The Free German Youth (; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth wing of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
The organization was meant for young adults, both male and female, between the ages of 14 and 25 and comprised about 75% of the young adult population of former East Germany. In 1981–1982, this meant 2.3 million members.Dirk Jurich, Staatssozialismus und gesellschaftliche Differenzierung: eine empirische Studie, p.32. LIT Verlag Münster, 2006, After joining the Thälmann Pioneers, which was for school children between ages 6 to 13, East German youths typically joined the FDJ.
The FDJ aimed to be the "reliable assistant and fighting reserve of the Worker's Party", while Socialist Unity Party of Germany was a member of the National Front and had representatives in the People's Chamber. The political and ideological goal of the FDJ was to influence every aspect of life of young people in the GDR, distribute Marxist–Leninist teachings and promote communist behavior. Membership in the FDJ was nominally voluntary. However, those who did not join lost access to organized holidays, and found it difficult (if not impossible) to be admitted to universities, pursue chosen careers, etc. The majority of youths who refused to join did so for religious reasons.
While the movement was intended to promote the Marxist–Leninist ideology among the young adults of East Germany, it did not concentrate on this to the exclusion of other activities. It arranged thousands of holidays for young adults through its Jugendtourist agency and ran discos and open-air rock concerts. The Festival of Political Songs was an officially sponsored event from 1970 to 1990. West Germany banned the FDJ since 1954, while the FDJ is allowed to operate legally in modern Germany.
History
Establishment in 1946 in the Soviet Occupation Zone The FDJ had its origins in the months following the end of the Second World War and it was formally founded on 7 March 1946 under the leadership of a young Erich Honecker.Fulbrook, Mary. Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR 1949–1989. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 60. Initially developed as an ostensibly non-political national, youth organization, at first the FDJ functioned in all four zones of occupied Germany.McDougall, Alan. Youth Politics in East Germany : The Free German Youth Movement, 1946–1968. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon, 2004, 20. Conceived as a "free" and "democratic" united youth organization, the FDJ comprised young antifascists who would cooperate in order to rebuild their homeland.McDougall, Alan. Youth Politics in East Germany : The Free German Youth Movement, 1946–1968. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon, 2004, 2. The name of the organisation was inspired by the "Free German Youth" movements formed by young German antifascists in Prague, Paris and London, before the Second World War. Talk of socialism or that the FDJ was to be disproportionately composed of German communists were absent from the FDJ's initial conception.
Open to those between the ages of 14 and 25, the FDJ was crucial to preparing young East Germans for mature adult life along an officially approved route of school, vocational training, and entry into the party and officeholding.Dennis, Mike. The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945–1990. Harlow: Longman/Pearson, 2000. 204. The FDJ was responsible for the teaching of socialist theory for the rising generation of young East Germans. The FDJ expected its members to participate in the 'school year', an ideological programme, which aimed to develop a significant group of well-trained cadres suitable for future employment in the SED apparatus. The FDJ were willing to overlook previous allegiance to Nazism and offer opportunities for career and social advancement to young adults in exchange for genuine commitment to the FDJ and its ideals on political, working, educational and leisure rights.McDougall, Alan. Youth Politics in East Germany : The Free German Youth Movement, 1946–1968. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon, 2004, 6. Additionally, the FDJ aimed to increase the productivity of young East German workers through sponsored 'youth brigades', during the 1940s.McDougall, Alan. Youth Politics in East Germany : The Free German Youth Movement, 1946–1968. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon, 2004, 21.
As the sole official representative of East German youth, the FDJ's main objective was to win over the hearts and minds of young East Germans to socialism, through the Marxist–Leninist ideals of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).McDougall, Alan. Youth Politics in East Germany : The Free German Youth Movement, 1946–1968. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon, 2004, 19. During the 1940s, the FDJ promoted a 'happy youth life' for young East Germans through a sense of unity, freedom, and education. This increasingly made the FDJ attractive to the youths. Organised activities, including sports and dance events, 'social evenings' (), concerts, hikes and trips to the cinema, among other activities, aimed to provide leisure for young East Germans without the means to otherwise engage in pastimes.McDougall, Alan. Youth Politics in East Germany : The Free German Youth Movement, 1946–1968. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon, 2004, 5–6. In 1946 and 1947, the responsibility of organising leisure activities predominantly rested with local FDJ groups, existing in towns and villages.
The FDJ also possessed its own publishing house () and ran a number of newspapers; a daily newspaper (), a journal for FDJ functionaries () and a student newspaper (FORUM). Starting in 1952, the FDJ also began publishing two Sorbian language magazines, Chorhoj Měra and Plomjo, for Sorbian members.
The FDJ in the GDR The FDJ increasingly developed into an instrument of communist rule and became a member of the 'democratic bloc' in 1950. However, the FDJ's focus of 'happy youth life', which had characterised the 1940s, was increasingly marginalised following Walter Ulbricht's emphasis of the 'accelerated construction of socialism' at the 4th Parliament and a radicalisation of SED policy in July 1952.McDougall, Alan. Youth Politics in East Germany : The Free German Youth Movement, 1946–1968. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon, 2004, 37–8. In turn, a more severe anti-religious agenda, whose aim was to obstruct the Church youths' work, grew within the FDJ, ultimately reaching a high point in mid-April 1953 when the FDJ newspaper reported on details of the 'criminal' activities of the 'illegal' . FDJ gangs were sent to church meetings to heckle those inside and school tribunals interrogated or expelled students who refused to join the FDJ for religious reasons.McDougall, Alan. Youth Politics in East Germany : The Free German Youth Movement, 1946–1968. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2004, 43–5.
As an affiliated organisation of the SED party and government, the FDJ became targets of demonstrators in the lead up to the 1953 Uprising.Fulbrook, Mary. Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR 1949–1989. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 184. Growing popular unrest caused members of the FDJ to flee to the West.Dennis, Mike. The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945–1990. Harlow: Longman/Pearson, 2000, 63. By 1953, the FDJ was in a state of turmoil with many members and officials joining in with the strikes and demonstrations.Dennis, Mike. The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945–1990. Harlow: Longman/Pearson, 2000, 66.
On 25 April 1957, at the 16th session of the FDJ, the central council declared the FDJ as an official 'socialist' youth organisation.Grieder, Peter. The East German Leadership, 1946–73 : Conflict and Crisis. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999, 120. The FDJ was the GDR's second most important mass organisation, after the FDGB.Dennis, Mike. The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945–1990. Harlow: Longman/Pearson, 2000, 204. The FDJ established a political directive that, in theory, made it an omnipresent force in all aspects of 'youth life' in the GDR. FDJ organisations were found in all areas of East German society, albeit in widely varying numbers, from schools and universities, collective farms, shops and residential areas to the army and the secret police. As the only officially approved youth organisation, the FDJ quickly developed a huge bureaucratic apparatus and acquired generous financial support from state resources.
The FDJ served as a general training ground for functionaries of the SED, the economy and the government.Dennis, Mike. The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945–1990. Harlow: Longman/Pearson, 2000, 201. As the sole official representative of GDR youth, the FDJ was vital to the upbringing of young people as socialist personalities.Dennis, Mike. The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945–1990. Harlow: Longman/Pearson, 2000, 205. Measures were employed in an attempt to encourage a sense of community spirit of working for a large whole and a better future.Fulbrook, Mary. Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR 1949–1989. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 131. According to official prescription, this involved raising them to accept socialist ideals, to acquire a high level of knowledge and vocational skills, to participate actively in official economic and social programmes, to commit themselves to the cause of peace, and to participate in the military training programmes.
In 1952, there was an attempt to militarise the FDJ through the creation of a paramilitary service. On 17 August 1961 the FDJ issued a 'Call to Arms' in a further attempt to encourage young men to join the armed forces.Major, Patrick. Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the Frontiers of Power. Oxford Scholarship Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, 141. In schools, the Hans-Beimler contests provided a form of military sports education for pupils in the eighth grade. Military education and training received an added impetus by the FDJ in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a result of the breakdown of détente between the superpowers.
The FDJ exercised significant influence over the selection process of universities. Membership and participation within the FDJ were definitive criteria during the allocation of university places. Alongside the Thälmann Pioneers, the FDJ was involved in controlling and disciplining rebellious students through denunciation and spying.
After the construction of the Berlin Wall, the FDJ were involved in obstructing the flow of western media into the GDR. FDJ units were dispatched among local communities, who chanted the names of known listeners to western programmes or stuck posters on their doors.Major, Patrick. Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the Frontiers of Power. Oxford Scholarship Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, 191. FDJ members also demanded that license holders dismantled TV aerials that pointed westwards, which even led to FDJ members climbing onto the roofs and sawing off offending antennae.