Hitler Youth 'Blutfahne'

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Freddy

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I was just reading Gefolgschaft's interesting post about the HJ blood flag and that it was the flag once used by the Schar that Herbert Norkus belonged to. I dont think I've seen this flag in any of the HJ reference books, well I certainly dont remeber seeing it anyway and was wondering whether any pictures exist of it?
 
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In the HJ book from Littlejohn "The Hitler Youth" he had a drawing in it. It was an tentative sketch, but the text he mentioned
is wrong. This Jungsturm Adolf Hitler flag is in my opinion the so-called HY blood-flag. Bann-flags were consecretated with this flag.
In Angolia, volume 2, pp.216-217 there are a few photographs. He also explains the text wrong as National Sozialistische DAP, as
did Littlejohn.
In the "Military Advisor" nr. 1 from volume 12 (winter 2000/2001) I do show this flag on page 5 from the magazine. My original photo
shows clearly the text being: National Sozialistischer Jugendbund. The photograph in the magazine is not that clear, but you can
anyway see there are three full words and no abbreviations!
 
Hi Wim,

This is very interesting. Brandenburg's "Die Geschichte der HJ" also mentions the Jungsturm flag as being the 'Blutfahne' but when you look at how Adolf Lenk was viewed by the party it seems odd that the HJ would use it for the consecration of its flags. Clearly it did use the flag at Potsdam in 1934 as you say but only two years later Stabsführer Lauterbacher published an order which distanced the HJ from the Jungsturm so certainly by then the Jungsturm flag must have lost any significance that it had once had I would have thought. I'm sure that I have seen a photo of the 1934 Potsdam consecration which shows the Jungsturm flag being carried to the right of a row of Bann flags in front of Sans Soucci actually. I'm pretty sure that it's in a book so I'll try and dig it out.

I'm looking at a photo here of a flag consecration being carried out by Gebietsführer Jahn in Berlin (it's shown in a few books). Date of the photo must be late-32 to early 1933. The flag he is using might be the flag Darin mentioned, the Norkus flag, but the design is only partially visible. Does anyone have the Littlejohn book who could possibly scan the picture Wim mentions above?
 
Here's that photo of Gebietsführer Jahn that I mentioned above:

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Here the photograph from the "Blutfahne" with its flag-bearer and a close-up from the life-buoy.
I had to scan from the "Military Advisor"-magazine, as I cannot find the original photograph, but the three words are obvious.
With this the "myth" about the abbreviation is nullified!!

The occasion is the concecrating of 342 Bann-flags at the "Garnisonskirche" at Potsdam, January 24, 1934.
The other photograph is the waiting before the consecration at the ground of the "Sans Soucci". Amongst
the flags were some from foreign countries, like Hungary, Argentina and Austria (OE 59 - Salzburg).

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Photographs come from a private property, a HJ Bann-flag bearer, who attended the occasion. This flag-bearer was
a friend of the bearer of the blood-flag (that's what was told to me). If I find the original photograph I will once more scan the life-buoy!
 

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Great photos Wim. The one I remember seeing was much like your first one but from further away and with the boy more over to the right. Are you aware of any evidence that the Jugendbund flag was used for flag consecration after Potsdam 1934? What is the myth about the abbreviation? I haven't heard that one.

I sold my Littlejohn a couple of years ago so does anyone have a scan of what he described as the blood flag? I'd love to know whether it is the same flag being used by Gebietsführer Jahn in the photo in post 4 above.
 
Hello Garry and all interested,

as earlier said: (1988) Littlejohn's drawing mentioned within the life-buoy: National Sozialistische DAP;
(1992) Angolia says: lower left "National", top "Sozialistische" and lower right "D.A.P.". He obviously
has based himself on Littlejohn's drawing and the photographs, which were not having the best quality,
he used in volume 2 (pp.216-217). And so everybody thought the wording was as what they claimed.
In the past I had about this various discussions with collectors, who had taken over the idea from Angolia
and Littlejohn. This is what I call the "myth", a sort of!

I do enclose now two new close-ups from the life-buoy.

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You see there is no DAP, nor Jungsturm, but Jugendbund
With this January-event all photographs that I do own, do show the wearing of the greatcoat.

Have no information if this flag was later furthermore used to consecrate flags! I will make a scan for the
Littlejohn-drawing.
 

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Ah, okay Wim. I understand the thinking behind that myth now.
 
Hello Garry,

practically all collectors I discussed with about the subject about the wording, acted quite "mysterious" if they
knew the exact wording. They all had a personal opinion, had "heard about" and went in what Angolia/Littlejohn
had said or mentioned it to be Jungsturm. No person ever said it to be Jugendbund, or could prove this or what
the other authors claimed. I do own this photograph already for quite a long time (about 20 years now) and showed
it for the first time in the US-magazine mentioned!
 
That's true Wim but understandable in a way I suppose. After all, the Jungsturm was a section within the short-lived Jugendbund so it's perhaps understandable that the terms became mixed up over time. Having said that, books written in the 60s got it right so it's kinda inexcusable that someone writing a definitive reference book 20 years later missed the earlier information.

Many thanks for showing the sketch and the additional close-ups by the way :thumb:
 
That's why I do enjoy so much this forum. When I can assist in one way or the other I do,
but often I do have a lack of time as my writing-plans I must see to get done, before I am
too old and ramshackle to do so. Isn't it (this forum) for us all a forum to learn and get more
knowledge.
 
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