German youth organisations in Denmark

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Wandervogel

Recently I found some old bank account books (German: Contobuch) from Tondern Bank.

One of the account books was issued to the German "Verein Wandervogel" in Tønder (German: Tondern).

The Wandervogel in Tønder was a part of the Deutscher Jugendverband Nordschleswig (German Youth Association Nordschleswig). In 1928 Wandervogel in Tønder had 61 members (18 children, 41 youth below the age of 20, 2 adults).

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The Wandervogel movement was officially established on 4 November 1901 by Herman Hoffmann Fölkersamb, who in 1895 had formed
a study circle at the boys' Berlin-Steglitz grammar school where he was teaching. The Wandervogel soon became the pre-eminent German youth movement. It was a back-to-nature youth organization emphasizing freedom, self-responsibility, and the spirit of adventure, and took a nationalistic approach, stressing Germany's Teutonic roots.

After World War I, the leaders returned disillusioned from the war. The same was true for leaders of German Scouting. So both movements started to influence each other heavily in Germany. From the Wandervogel came a stronger culture of hiking, adventure, bigger tours to farther places, romanticism and a younger leadership structure. Scouting brought uniforms, flags, more organization, more camps and a clearer ideology. There was also an educationalist influence from Gustav Wyneken.

Together this led to the emergence of the Bündische Jugend. The Wandervogel, German Scouting and the Bündische Jugend together are referred to as the German Youth Movement.

They had been around for more than a quarter of a century before National Socialists began to see an opportunity to hijack some methods and symbols of the German Youth Movement to use it in the Hitler Youth to influence the young.

This movement was very influential at that time. Its members were romantic and prepared to sacrifice a lot for their ideals. That is why there are many to be found on both sides in the Third Reich. Some of the Wandervogel groups had Jewish members and Jewish scouting movements such as Hashomer Hatzair were influenced by the Wandervogel. Other groups within the movement were anti-semitic or close to the Nazi government. Therefore one can later find prominent members both subscribing to the Third Reich or resisting it.

From 1933 the Nazis outlawed the Wandervogel, German Scouting, the Jungenschaft, and the Bündische Jugend, along with most youth groups independent of the Hitler Youth. Only church affiliated groups survived, lasting until almost 1936. [wikipedia]


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Tønder is a Danish town of Region of Southern Denmark with a population of 7,690 (1 January 2011).

Prior to 1864, Tønder was situated in the Duchy of Schleswig, so its history is properly included in the contentious history of Schleswig-Holstein. In the 1920 Schleswig Plebiscite that incorporated Northern Schleswig as part of Denmark, 76.5% of Tønder's inhabitants voted for remaining part of Germany and 23.5% voted for the cession to Denmark. [wikipedia]

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Wandervogel photos from Bundesarchiv.

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Deutscher Jugendverband Nordschleswig

Deutscher Jugendverband Nordschleswig - German Youth Association Nordschleswig

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Affiliated associations and members 1 October 1928

Børn = Children

o. 20 År = older than 20 years

Voksne = Adults

I alt = total

The term 'children' refers presumably to children of school age.
1. 1 november 1927
2. Not yet fully connected organization

Source: Der Schleswig-Holsteiner 1928, p. 776

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Very interesting Henrik. Thanks for posting the information.
 
Wandervogel

Recently I found some old bank account books (German: Contobuch) from Tondern Bank.

One of the account books was issued to the German "Verein Wandervogel" in Tønder (German: Tondern).

The Wandervogel in Tønder was a part of the Deutscher Jugendverband Nordschleswig (German Youth Association Nordschleswig). In 1928 Wandervogel in Tønder had 61 members (18 children, 41 youth below the age of 20, 2 adults).

Hi Cemifor, although your post about the Wandervogel is from 2011 i feel the need to register here and write an reply: My grandfather was the leader of the Wandervogel group of Tondern from 1920 to 1938, therefore I am very interested in the documents you were talking about. Do you have anything else ? Regards, Lars
 
Hello Lars,
what was the name of your grandfather?

There is an accountbook from Wandervogel and one from Deutsche Jungenschaft Nordschleswig.

3 are from the Riggelsen family and 6 from the Tilse family. 2 from the Riggelsen family are from Alte Privat- Spar- u. Kreiskasse in Tondern, the rest are from Tondernbank.

There are several names in the Wandervogel book. It was used from 1921 to 1923.

I have nothing else from the Wandervogel.
 
My grandfather was Karl Ben Tilse, my grandmother Jakobine Tilse, birthname Riggelsen ;)
 
Yes, that's my grandfather, "Onkel Ben" as the guys of the Wandervogel called him. And we are from Lübeck of course, because Ben went here after he and the family had to leave Tondern in 1938. But he was related to Tondern afterwards too, because of the Haidburg, the house the Wandervogel built for their weekend-meetings in 1922 near Tondern in the village of Süderlügum. The house still exists as a kind of youth hostel, I am the president of the club who is running it. You can find some pictures on the webside linked at the bottom of the article about Ben you posted above.

I wonder how the books came to Tautenhahn but in 2011 we sold the house of my parents (it was the house that Ben bought in 1938 also) and maybe these documents were hiding somewhere in the furniture the "Entrümpler" was allowed to take away. Do you think you can scan or copy the books for me to keep them in the archive of our club?

Edit:
Here is a picture of Ben and Jacobine. called "Schecke" by everyone. The other picture is the sign of the Wandervogel, the "Greif".

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Last edited:
I will scan the books, and donate the originals to your club, but it will take some time.

Best regards,
Henrik
 
Wow, that would be great, thank you. Don't worry about the time, it doesn't matter. Maybe I could help you with scans in return out of our "archive", what by now is more a collection of boxes filled with old documents, pictures and so called "Fahrtenbücher", old travel books of the Wandervogel, mostly in old german handwriting which I can read but it's difficult. Most of the things are unsorted but I want to work on it in this years summer. If you can specify what you are interested in maybe i can help you. I just found two pictures of the Wandervogel at the Haidburg in Süderlügum, maybe about 1950 I think.

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