The League of German Girls or the Band of German MaidensDeMarco, N. (2001) This World This Century: Working with Evidence Collins Educational (, abbreviated as BDM) was the girls' wing of the Nazi Party youth movement, the Hitler Youth. It was the only legal female youth organization in Nazi Germany.
At first, the League consisted of two sections: the Jungmädelbund ("Young Girls' League") for girls aged 10 to 14, and the League proper for girls aged 14 to 18. In 1938, a third section was introduced, the BDM-Werk Glaube und Schönheit ("Faith and Beauty Society"), which was voluntary and open to girls between the ages of 17 and 21.
Due to the compulsory membership of all young women, except for those excluded for racial reasons, the League became the largest female youth organization at the time with over 4.5 million members.
With the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, the organization de facto ceased to exist. On 10 October 1945, it was outlawed by the Allied Control Council along with other Nazi Party organizations. Under Section 86 of the German Criminal Code, the Hitler Youth is an "unconstitutional organization" and the distribution or public use of its symbols, except for educational or research purposes, is not permitted. __TOC__ History The Bund Deutscher Mädel had its roots in the early 1920s, in the first Mädchenschaften or Mädchengruppen, also known as Schwesternschaften der Hitler-Jugend (Sisterhood of the Hitler Youth). In 1930, the BDM was founded, and in 1931 it became the female branch of the Hitler Youth."Hitler Youth: Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM)" Historical Boys' Uniforms The league of German Maidens was derogatorily nicknamed by the counter-cultural Swingjugend "The League of German Mattresses", suggesting sexual promiscuity between the sex-separated groups who claimed to be traditional and conservative.Willett, Ralph; "Hot Swing and the Dissolute Life: Youth, Style and Popular Music in Europe 1939–49", pp. 157–163, Popular Music, Volume 8, No. 2, May 1989, p. 158.Simon Henderson, "The White Rose and the Definition of 'Resistance': Simon Henderson Explains the Significance of Hans and Sophie Scholl in the History of Nazi Germany,"History Review 53, (2005): 42. Its full title was Bund Deutscher Mädel in der Hitler-Jugend (League of German Girls in the Hitler Youth). In the final electioneering campaigns of 1932, Hitler inaugurated it with a mass meeting featuring the League; on election eve, the League and Hitler Youth staged "evening of entertainment."H.R. Kedward, Fascism in Western Europe 1900–45, p. 65. New York University Press, New York, 1971. It did not attract a mass following until the Nazis came to power in January 1933.
Soon after taking office as Reichsjugendführer on 17 June 1933, Baldur von Schirach issued regulations that suspended or forbade existing youth organizations ('concurrence'). Female youth groups were compulsorily integrated into the BDM, which was declared to be the only legally permitted organization for girls in Germany. Many of the existing organizations closed down to avoid this. These Nazi activities were a part of the Gleichschaltung (Equalization) starting in 1933. The Reichskonkordat between the Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, signed on 20 July 1933, gave a certain shelter to the Catholic youth ministry, but they were the object of much bullying.
The Gesetz über die Hitlerjugend (law concerning the Hitler Youth), dated 1 December 1936, forced all eligible juveniles to be a member of HJ or BDM. They had to be ethnic Germans, German citizens, and free of hereditary diseases."Der Jungmädeldienst", published February 1940, Berlin Girls had to be 10 years of age to enter this League.
The BDM was run directly by Schirach until 1934, when Trude Mohr, a former postal worker, was appointed to the position of BDM-Reichsreferentin, or National Speaker of the BDM, reporting directly to Schirach. After Mohr married in 1937, she was required to resign her position (the BDM required members to be unmarried and without children in order to remain in leadership positions), and was succeeded by Jutta Rüdiger, a doctor of psychology from Düsseldorf, who was a more assertive leader than Mohr but nevertheless a close ally of Schirach, and also of his successor from 1940 as HJ leader, Artur Axmann. She joined Schirach in resisting efforts by the head of the NS-Frauenschaft (Nazi Woman's League), Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, to gain control of the BDM. Rüdiger led the BDM until its dissolution in 1945.Michael Kater, Hitler Youth, Harvard University Press, 2004, chapter 3.
As in the HJ, separate sections of the BDM existed, according to the age of participants. Girls between the ages of 10 and 14 were members of the Young Girls' League (Jungmädelbund, JM), and girls between the ages of 14 and 18 were members of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM) proper.Walter S. Zapotoczny, "Rulers of the World: The Hitler Youth " In 1938, a third section was added, known as Faith and Beauty (Glaube und Schönheit), which was voluntary and open to girls between 17 and 21 and was intended to groom them for marriage, domestic life, and future career goals. Ideally, girls were to be married and have children once they were of age, but importance was also placed on job training and education.
At the beginning of World War II, the Reichsarbeitsdienst (National Labour Service; RAD) became compulsory also for young women. It lasted half a year. Many young women became Blitzmädel (Wehrmachthelferin or female armed forces helpers) during World War II.
While these ages are general guidelines, there were some exceptions for members holding higher (salaried) leadership positions, starting at the organizational level of "Untergau". As regards lower (honorary) positions, even members of the JM could apply for them after two years of membership and would then obtain such a position typically at the age of 13. The higher leadership was recruited from members over 18 and was expected to maintain salaried office for no more than 10 years, and to leave the BDM by the age of 30.Gisela Miller-Kipp (ed.), "Auch Du gehörst dem Führer": die Geschichte des Bundes Deutscher Mädel (BDM) in Quellen und Dokumenten, Juventa publ., Weinheim et al. 2001, pp. 56f. As a general rule, members had to leave when they were married and especially when they had children.
Uniform and emblems
The BDM uniform was a full blue skirt, middy blouse and very heavy marching shoes. In 1939, a new uniform was introduced for regional and national leaders within the League of German Girls, and along with the new uniforms came new rank insignia for leaders. These new rank insignia took the form of a silver, and for higher ranks, gold bullion embroidered open-winged eagle on a black (white, on the summer tunic) shield with various types of borders to indicate grade. They were worn on the left chest of the tunic.
League of German Girls & Jungmädelbund
Leaders Trude Mohr was appointed the first Reichsreferentin in June 1934."Education in Nazi Germany" , Lisa Pine. Berg, 2011. . p. 121. Her main initiative was to nourish a new way of living for the German youth, stating:"Women in Austria" , Anton Pelinka, Erika Thurner. Transaction Publishers, 1998, . pp. 20–23 In 1937, after marrying Obersturmführer Wolf Bürkner, she became pregnant and resigned her duties.
Jutta Rüdiger (1910–2001) was a special case.For her and the following see Miller-Kipp (2001), pp. 41ff. She joined the BDM only in 1933, at the age of 23 and after having finished her doctorate in psychology. She obtained honorary positions instantly in 1933 and early 1934, was promoted to her first salaried position (leader of Untergau Ruhr-Lower Rhine) in June 1935 and was appointed Reichsreferentin for the BDM (head of the BDM) in November 1937 (aged 27), succeeding Mohr, who had vacated the position on her marriage, as Nazi policy required. She kept this position even until the German defeat, when she reached the age of 34.
(1912–2008), a countess and member of the higher Franconian aristocracy, was appointed leader of Gau Unterfranken in 1933, at the age of 21, which also seems to have been the age when she joined the BDM, as no earlier date of membership nor any previous lower positions are recorded in her case. She was appointed head of "Faith and Beauty" in January 1938, a few days before her 26th birthday, and was discharged in September 1939 because of her marriage with Wilhelm "Utz" Utermann in October 1939. She was followed by an Austrian member, Annemarie Kaspar (b. 1917), who had been appointed Untergauführerin at the age of 20 in March 1938 and became head of B&B two weeks before her 22nd birthday. She too married and was discharged in May 1941, to be replaced in June 1941 by Martha Middendorf (b. 1914), who was 27 at the time of her appointment and was discharged already in February 1942, as she too had married. From this time on, Jutta Rüdiger, who was a lesbian in lifelong partnership with Hedy Böhmer, a fellow Nazi traveller, and thus uninterested in marriage, took over to lead the BDM directly, thus holding both leadership positions until 1945.
Training and activities The BDM used campfire romanticism, summer camps, folklorism, tradition, and sports to indoctrinate girls within the Nazi belief system, and to train them for their roles in German society: wife, mother, and homemaker.Guy Nasuti, "The Hitler Youth: An Effective Organization for Total War " Their home evenings revolved around domestic training, but Saturdays involved strenuous outdoor exercise and physical training.Lynn H. Nicholas, Cruel World: The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web, p. 101, The purpose of these activities was to promote good health, which would enable them to serve their people and their country.Leila J. Rupp, Mobilizing Women for war, p. 134, , The "home evenings"—ideally to be conducted in specially built homes—also included world view training, with instruction in history."Nazi Worldview Education for Girls " This instruction would include learning the Horst Wessel song, the Nazi holidays, stories about Hitler Youth martyrs, and facts about their locality and German culture and history.Richard Grunberger, The 12-Year Reich, p. 278, Physical education included track and field sports like running and the long jump, gymnastics (e.g. somersaulting and tightrope walking), route-marching, and swimming. The importance of self-sacrifice for Germany was heavily emphasized; a Jewish woman, reflecting on her longing to join the League of German Girls, concluded that it had been the admiration for self-sacrifice that had drawn her most.Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience, p. 143, Members were also taught the Nazi Party's racial ideas. The League was particularly regarded as instructing girls to avoid Rassenschande or racial defilement, which was treated with particular importance for young females."The Jewish Question in Education "
Holiday trips offered by HJ and BDM – for example, skiing in winter and tent camps in summer – were affordable; children from poor families got subsidies. These offers were popular.Klönne: Jugend im Dritten Reich. Munich 1995, p. 128.
The League encouraged rebellion against parents.Claudia Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family, and Nazi Politics, p. 196, Der Giftpilz presented the propaganda of a German girl being ordered to visit a Jewish doctor by her mother; the girl protested on the grounds of what she had learned at BDM meetings, and while at the office, remembered the warnings in time to escape being molested by the doctor."Inge’s Visit to a Jewish Doctor " She then insisted that her mother admit that the BDM had clearly been in the right.