On this day 25th October 1944 Heinrich Himmler issued orders on combating youth gangs such as Edelweiss Pirates

On this day 25th October 1944 Heinrich Himmler issued orders on combating youth gangs such as Edelweiss Pirates, which had been known to harbor deserters, escaped prisoners of war, and escaped concentration camp prisoners.

In stark contrast to the Hitler Youth, the Edelweiss Pirates resisted Nazism in any way they could at a time when doing so was a criminal offense.

Much like the tenacious edelweiss flower clinging to the crags of Austria’s Alps that the group was named after, these young Germans resisted Nazi indoctrination.

They saw themselves as the opposite of the infamous Hitler Youth, rejecting their paramilitary structure, Nazi ideology, and gender segregation.

Hailing from working-class backgrounds, the Edelweiss Pirates resisted Nazism in any way they could — all before their 18th birthdays.

The Edelweiss Pirates, or Edelweißpiraten, was a collective of local anti-Nazi resistance groups founded largely in western Germany. 

Aged 14 to 17, these teenagers rejected the Hitler Youth’s and League of German Girls’ dark aspects: restrictions on teenagers’ fun and freedom of thought, and training kids for military service.

Many of them left school at age 14 — which was common for working-class teens at the time — in order to sever ties with the Nazis, and some dropped out of the Hitler Youth. 

Membership was compulsory beginning in 1936, and in 1939 — the same year World War II began — non-membership became a punishable offense.

But the Edelweiss Pirates had only a few years of freedom since they were typically forced to join the army when they turned 18.

The Edelweiss, a flower growing in the Alps, became a symbol of resistance for the Pirates.

Everything the Hitler Youth stood for was everything the Edelweiss Pirates stood against. 

The Youth wore their hair high and tight and closely shorn, while the Pirates wore theirs long and free. .

While the Hitler Youth wore standardised uniforms and listened to Nazi propaganda music, the Edelweiss Pirates wore checkered shirts and lederhosen and played music composed by Jewish musicians and other non-state-sanctioned songs.

More than just a proto-hippie fantasy, these anti-fascists were flesh and blood teens. Many of their adventures were kept secret, so information on them can be hard to come by.

Much of the Edelweiss Pirates’ time was spent in youthful rebellion to Nazism. One former Pirate recalled pouring sugar in the gas tank of Nazi officers’ cars, hurling bricks through the windows of munitions factories, and graffiti-ing messages like “Down with Hitler” and “Down with Nazi Brutality.”

They listened to the verboten BBC world service on the radio. When the Allies dropped anti-Nazi propaganda from their airplanes, the Pirates made sure to gather the leaflets before the Nazis snatched them up; they would organise leaflet drops in nearby towns so the local police wouldn’t recognise them.

Meanwhile, their more daring activities included shielding German deserters and escaped concentration and labor camp prisoners, and supplying adult resistance groups with explosives.

Anything that could weaken the Nazis’ morale was fair game to the youthful Pirates. And many of them faced brutal punishment, from forced head-shaving to torturous prison sentences to public hangings.

Today, the Edelweiss Pirates’ bravery, righteousness, and resistance to Nazism at a time when much of Germany willfully followed Hitler’s authoritarian regime is rightfully celebrated.

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