"Pirates of Edelweiss" ( German: Edelweißpiraten ) is a youth informal association in Nazi Germany .
Content
Anti-Nazi activities
The informal youth organization Edelweiss Pirates existed in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. For several years, many "pirates" were able to combine the usual official work with illegal and illegal activities.
After the landing of the troops of England and the United States in Normandy in June 1944, the "pirates" were threatened with involvement in the construction of defensive ramparts and fortifications on the western front, which was completely unacceptable to them, because they tried in every possible way not to contribute to the continuation of the war. Therefore, many "pirates" deserted and went underground . At the same time, they obtained food with the help of criminals and farmers, or they themselves raided and looted in places of food storage or food stamps.
In the fall of 1944, most activists were detained and imprisoned in concentration camps. On November 10, the Gestapo publicly hanged 13 people related to the Edelweiss Pirates in one of the working districts of Cologne .
Modern action assessments
After the collapse and surrender of the Third Reich, many Germans very logically continued to consider the "pirates" ordinary criminals, and not fighters against Nazism. Only in 1984, the Israeli Yad Vashem Institute recognized several “pirates” as the righteous of the world , including the murdered (without a court order) Bartel Shink and his friend Jean Yulich , who survived imprisonment.
The German historian Detlev Peikert collected and analyzed documents related to the Edelweiss Pirates and published a book that was reprinted several times (Detlev Peukert. Die Edelweißpiraten: Protestbewegungen jugendlicher Arbeiter im 'Dritten Reich'. Eine Dokumentation, 3., erw. Bund-Vlg., Köln 1988).
Also, in Nazi Germany during the war years, there were other youth anti-fascist groups. The merits of members of the White Rose organization founded at the University of Munich and executed for distributing anti-fascist leaflets were recognized by the German authorities immediately after the war. In addition, there were " Swing Kids " who expressed their protest while listening to American jazz and dancing to jazz tunes.
Notes
See also
- German Resistance
- Edelweiss Pirates (film)