disabled HJ?

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I made a post about HJ on a local forum and I mentioned that also disabled HJ kids existed. I would be curious to know if anyone here has some period pics to show.
 
The physically disabled had their own Bann (Bann K Körperbehindert) until it was disbanded in early 1937. Bann B Blinde and Bann G Gehörlos (later Bann G Gehörgeschädigt)catered for the blind and visually impaired and the deaf or aurally impaired respectively.

I have a couple of pictures. The first shows a deaf boy from Bann G. Members of the Bann wore the yellow patch you can see on his left arm until 1937. Boys would often roll their sleeves up to hide the symbol. That picture comes from a book on Bann G. The second is a photo I have for a boy who is in uniform but has no eyes. That's all I have.

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Its nice to know that they made allowances and looked after the disabled children and made them involved with what was going on ...

steve
 
The three dots badge of that blind boy, is still in use in Germany.

I remember to read about Physically disable boys joining a part of the HJ. But the mentally disable, unfortunatelly, ended up in a different way.

Regards

Antonio
 
On this subject, which is anyway a bit delicate, I would tell you the story of a living witness, my neighbour. She had one of her brothers which was retarded as a result of some vacination they had to be injected. Nobody took him away from the family and he survived the war, whilst another of her brothers died in Russia. She mentioned also that they buried all their uniforms under the kitchen floor in 1945, but i never managed to get her home address :)
 
Its nice to know that they made allowances and looked after the disabled children and made them involved with what was going on ...

steve

They did... up to a point :)

I shouldn't smile but when you read some of this stuff it is so hilariously politically incorrect. Here's the official reason given for dissolving Bann K:

"Due to the amount of complaints in all districts about the appearance of Bann K on rallies and parades it has been decided that Bann K is to be dissolved'

You could read that in one of two ways. Either Bann K was an embarrassment or they were protecting the members from embarrassment. I'm not sure which is meant.

In another set of orders concerning the Einsatzgefolgschaften:

'no spectacle-wearers in the front rank of the formation'.

Couldn't get away with that kind of stuff today.

You're right though. The fact that the HJ didn't exclude these boys and girls from the movement is often 'overlooked'.
 
shame they never had the same respect for other non arian disabled kids
 
I am very interested. I would have thought that disabled kids would have been seen as inferiors. Let's face it, they were killing mentally disabled people.
We all know of the T4 program, I am sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_T4

I'm sure they were in some sections of society Pat but certainly not among the HJ leadership as evidenced by the raising the Reichsbanne B, G and K which shows that the HJ did not view blind, deaf or otherwise disabled children as inferior.

The euthenasia programme is attributed to Hitler but actually it was something that had been doing the rounds years before he got into power. He was however the one who formally introduced it but I haven't read any information which shows that the programme was applied to the HJ.

When Bann K was dissolved all of the children and young adults were sent for medical assessment to see if they were capable of performing normal duties. Those who were not were simply excluded from the HJ and there is no mention of any further measures. The remainder were assigned to new units.

There is however evidence of sterilisations having been carried out on young adults as part of that separate programme.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they were well treated to prevent a parental backlash. I am not surprised some were sterilized to prevent them having kids of their own with similar disabilities. Hitler outlined such desires in Mein Kampf.
Also, I realize that such policies were certainly not exclusive to the 3rd Reich. People were being forcibly sterilized all over the world, and views about certain groups being inferior were very common.
 
THE program was derived from a thought process called UGENICs out of the early 30s and was mainly aimed at the genetic make ups of the cultures and problems with in breeding etc which fell right into the sick thinking of several ultra NAZIS and the problems of mental illness through genetics got ahold causing the demise of many innocent people. As for the disabled children through blindness polio etc this situation did not carry through and with the war disabled soon coming home they where always accepted.

PAUL
 
MANY THANKS for the constructive criticism and feel free to keep me on the straight and narrow something which may be a daunting task though:tongue_smilie:
 
Very interesting, I never thought about how those with disabilities would have special uniform patches, or even be allowed to particpate.
 
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