Hitler Youth Quex
Encyclopedia
Hitler Youth Quex was a 1932 Nazi propaganda
novel and a corresponding 1933 movie based on the life of Herbert “Quex” Norkus
. Joseph Goebbels
spoke of the movie as "first large-scale" transmission of Nazi ideology
using the medium of cinema. Like SA-Mann Brandt and Hans Westmar, it fictionalized and glorified death in the service of the Nazi party and Hitler.
' life. Norkus, a Hitler Youth
member, died from injuries suffered when chased and confronted by Communist
youths in the night of 23 / 24 January 1932 in the Beusselkietz neighborhood of Moabit
, Berlin
. Already the next morning, Joseph Goebbels
started to use Norkus' death for propaganda purposes, during a rally in Berlin's Sportpalast. The funeral on 29 January at Plötzensee
, Berlin, was turned into a major ceremony of several Nazi party organizations, under the aegis of Goebbels. While the murder was condemned also by non-Nazi press, the Communists started a counter-propaganda offensive, describing the incident as an accidental result of Communist self-defence during a Nazi attack. In the subsequent trial, several persons were sentenced by the Landgericht I court in Moabit, yet the most prominent accomplices Willi Simon, Bernhard Klingbeil and Harry Tack had been able to escape to the Soviet Union
.
After the Nazis assumed power
, the grave of Norkus was turned into a "Nazi shrine", visited annually on New Year's Day by Nazi youth leader Baldur von Schirach
for a speech that was broadcast nationwide. To the site of Norkus' death at Zwinglistraße 4, a plaque was attached reading "He Gave His Life For Germany's Freedom", the first of several such memorial plaques subsequently placed throughout Germany. 24 January was made remembrance day for all killed Hitler Youths, and the flag of Norkus' unit became the Hitler Youth's "blood flag". Two weeks after the Enabling Act of 1933, a provocative Hitler Youth march to Norkus' grave took the route through Berlin's communist districts of Wedding
and Moabit
. Throughout Germany, the Nazis organized demonstrations and speeches commemorating their newly created martyr. Novels, plays, poems and songs were written about him.
, and as a book in December 1932. A required reading for Hitler Youth
members, more than 190,000 copies were sold within the first two years, and more than 500,000 copies until 1945.
In Schenzinger's novel, Herbert Norkus
is named Heini Völker. With a völkisch undertone, the opening chapters describe the hardships of Norkus' youth in a working class neighborhood of Berlin
, characterized by the Great Depression
, the unemployment of his father and the suicide of his mother. The contemporary communist
youth (Rote Jungfront
, "Red Young Front") is portrayed as a disorderly gang devoted primarily to alcohol, tobacco and sex. In contrast, the Nazi youth (Hitlerjugend
, "Hitler Youth") is portrayed as an orderly organization, superior in morals. Schenzinger lets Heini Völker's father force his son to attend a camping weekend organized by a communist youth group, North Star Moabit. Heini is disgusted and flees the camp, only to encounter a Hitler Youth group in the woods. Deeply impressed, and in an athmosphere of nationalistic pathos, Heini learns of the Nazi movement
, Führerprinzip
("leader principle"), comradeship and Volksgemeinschaft
("the people's community"). On "the happiest day of his life", Heini joins the Hitler Youth, and Schenzinger has the Bannführer
(group leader) symbolize Nazi ideology when he handed over Heini's uniform to him: "[The uniform] is the clothing of the community, of comradeship, of our ideology, of our unified organization! [...] It makes us all equal, and gives the same to all and demands the same from all. He who wears such a uniform doesn't have desires of his own anymore, he has only to obey."
The following chapters deal with Heini's life as a Hitler Youth. Obedience and equality as understood by the Nazis
are portrayed in a very positive light. They turn out to be beneficial not only for Heini, but also for his comrades, for example, his best friend Fritz Dörries, the son of a wealthy merchant. Emphasis is put on the vision of self-sacrifice, the abolition of social barriers and racial purity, and Heini learns from Fritz that "with us Hitler Youth, there are no classes. There are only those who get the job done and parasites, and those we'll throw out." The haven Heini found in the Hitler Youth is symbolized by his group's hang-out, "Castle Beusselkietz" - Norkus' group was Schar 2, Hitlerjugend Beusselkietz-Hansa. His comrades nicknamed him Quex because "he carried out orders faster than quicksilver
" .
The last part of the novel is devoted to the circumstances of Norkus' (or Heini Völker's) death. According to Baird (1992), Schenzinger's version is a "thinly veiled parallel to Resurrection": When his comrades were gathered around his death bed and wonder whether he is still alive, there "suddenly [...] is a scream. Heini is sitting up in bed, his eyes wide open. He is singing. They don't recognize the words, but they know the melody. It's the song they sing every day, every evening together, on every march. Everyone knows what it means - death is singing here."
|-
|Cinematography
|Konstantin Irmen-Tschet
|-
|Ass. Camera
|Fred Fernau
Erich Rudolf Schmidke
|-
|Publicity Photography
|Otto Schulz
|-
|Editing
|Milo Habich
|-
|Set Design
|Benno von Arent
Arthur Günther
|-
|Make-up
|Waldemar Jabs
|-
|Clothing
|Berta Grützmacher
Paul Haupt
|-
|Sound
|Walter Tjaden
Erich Leistner
|-
|Music
|Hans-Otto Borgmann
Baldur von Schirach
|}
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
novel and a corresponding 1933 movie based on the life of Herbert “Quex” Norkus
Herbert Norkus
Herbert Norkus was a Hitler Youth member who was killed by German Communists. He became a role model and martyr for the Hitler Youth and was widely used in Nazi propaganda, most prominently as the subject of novel and movie Hitler Youth Quex.- Background :Born to a working class family in the...
. Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
spoke of the movie as "first large-scale" transmission of Nazi ideology
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
using the medium of cinema. Like SA-Mann Brandt and Hans Westmar, it fictionalized and glorified death in the service of the Nazi party and Hitler.
Background
Both novel and movie are based on the real story of Herbert NorkusHerbert Norkus
Herbert Norkus was a Hitler Youth member who was killed by German Communists. He became a role model and martyr for the Hitler Youth and was widely used in Nazi propaganda, most prominently as the subject of novel and movie Hitler Youth Quex.- Background :Born to a working class family in the...
' life. Norkus, a Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
member, died from injuries suffered when chased and confronted by Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
youths in the night of 23 / 24 January 1932 in the Beusselkietz neighborhood of Moabit
Moabit
Moabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Already the next morning, Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
started to use Norkus' death for propaganda purposes, during a rally in Berlin's Sportpalast. The funeral on 29 January at Plötzensee
Plötzensee
Plötzensee is a small glacial lake in Berlin. It is situated near the Rehberge public park in the former borough of Wedding, now a part of Mitte. The name stems from Plötze, one name for the roach in German, as the lake formerly teemed with it....
, Berlin, was turned into a major ceremony of several Nazi party organizations, under the aegis of Goebbels. While the murder was condemned also by non-Nazi press, the Communists started a counter-propaganda offensive, describing the incident as an accidental result of Communist self-defence during a Nazi attack. In the subsequent trial, several persons were sentenced by the Landgericht I court in Moabit, yet the most prominent accomplices Willi Simon, Bernhard Klingbeil and Harry Tack had been able to escape to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
After the Nazis assumed power
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
, the grave of Norkus was turned into a "Nazi shrine", visited annually on New Year's Day by Nazi youth leader Baldur von Schirach
Baldur von Schirach
Baldur Benedikt von Schirach was a Nazi youth leader later convicted of being a war criminal. Schirach was the head of the Hitler-Jugend and Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna....
for a speech that was broadcast nationwide. To the site of Norkus' death at Zwinglistraße 4, a plaque was attached reading "He Gave His Life For Germany's Freedom", the first of several such memorial plaques subsequently placed throughout Germany. 24 January was made remembrance day for all killed Hitler Youths, and the flag of Norkus' unit became the Hitler Youth's "blood flag". Two weeks after the Enabling Act of 1933, a provocative Hitler Youth march to Norkus' grave took the route through Berlin's communist districts of Wedding
Wedding (Berlin)
Wedding is a locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany and was a separate borough in the north-western inner city until it was fused with Tiergarten and Mitte in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform...
and Moabit
Moabit
Moabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...
. Throughout Germany, the Nazis organized demonstrations and speeches commemorating their newly created martyr. Novels, plays, poems and songs were written about him.
The novel
The novel Der Hitlerjunge Quex was written by Karl Aloys Schenzinger between May and September 1932. It was first published in Nazi party outlet Völkischer BeobachterVölkischer Beobachter
The Völkischer Beobachter was the newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from February 8, 1923...
, and as a book in December 1932. A required reading for Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
members, more than 190,000 copies were sold within the first two years, and more than 500,000 copies until 1945.
In Schenzinger's novel, Herbert Norkus
Herbert Norkus
Herbert Norkus was a Hitler Youth member who was killed by German Communists. He became a role model and martyr for the Hitler Youth and was widely used in Nazi propaganda, most prominently as the subject of novel and movie Hitler Youth Quex.- Background :Born to a working class family in the...
is named Heini Völker. With a völkisch undertone, the opening chapters describe the hardships of Norkus' youth in a working class neighborhood of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, characterized by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, the unemployment of his father and the suicide of his mother. The contemporary communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
youth (Rote Jungfront
Rotfrontkämpferbund
Rotfrontkämpferbund was a paramilitary organization of the Communist Party of Germany created on 18 July 1924 during the Weimar Republic. Its first leader was Ernst Thälmann...
, "Red Young Front") is portrayed as a disorderly gang devoted primarily to alcohol, tobacco and sex. In contrast, the Nazi youth (Hitlerjugend
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
, "Hitler Youth") is portrayed as an orderly organization, superior in morals. Schenzinger lets Heini Völker's father force his son to attend a camping weekend organized by a communist youth group, North Star Moabit. Heini is disgusted and flees the camp, only to encounter a Hitler Youth group in the woods. Deeply impressed, and in an athmosphere of nationalistic pathos, Heini learns of the Nazi movement
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, Führerprinzip
Führerprinzip
The Führerprinzip , German for "leader principle", prescribes the fundamental basis of political authority in the governmental structures of the Third Reich...
("leader principle"), comradeship and Volksgemeinschaft
Volksgemeinschaft
Volksgemeinschaft is a German expression meaning "people's community". Originally appearing during World War I as Germans rallied behind the war, it derived its popularity as a means to break down elitism and class divides...
("the people's community"). On "the happiest day of his life", Heini joins the Hitler Youth, and Schenzinger has the Bannführer
Bannführer
Bannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Hitler Youth that was created in the mid 1930s as a result of Hitler Youth expansion throughout Nazi Germany...
(group leader) symbolize Nazi ideology when he handed over Heini's uniform to him: "[The uniform] is the clothing of the community, of comradeship, of our ideology, of our unified organization! [...] It makes us all equal, and gives the same to all and demands the same from all. He who wears such a uniform doesn't have desires of his own anymore, he has only to obey."
The following chapters deal with Heini's life as a Hitler Youth. Obedience and equality as understood by the Nazis
Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung , meaning "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", is a Nazi term for the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control and tight coordination over all aspects of society. The historian Richard J...
are portrayed in a very positive light. They turn out to be beneficial not only for Heini, but also for his comrades, for example, his best friend Fritz Dörries, the son of a wealthy merchant. Emphasis is put on the vision of self-sacrifice, the abolition of social barriers and racial purity, and Heini learns from Fritz that "with us Hitler Youth, there are no classes. There are only those who get the job done and parasites, and those we'll throw out." The haven Heini found in the Hitler Youth is symbolized by his group's hang-out, "Castle Beusselkietz" - Norkus' group was Schar 2, Hitlerjugend Beusselkietz-Hansa. His comrades nicknamed him Quex because "he carried out orders faster than quicksilver
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
" .
The last part of the novel is devoted to the circumstances of Norkus' (or Heini Völker's) death. According to Baird (1992), Schenzinger's version is a "thinly veiled parallel to Resurrection": When his comrades were gathered around his death bed and wonder whether he is still alive, there "suddenly [...] is a scream. Heini is sitting up in bed, his eyes wide open. He is singing. They don't recognize the words, but they know the melody. It's the song they sing every day, every evening together, on every march. Everyone knows what it means - death is singing here."
The movie
Karl Aloys Schenzinger|-
|Cinematography
|Konstantin Irmen-Tschet
|-
|Ass. Camera
|Fred Fernau
Erich Rudolf Schmidke
|-
|Publicity Photography
|Otto Schulz
|-
|Editing
|Milo Habich
|-
|Set Design
|Benno von Arent
Benno von Arent
Benno von Arent was a German Nazi, member of the Nazi Party and SS, responsible for art, theatres, movies etc....
Arthur Günther
|-
|Make-up
|Waldemar Jabs
|-
|Clothing
|Berta Grützmacher
Paul Haupt
|-
|Sound
|Walter Tjaden
Erich Leistner
|-
|Music
|Hans-Otto Borgmann
Hans-Otto Borgmann
Hans-Otto Borgmann was a German film music composer during the Third Reich.He joined UFA as a silent film music conductor in 1928, and became head composer by 1931...
Baldur von Schirach
Baldur von Schirach
Baldur Benedikt von Schirach was a Nazi youth leader later convicted of being a war criminal. Schirach was the head of the Hitler-Jugend and Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna....
|}
| Cast | |
|---|---|
| Heini Völker | Jürgen Ohlsen |
| Father Völker | Heinrich George Heinrich George Heinrich George , born Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz, was a German stage and film actor.He had one of his first roles in the Fritz Lang directed film Metropolis and the first film version of Berlin Alexanderplatz... |
| Mother Völker | Berta Drews |
| Brigade leader Cass | Claus Clausen Claus Clausen (actor) Claus Clausen was a German film actor. He appeared in over 21 films between 1930 and 1968.-Selected filmography:* Westfront 1918 * Skandal um Eva * The Great King... |
| Fritz Dörris | a Hitler Youth Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung... |
| Gerda | Rotraut Richter |
| Stoppel | Hermann Speelmans |
| Franz | Hans Richter Hans Richter (actor) Hans Richter was a German film actor. He appeared in over 130 films between 1931 and 1984.He was born in Brandenburg, Germany and died in Heppenheim, Germany.-Selected filmography:* The Black Cobra... |
| Grundler | a Hitler Youth Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung... |
| Kowalski | Ernst Behmer |
| Doctor | Hans Joachim Büttner |
| Nurse | Franziska Kinz |
| Carnival singer | Rudolf Platte Rudolf Platte -Selected filmography:* Gold * Columbus Discovers Kraehwinkel * Mamitschka * Dr. Sibelius * Destination Death * Veronika Voss... |
| Barker | Reinhold Bernt |
| Furniture dealer | Hans Deppe Hans Deppe -Selected filmography:Actor* The Victor * A Blonde's Dream * Two Hearts Beat as One * The Star of Valencia * A Door Opens * Our Flags Lead Us Forward * The Ambassador's Wife... |
| Neighbor | Anna Müller-Lincke |
| Wilde | Karl Meixner |
| Grocer | Karl Hannemann |
| Desk sergeant | Ernst Rotmund |
| Bartender | Hans Otto Stern |
| Further | Herrmann Braun Heinz Trumper Hitler Youth Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung... units |
The novel provided the basis for a subsequent movie version, produced in the Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
(Ufa) studios. The plot was written by Bobby E. Lüthge and Karl Aloys Schenzinger, the author of the novel. Produced by Karl Ritter, the movie was supported by the Nazi leadership and produced for 320,000 reichsmarks under the aegis of Baldur von Schirach
Baldur von Schirach
Baldur Benedikt von Schirach was a Nazi youth leader later convicted of being a war criminal. Schirach was the head of the Hitler-Jugend and Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna....
. The latter also wrote the lyrics for the Hitler Youth song "Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran
Vorwärts! Vorwärts! schmettern die hellen Fanfaren
Vorwärts! Vorwärts! schmettern die hellen Fanfaren was a marching song of the Hitler Youth, which was also known as their banner song...
", based on an existing melody by Hans-Otto Borgmann
Hans-Otto Borgmann
Hans-Otto Borgmann was a German film music composer during the Third Reich.He joined UFA as a silent film music conductor in 1928, and became head composer by 1931...
, who was also responsible for the music. The director was Hans Steinhoff
Hans Steinhoff
Hans Steinhoff was a German film director, best known for the films he made in the Nazi era. His most notable film was Ohm Krüger, for which he won the Mussolini Cup at the 1941 Venice Film Festival.-Filmography:*Hitlerjunge Quex...
. For the movie, the novel's title was amended with the subtitle Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend ("A film about the sacrificial spirit of German youth"). The movie has a length of 95 minutes (2,605 meters) and was premiered on 11 September 1933 in Ufa-Phoebus Palace, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and on 19 September in Ufa-Palast am Zoo, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. It was one of three movies about Nazi martyrs in 1933, the other two being SA-Mann Brand
SA-Mann Brand
S.A. Mann Brand is a German film, made at the start of Nazi Germany. It was released in mid-June 1933, and depicted events as recent as March of that year.- See also :*List of German films 1919-1933*List of German films 1933-1945*Nazism and cinema...
and Hans Westmar, and by January 1934 had been viewed by a million people.
The movie's message is characterized by its final words, "The flag means more than death".