There were many different resistance groups that rose up to defy Hitler and the Nazis.
There were many different attempts to take the life of the dictator of Nazi Germany,
including the July 20th plot.
This was a failed bomb plot which occurred inside of the Wolf’s Lair, and despite being
injured, the plot failed.
But there were other resistors such as Sophie Scholl and Hans Scholl who took part in the
white rose movement, publishing leaflets to try and dissuade people from supporting the
government.
The brother and sister were both executed for their resistance, but there was another
youth group which emerged to go against the status quo set within Germany at the time.
The edelweiss pirates emerged in Western Germany in the late 1930s and were against the strict
regimented expectations for young men and women, forced to join groups such as the Hitler
Youth.
But a number of the Edelweiss Pirates were executed after being sentenced to death for
their crimes of being brave enough to go against Hitler and his beliefs.
Join us today as we look at the horrific executions of the Edelweiss Pirates.
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The major enemies of the Edelweiss Pirates were the Hitler Youth, and they emerged following
the 1936 declaration that membership to the Hitler Youth was made compulsory.
The Hitler Youth was a tool Hitler used to bolster his military in the future, as boys
were forced into the group where they would take part in military drills and they would
learn how to shoot.
This was all done with Hitler’s end goal of having a strong military during times of
warfare, but the Edelweiss Pirates wanted to be free to express what they thought and
also what they did.
They opposed the indoctrination of younger people and ultimately wanted to have some
freedom to take part in the leisure activities they wanted to do.
The Edelweiss Pirates offered more freedom, and they were not segregated by gender unlike
the Hitler Youth for boys and the League of German Girls for girls.
They were mostly made up of young men, but there were also some girls who joined.
They were mostly aged between 14 and 18.
They would have experienced a Nazi education throughout the years, and many would have
left school and decided to take action against what was happening.
Many boys when they left school would receive their call up papers for the military, but
within large cities there were elements of the youth community that were different in
their ideas, and they did not assimilate.
The Edelweiss Pirates would organise different activities for their members, for example
hiking and camping trips.
Whilst they went away together the members would sing songs and listen to music which
was banned such as Jazz and songs considered to have been degenerate.
They would meet with groups from other cities and would enjoy time away from the stresses
of living within Nazi Germany.
They also gathered on street corners, and were rather antagonistic towards the Hitler
Youth.
Sometimes they would ambush their patrols and would beat members of the Hitler Youth,
and would take great pride in this.
IT was said, ‘every child knows who the Kittelbach Pirates are, they are everywhere.
There are more of them than there are Hitler Youth, they beat up the patrols, they never
take no for an answer.
One sub group sung a song with the lyrics, ‘The force of Hitler makes us small, we
still lie in chains, but one day we will be free again, we are about tho break the chains.’
Now despite being an annoyance to the Nazis, they were viewed as irritating but not really
as a serious threat.
But as the Second World War continued, the Nazis did seem to take more action against
them.
Different groups were sought by the Gestapo, and they were often rounded up.
One of the punishments that they received was that they had their heads shaved in public,
to outline that they were dissenting.
But their opposition was as mentioned seen as not too serious, as opposed to armed resistance.
Himmler however said that any groups like the edelweiss pirates should be sent to concentration
camps, and he said, ‘“There the youth should first be given thrashings and then
put through the severest drill and set to work.
It must be made clear that they will never be allowed to go back to their studies.
We must investigate how much encouragement they have had from their parents.
If they have encouraged them, then they should also be put into a concentration camp and
(have) their property confiscated.”
Himmler said that his SS officers should intervene brutally to stop further youth groups spreading,
and he even issued a brutal crackdown against them.
The SS and Gestapo would go further to stop the Edelweiss Pirates.
Any form of dissent was seen as dangerous, but Himmler would order youngsters to go to
concentration camps for 2 to 3 years, but then he even ordered executions.
There was one specific branch of the Edelweiss Pirates that were destroyed by execution.
The Ehrenfeld or Steinbruck group as they were known came from Cologne, and they had
around 100 youngsters inside.
This was a group that were former Edelweiss Pirates, and were led by Hans Steinbruck a
concentration camp escapee.
But he went further, and he began to stockpile weapons and arms, and other goods such as
food inside of a cellar.
He also handled stolen goods, and gave shelter to Jews and others who were being hunted across
Colonge.
But in 1944 Steinbruck came into contact with the Edelweiss Pirates, and they joined up.
But the group became more militant, and they started working on the black market selling
goods which were banned.
They even carried out a heist in which they stole butter and sold it for 12,000 reichsmarks
on the black market, which was a lot of money.
At the time a worker earned around 50 marks a week, so this shows you how wealthy their
theft made them.
They continued to repeat the heist and sell butter for more money, and they became very
wealthy.
However the group were informed upon, and they were then rounded up and arrested.
Steinbruck took things further and he decided to take up arms and to hunt members of the
Nazi Party.
He shot a guard, and then also killed a member of the SA and a civilian.
But they also ambushed a member of the Hitler Youth by some train tracks, and they tried
to steal explosives. 63 people were arrested, and 19 of them were teenagers.
But the Edelweiss Pirates of the group were broken by the death sentences imposed upon
them.
13 young German men were condemned to die, and without a trial were executed in a huge
scale execution in front of the Ehrenfeld Train Station in Cologne.
The group planned to blow up the Gestapo Headquarters in Colonge, and those who were imprisoned
had been tortured terribly.
But on the 10th November 1944, a large public gallows was made in front of the train station.
This was huge and many of the individuals were hanged en mass on the gallows. 13 men
were led out towards the structure and the scaffold, and there was a large crowd gathered
to see what was happening.
The 13 men were then stood under the gallows, and there were 6 teenagers with Barthel Schink,
Guther Schwarz and Johann Muller being just 16.
They were stood under the gallows and were stood on a Woden beam to begin before a stool
was place under them, and then the noose was placed around their necks.
Within seconds of the noose being secured, the stools were kicked out, and the Edelweiss
Pirates of cologne were left hanging, and they took minutes to die and struggled in
front of the onlookers.
The Edelweiss Pirates ultimately were a group of young people who resented the lack of freedom
they had during the Third Reich.
Despite initially being seen as a minor irritant, Himmler ordered severe action against the
group and a number of them were executed for their resistance.
Today they’re seen as a symbol of defiance against evil.
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