Young German Order

The Young German Order (in German Jungdeutscher Orden, often abbreviated as Jungdo) was a large para-military organisation in Weimar Germany. Its name and symbol (see picture) were inspired by the Teutonic Knights (Deutscher Orden in German).

The pseudo-chivalric group was involved in nationalistic German politics. Its youth organisation was called Jungdeutsche Jugend (Young German Youth). Jungdo's political arm, the Volksnationale Reichsvereinigung (People's National Reich Association) merged with the German Democratic Party and parts of the Christian Social People's Service in 1930 to become the German State Party.

The group was founded by Artur Mahraun in May 1920 in Kassel. The organisation tried to revive ideals of pre-war Wandervogel youth movement. Very soon it reached 70,000 members, was temporarily banned in early 1921 and, temporarily being the largest of the many para-military groups in the 1920s, later expanded to almost 300,000 members. In 1933 it was banned by the Nazi rulers.