- Hitlerjugendführer
"Hitlerjugendführer" was a paramilitary title of the
Hitler Youth which existed within theNazi Party from approximately 1928 to the fall ofNazi Germany in 1945.Description
A "Hitlerjugendführer" was any adult who served in the leadership corps of the Hitler Youth and thus oversaw a cell (or groups of cells) comprising several "
Hitlerjunge " which was the phrase for juvenile members of the Hitler Youth. After 1930, the title of "Hitlerjugendführer" was replaced by several Hitler Youth senior leadership ranks however the term survived to refer to any member of the Hitler Youth adult leadership corps.Other usage of term
"Hitlerjugendführer" has also been used in the German language as an insult, implying someone who attempts to twist the minds of others to their views or someone who is a fanatic. The term was even used in this manner during
World War II , by some factions of the GermanWehrmacht , to describe (in a derogatory manner) a member of the military who was also a fanaticalNazi Party member.In popular culture
In the 1981 German film "
Das Boot ", DirectorWolfgang Petersen uses the term "Hitlerjugendführer" to describe the second in command of the featured German U-Boot, indicating the stern and "by-the-book" manner of the second officer in contrast to the more realistic views of the boat's captain played byJürgen Prochnow . Petersen would later claim that he found the term "Hitlerjugendführer" rather comical when applying it to the character in "Das Boot".
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