withtheorganizationoftheWürttembergJugendwehr,whowoulddedicatehim-
selftothesamedeedsinTurkey.”⁷¹
TheWürttembergrepresentativewasnottheonlypersonthatwasfamiliarto
HofffromStuttgart.TheviceheadoftheOttomanGeneralStaff,FriedrichBron-
sartvonSchellendorf,hadbeentheformercommanderoftheGrenadierRegi-
mentʻQueenOlga’(1stWürttembergian)No. 119 from 1912 totheendof 1913 .⁷²
HoffthusalreadyhadanimportantcontactoutsidetheOttomanauthorities,
whichwasimportantforhisworksincehewasnotamemberoftheofficialGer-
manmilitarymissionintheOttomancapital.
ThecollaborationbetweenvonHoffandSelimSırrıseemedfruitfulinthe
beginning.HoffanalyzedthestatusofOGDandwroteaproposalofaprelimina-
rylawregardingitscoerciveorganization.⁷³Hoff’sideaswerethereafterputinto
practiceimmediatelyon24April 1916 .Olderboyseligibleforservicecouldbe
forcedtojointheOGDgatheringsandtraining,butgainedadvantagefrom
theirpreviousOGDmembershipwhentheyenteredtheregulararmy.Younger
boyswerealsocoercedintojoiningOHDgatherings,inpracticeoftenthrough
theuseoflocalpoliceforces.
ThebestdocumentationoftheinstitutionalizedcooperationoftheGerman
andtheOttomansidewastheOGDperiodicalthatcontainedarticlesbyHoffand
hisstaffofOttomanofficers.Forthisreason,itdeservescloseranalysiswithre-
gardtotheknowledgethatwastransferredtotheOttomanlands.Beyondover-
viewarticlesoncomprehensivetopicsrelatedtothewar,thetrainingandteach-
ingofboysmadeupalargepartoftheircontent.⁷⁴Inadditiontothemilitary
authorities,manygovernorsandlocalstaterepresentativessubscribedtothe
OGDMecmuası.⁷⁵It wasalsoreadbyteachersfrom smalltownandrural
areas.Asawayofpromotingtheperiodical,Hoffandhisstaffalsomadeuse
oftheofficialchannelsoftheOttomancivilauthoritiesinordergenerateenthu-
siasmfortheorganizationandspreaditsideastoeverycorneroftheempire.⁷⁶As
oneoftheperiodical’sfigureheads,HeinrichvonHoff’sarticlesusuallyfigured
KarlvonUrach,“TätigkeitimOsmanischenReich, 1915 – 17 ,”HStAStuttgartGU 12 0BÜ108,
n.p.
[Karl]Imhoff,“NotizenüberdeutscheMilitärmissioneninderTürkei,“70.
Cf.Hoff’snotesinHStAStgtM660/1 15 Nr.5,1–38,Anonymous,GençDernekleriHakkında
Kanun-ıMuvakkatveTalimatname[ProvisionalLawandGuidelinesregardingtheYouthAssoci-
ation],(Istanbul:Matbaa-ıAskeriye,1 33 2/1916).Cf.Beşikçi,TheOttomanMobilizationofMan-
power,2 36.
Ateş,AskerEvlatlarYetiştirmek,4 05.
Cf.letterfromAsımBeytoHoff, 15 November 191 7.HStAStgtM660/1 15 Nr.55.
OnthedistributionseeBOADH.UMVM.Do 150 Gö 41 andBOAMF.MKT.Do 1224 Gö 96.
118 3German-Ottoman/TurkishCooperationintheMobilizationofYouth