The Freideutsche Jugend was an umbrella organisation established in Wilhelmine Germany that set out to create an autonomous youth culture free of adult supervision.[1] It was part of the broader German youth movement, emerging from the Wandervogel.

Origins

The organisation was set up at a gathering held on the Hoher Meissner, a mountain in Hesse, where several thousand youth gathered in October 1913 and formulated the Meissner Proclamation. In this they declared “Free German Youth, on their own initiative, under their own responsibility, and with deep sincerity, are determined to independently shape their own lives. For the sake of this inner freedom, they will take united action under any and all circumstances.”[2] They adopted an anti-rational viewpoint and opposed Gustav Wyneken's Bund für freie Schulgemeinden.[3]

References

  1. ^ Williams, John Alexander (2001). "Ecstasies of the Young: Sexuality, the Youth Movement, and Moral Panic in Germany on the Eve of the First World War". Central European History. 34 (2): 163–189. doi:10.1163/15691610152977938. ISSN 0008-9389. JSTOR 4547061. PMID 18335631. S2CID 33555901.
  2. ^ Warfield, L. "There is Nothing in the World But Youth: the Ambiguous Legacy of the Wandervögel". The Secret Beach. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  3. ^ Reichenbach, Marie (1978). "Student years: Introductory Note to Part 1". Hans Reichenbach: Selected Writings, 1909-1953. I.
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