Original German WWII HJ National Youth Organization Shaving Kit Case with Mirror Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very interesting WWII German HJ National Youth Organization wooden shaving kit box, measuring approximately 8 3/4″ x 5 7/8″x 2 1/8″. It features an engraved Eagle perched on an HJ Insignia inside a wreath, and there is a fold out mirror measuring approximately 7″ x 4″. The back of the mirror is marked STARGARD and dated 1937. It is made from box wood with laminate on the exterior, and is definitely an interesting piece of WWII militaria.

While most picture young children when the HJ is mentioned, the actual HJ was boys aged 14 to 18, so they would definitely need shaving kits by the end of their time in the organization, which they would then often continue to use, showing their commitment to the NSDAP and the Third Reich. This has multiple compartments on the bottom for the various items needed for shaving during the period, which would usually include the razor itself, a shaving brush, powdered shaving cream, and other items.

Condition is very good, with all of the hinges still functional. It should the expected wear from use in service, but no major damage. A lovely example of German WWII HJ memorabilia.

AH believed German youth to be the future of his 3rd Reich. In 1922, the Munich-based NSDAP established its official youth organization called Jugendbund der NSDAP. It was announced on 8 March 1922 in the Völkischer Beobachter, and its inaugural meeting took place on 13 May the same year. Another youth group was established in 1922 as the Jungsturm Adolf “AH”. Based in Munich, Bavaria, it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the main paramilitary wing of the NSDAP Party at that time.

One reason the HJ so easily developed was that regimented organizations, often focused on politics, for young people and particularly adolescent boys were a familiar concept to German society in the Weimar Republic. Numerous youth movements existed across Germany prior to and especially after World War I. They were created for various purposes. Some were religious and others were ideological, but the more prominent ones were formed for political reasons, like the Young Conservatives and the Young Protestants. Once AH came onto the revolutionary scene, the transition from seemingly innocuous youth movements to political entities focused on AH was swift.

Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch (in November 1923), NSDAP youth groups ostensibly disbanded, but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names. In April 1924, the Jugendbund der NSDAP was renamed Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung (Greater German Youth Movement). On 4 July 1926, the Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung was officially renamed HJ Bund der deutschen Arbeiterjugend (HJ League of German Worker Youth). This event took place a year after the NSDAP Party was reorganised. The architect of the re-organization was Kurt Gruber, a law student from Plauen in Saxony.

After a short power struggle with a rival organization—Gerhard Roßbach’s Schilljugend—Gruber prevailed and his “Greater German Youth Movement” became the NSDAP Party’s official youth organisation. In July 1926, it was renamed H -Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend (“H” Youth, League of German Worker Youth”) and, for the first time, it officially became an integral part of the SA. The name H -Jugend was taken up on the suggestion of Hans Severus Ziegler. By 1930, the Hjugend (HJ) had enlisted over 25,000 boys aged 14 and upward. They also set up a junior branch, the Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ), for boys aged 10 to 14. Girls from 10 to 18 were given their own parallel organization, the League of German Girls (BDM).

In April 1932, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the H Youth movement in an attempt to stop widespread political violence. However, in June, Brüning’s successor as Chancellor, Franz von Papen, lifted the ban as a way of appeasing “AH”, the rapidly ascending political star. A further significant expansion drive started in 1933, after Baldur von Schirach was appointed by H as the first Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader). All youth organizations were brought under Schirach’s control.