The first attempt to create a youth section within the NSDAP was the short-lived Jugendbund der NSDAP. The initial impulse came from Adolf Lenk, a piano maker from Munich who had joined the NSDAP aged 18 in 1921. He began to recruit boys aged between 14 and 18 for his 'Jungsturm Adolf Hitler' and whilst attending a meeting in early 1922 at which Hitler was present he he suggested that his organisation might become the party's youth section. The idea appealed to Hitler and the official formation of the 'Jugendbund der NSDAP' was announced in the newspaper 'Völkischer Beobachter' on the 8th of March 1922. This new organisation was essentially a youth section within the 'Sturmabteilung' (SA) which had been formed in the previous year.
When the NSDAP reformed in 1925 Lenk went back to the party and offered his services as youth leader but was rejected as the party didn't think him capable or worthy of the position. He attempted to join the ranks of the 'alte Kämpfer' but was turned down.
According to a quote from Hartmann Lauterbacher in 1936 Adolf Lenk had sent out invitations to high-ranking HJ leaders to a commemorative meeting of former members of the Jungsturm on the 9th of November 1936 which was turned down with the words 'the HJ does not consider the Jungsturm Adolf Hitler to be the forerunner of the Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth was created in 1926'. This contrasts with a report in the HJ newspaper Der Thüringer Sturmtrupp issue 5 dated Dec 1933 where the Jungsturm is indeed seen at that time as being the forerunner of the Hitler Youth.
In my opinion the reason for the later Hitler-Jugend not viewing the Jugendbund der NSDAP (to which the Jungsturm Adolf Hitler belonged) as its origin is because after Hitler left Landsberg and rebuilt the NSDAP with himself as its absolute leader he did not name Lenk's Jugendbund as its youth organisation. Hitler was only interested in unconditional subordination to himself and the party. Lenk's Jugendbund der NSDAP was not reformed after Landsberg and Hitler instead named Edmund Heines as Lenk's successor responsible for youth matters in the new NSDAP. This appointment meant that the Schilljugend was now Hitler's favoured youth organisation.
Lenk also formed the Vaterländischer Jugendverband Großdeutschland and the Deutsche Wehrjugend. On formation of the Großdeutsche Jugendbewegung he was approached and asked to become its leader. Again he failed to make any real progress and this indirectly led to him falling out of favour with Hitler.
Kurt Gruber continued to work on building his base and was eventually able to take control of the 'Großdeutsche Jugendbewegung' (yet another youth organisation founded during the turmoil prior to 1926) due to Lenk's incompetence..
The Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung under Kurt Gruber resisted all attempts to be integrated into the Schilljugend and it was through this that Hitler first became aware of Lenk. Hitler eventually appointed Lenk as leader of the nationalist youth movement in Sachsen in 1925. Lenk had sought from Hitler, and had been granted, permission to call his youth group 'Hitler-Jugend'.
The Schilljugend fell out of Hitler's favour in 1926 and this paved the way for the Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung to become the only real candidate (in Hitler's eyes) for a unified nationalist youth organisation. Streicher suggested the name ''Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend' to Hitler (this wasn't however Streicher's own idea - see previous paragraph) in the same year and Gruber was appointed to Reichsführer der HJ.
So, the HJ is officially formed in 1926 and the hard work began for Gruber. Von Schirach started making moves in 1928/29. Basically he wanted all youth organisations in Germany at the time to come under one single organisation and he began contacting their respective leaders behind Gruber's back. Gruber found out what was going on and made great efforts to strengthen his position and to increase the size of the HJ and was successful in beating off von Schirach's initial attempt to get a 'foot in the door'.
After a reorganisation of the party in 1931 the HJ came under direct control of the SA and eventually the headquarters of the HJ in Plauen was moved to Munich. This was the beginning of the end for Gruber as leader of the HJ and he viewed this relocation as an affront. Things deteriorated after that and he eventually offered his resignation to Hitler in 1931 which was accepted. Von Schirach's only real part in this seems to be that comparisons had been made in the party between the strong growth of von Schirach's Studentenbund and the apparent stagnation of Gruber's HJ. Adrian von Renteln was then appointed as Reichsführer of the HJ and Kurt Gruber was out of the picture.
**The Jungsturm Adolf Hitler should not be confused with the organisation 'Jungsturm' created in 1897.
The Jungsturm pennant (blue anchor on a white background) was confiscated by the Munich police along with other party flags when they broke up a demonstration in 1923 and it would be ten years before the flag was retrieved. Around 140 groups were founded across Germany but following the failure of the Munich Putsch the NSDAP and with it the Jugendbund der NSDAP were banned. Some cells of the Jugendbund went underground and continued their activities including that of Kurt Gruber in Plauen (Saxony) who would eventually become the first national leader of the Hitler Youth.
When the NSDAP reformed in 1925 Lenk went back to the party and offered his services as youth leader but was rejected as the party didn't think him capable or worthy of the position. He attempted to join the ranks of the 'alte Kämpfer' but was turned down.
According to a quote from Hartmann Lauterbacher in 1936 Adolf Lenk had sent out invitations to high-ranking HJ leaders to a commemorative meeting of former members of the Jungsturm on the 9th of November 1936 which was turned down with the words 'the HJ does not consider the Jungsturm Adolf Hitler to be the forerunner of the Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth was created in 1926'. This contrasts with a report in the HJ newspaper Der Thüringer Sturmtrupp issue 5 dated Dec 1933 where the Jungsturm is indeed seen at that time as being the forerunner of the Hitler Youth.
In my opinion the reason for the later Hitler-Jugend not viewing the Jugendbund der NSDAP (to which the Jungsturm Adolf Hitler belonged) as its origin is because after Hitler left Landsberg and rebuilt the NSDAP with himself as its absolute leader he did not name Lenk's Jugendbund as its youth organisation. Hitler was only interested in unconditional subordination to himself and the party. Lenk's Jugendbund der NSDAP was not reformed after Landsberg and Hitler instead named Edmund Heines as Lenk's successor responsible for youth matters in the new NSDAP. This appointment meant that the Schilljugend was now Hitler's favoured youth organisation.
Lenk also formed the Vaterländischer Jugendverband Großdeutschland and the Deutsche Wehrjugend. On formation of the Großdeutsche Jugendbewegung he was approached and asked to become its leader. Again he failed to make any real progress and this indirectly led to him falling out of favour with Hitler.
Kurt Gruber continued to work on building his base and was eventually able to take control of the 'Großdeutsche Jugendbewegung' (yet another youth organisation founded during the turmoil prior to 1926) due to Lenk's incompetence..
The Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung under Kurt Gruber resisted all attempts to be integrated into the Schilljugend and it was through this that Hitler first became aware of Lenk. Hitler eventually appointed Lenk as leader of the nationalist youth movement in Sachsen in 1925. Lenk had sought from Hitler, and had been granted, permission to call his youth group 'Hitler-Jugend'.
The Schilljugend fell out of Hitler's favour in 1926 and this paved the way for the Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung to become the only real candidate (in Hitler's eyes) for a unified nationalist youth organisation. Streicher suggested the name ''Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend' to Hitler (this wasn't however Streicher's own idea - see previous paragraph) in the same year and Gruber was appointed to Reichsführer der HJ.
So, the HJ is officially formed in 1926 and the hard work began for Gruber. Von Schirach started making moves in 1928/29. Basically he wanted all youth organisations in Germany at the time to come under one single organisation and he began contacting their respective leaders behind Gruber's back. Gruber found out what was going on and made great efforts to strengthen his position and to increase the size of the HJ and was successful in beating off von Schirach's initial attempt to get a 'foot in the door'.
After a reorganisation of the party in 1931 the HJ came under direct control of the SA and eventually the headquarters of the HJ in Plauen was moved to Munich. This was the beginning of the end for Gruber as leader of the HJ and he viewed this relocation as an affront. Things deteriorated after that and he eventually offered his resignation to Hitler in 1931 which was accepted. Von Schirach's only real part in this seems to be that comparisons had been made in the party between the strong growth of von Schirach's Studentenbund and the apparent stagnation of Gruber's HJ. Adrian von Renteln was then appointed as Reichsführer of the HJ and Kurt Gruber was out of the picture.
**The Jungsturm Adolf Hitler should not be confused with the organisation 'Jungsturm' created in 1897.