupperclassboysandwereoftenledby
teachersoryoungmilitaryofficersintheirleisuretime.Itwasclearthatthe
statemonitoredthosegroupswithfavouranddistrustatthesametime,since
therealreadyexistedamoreindependentmovement(Wandervogel,Bündische
Jugend)andaSocialDemocratworkersyouthoutsidethecontrolofthestate.
Withthe 1908 Imperiallawonassociations,thestatehadissuedabanonthe
admissionofmembersundertheageof18intopoliticalassociations.¹⁷Theau-
thoritieswereawarethatsuchmovementshadtobecounteredbyastate-spon-
soredyouthassociation.In 1910 theemperorWilhelmIIstatedinasidenoteofa
reportaboutsuchstate organizationsinotherEuropean countries:“Finally
somethinglikethathastobedone[inGermany]also,otherwiseallboyswill
becontaminatedwithsocialism.”¹⁸
TheBundJungdeutschland(BJD)
In 1910 thereweremanyreasonsforwhytheideaofacentralyouthorganization
understatecontrolwaspopular.Inadditiontotheinteriorfactorsmentioned
above,thereexistednoschoolfortheapprenticesbetweenthemiddleschool
andtheirmilitaryservice.Thisincreasedfearsamongconservativesthatthe
youthcouldnolongerbeindoctrinated.¹⁹ThebeginningofthecrisisofGerman
foreignpolicythatclimaxedintheAgadirincidentin 1911 andtheBalkanWars
in1912/ 13 hadadirectimpactontheGermanarmamentpolicy.²⁰ForColmarvon
Lion,DiePfadfinder-undWehrkraftbewegung,15etseq.
Cf.HeinrichMuth,“JugendpflegeundPolitik:ZurJugend-undInnenpolitikdesKaiser-
reichs,”GeschichteinWissenschaftundUnterricht 12 (1961), 597 – 61 9.
QuotedafterMarkusIngenlath,MentaleAufrüstung:MilitarisierungstendenzeninFrankreich
undDeutschlandvordemErstenWeltkrieg(Frankfurt:Campus,1998), 12 4.
Cf.GeorgKerschensteiner,“ZwischenSchuleundWaffendienst,”inWehrkraftdurchErzie-
hung,ed.EmilvonSchenckendorffetal.(Leipzig:R.Voigtländer,1904), 239 – 25 5;KlausSaul,
“DerKampfumdieJugendzwischenVolksschuleundKaserne:EinBeitragzur‘Jugendpflege’
imWilhelminischenReich 1890 – 191 4,”MilitärgeschichtlicheMitteilungen1( 1971 ), 97 – 143.
StigFörster,DerdoppelteMilitarismus:DiedeutscheHeeresrüstungspolitikzwischenStatus-
Quo-SicherungundAggression, 1890 – 1913 (Stuttgart:Steiner,1 98 5), 18 7.
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