Original Item: Only One Available. This jugend (HJ) Wimpel (Pennant) is in very good condition, and measures about 5 1/2″ by 11″. The pennant is red with a white center stripe, and is of multi-piece construction, so each color is a different piece of fabric. It has the standard red/white/red background, with a white diamond containing a black swas (hook cross). Items such as this were most likely used on bicycles or possibly cars, to show off one’s membership in the organization. Overall condition is excellent, though the hanging ties were cut off, most likely to more easily remove it when it was brought back. The back of the pennant even still has traces of the original RZM label.
The HJ or jugend, and often abbreviated as HJ in German, was the youth organization of the NSDAP Party in Germany. Its origins dated back to 1922 and it received the name jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend (“HJ, League of German Worker Youth”) in July 1926. From 1933 until 1945, it was the sole official youth organization in Germany and was partially a paramilitary organization; it was composed of the HJ proper for male youths aged 14 to 18, the German Youngsters in the HJ (Deutsches Jungvolk in der jugend or “DJ”, also “DJV”) for younger boys aged 10 to 14, and the League of German Girls (Bund Deutsche Mädel or “BDM”).