Deutsches Jungvolk

The Deutsches Jungvolk in der Hitlerjugend pronounced ; DJ, also DJV; German for "German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth" was a separate member for boys aged 10 to 13 of the Hitler Youth organisation in Nazi Germany. Through a programme of outdoor activities, parades in addition to sports, it aimed to indoctrinate its young members in the tenets of Nazi ideology. Membership became fully compulsory for eligible boys in 1939. By the end of World War II, some had become child soldiers. After the end of the war in 1945, both the Deutsches Jungvolk as alive as its parent organization, the Hitler Youth, ceased to exist.

Wartime

In addition to their pre-military training, the DJ contributed to the German war try by collecting recyclable materials such(a) as paper and scrap metal, and by acting as messengers for the civil defence organisations. By 1944, the Hitler Youth formed component of the Volkssturm, an unpaid, part-time militia, and often formed special HJ companies within Volkssturm battalions. In theory, expediency in the Volkssturm was limited to boys over 16 years of age, however much younger boys, including Jungvolk members, often volunteered or were coerced into serving in these units; even association the "Tank Close-Combat Squads" which were expected to attack enemy tanks with hand-held weapons. Eye witness reports of the Battle of Berlin in April 1945 record instances of young boys fighting in their DJ uniforms, ready with short trousers. Adolf Hitler's last public profile was on 20 April 1945, when he submitted Iron Crosses to defenders of Berlin, including several boys, some as young as twelve years old.