theGermancommunity.ItsactivitieswereunderthesurveillanceoftheTurkish
authoritiesanditsmemberswerenotallowedtoweartheHJuniforminpub-
lic.²³⁷AspartofhistourthroughSouthEasternEurope,BaldurvonSchirach,
theheadoftheHJ,alsovisitedTurkeyinDecember 1937 .However,thispartof
hisjourneywasnotmentionedindetailintheHJperiodicalsincetheTurkish
governmenthadfollowedaratherdistancingpolicytowardstheNSmovement
onthisissue.²³⁸MustafaKemalAtatürkwhowasmoreinterestedinNationalSo-
cialistpolicyforyoungworkersthanintheHJorganizationreceivedSchirach.
Schirach’sstatementabouttheTurkishpresidentwasalsoillustrativeofsome-
onebeingclosetoHitler’sinnercircle.FortheGermanJugendführer,Atatürk
was“oneofthemostapproachableandpolitedictatorsIhaveevermet.He
wasalsothecleverestone.”²³⁹
EventhoughCarlDiemkeptaconservativedistancetotheHJandcalledthe
organization“pretentiouskitsch”²⁴⁰,hesuppliedEkremRüştüAkömer,hisinter-
preterduringhisstayinTurkeyin 1933 ,withtheHJKampfblattperiodical.²⁴¹The
TurkishsportorganizationwasalsointerestedintheHJdevelopmentandoffered
adetaileddescriptionoftheorganizationinseveralarticles.²⁴²Nevertheless,the
activitiesoftheHJinTurkeywereunderthestrictsurveillanceoftheTurkishpo-
liceandintelligenceservice,whichcarefullymonitoredSchirach’svisitinTur-
key.²⁴³TheHitlerYouthwasnottobearolemodelfortheTurkishstate.
HJ,”inTotaleErziehungfürdentotalenKrieg:HitlerjugendundnationalsozialistischeJugendpo-
litik,ed.M.Buddrus(Munich:Saur, 20 03), 175 – 24 9.
AnneDietrich,“Teutonia-eindeutscherVereininIstanbul,”ZeitschriftfürTürkeistudien
11 – 1(1998), 30.
SeetheillustrationsinDieHJ:KampfblattderHitlerjugend 52 (1937),3and1( 19 38),6.They
solelydepictrandomscenesfromSchirachʼsvisittoIstanbul.Akın’sclaimthattherewasaspe-
cialnumberoftheHJperiodicalsonTurkeycouldnotbevalidated;Akın,GürbüzveYavuzEv-
latlar,1 50 .However,therewasasspecialnumberfocusingonthemodernizationprocessunder
theKemalistgovernmentandpolitico-economicGermanviewsonTurkeyintheHJ’sleadership
periodicalintheautumnof 19 38,seeWilleundMacht:FührerorgandernationsozialistischenJu-
gend 6 – 18 (1938).OntheCHFpolicyseeNaumann,DiepolitischenBeziehungenzwischen
DeutschlandundderTürkei 1923 – 1935 ,1 94 – 196.
BaldurvonSchirach,IchglaubteanHitler(Hamburg:Mosaik,1 96 7), 22 8.
Becker,CarlDiemsLeben,vol. 3 ,163.
Schäfer-Borrmann,EkremRüştüAkömer,56.
HikmetTuna,“GençlıkveSilâh”[YouthandWeapon],TürkSporKurumuDergisi 60 (1937),
6 – 7;NizamKırpan,Almanya’daGençlikTeşkilatı[TheYouthOrganizationinGermany],TürkSpor
KurumuDergisi 82 (1938), 12 – 13 and 83 (1938), 14 – 15.
SecurityDirectorateoftheTurkishMinistryoftheInteriortotheofficeofthePrimeMinis-
ter,8March1 93 8,regardingapamphletdistributedbySchirachtotheIstanbulHJsection.BCAF
30 .10.0.0K2 31 Do 558 S15,1– 10.
ThescepticalTurkishViewoftheHitlerYouth 151