Hitlerjugend: An In-Depth History: 1925 - Hitler rebuilds the NSDAP
by Arvo L. Vercamer

While incarcerated at Landsberg prison, Adolf Hitler came to realize that the path to control and power in Germany lay not down the road of an armed "revolution"; that is, Hitler would not directly challenge the power of the (German) state through armed and confrontational means. The failure of the 1923 putsch had essentially driven that lesson home to him quite well. He would work more with the system, than against it. But first, Hitler also knew that he would have to rebuild the "Bewegung" (movement) from the ground up.

Having changed his philosopical tact a bit, Hitler now made a monumental decision. He decided to make his bid for power through the ballot box and by politically challenging key industrialists and politicians as well as aggressively challenging the left-orientated political parties (especially the Marxists) rather than overthrowing the existing German government through armed means. This meant that Hitler and his political followers would now have to aggressively attack all of the existing social and political orders; such as, but not limited to challenging the authority of the German federal government, attacking all of the other political institutions and party's, targeting the Reichsheer, the Reichsbanner, the Rotfrontkämpferbund, the mandated and moral authority of von Hindenburg, the family structure in Germany, etc. With such a strategy, Hitler and his NSDAP compatriots would have to wait a bit longer before they were the leading political power. But that was a calculated risk Hitler was willing to make. National Socialism would have to become a movement of the masses.

In German Nationalist-Socialist jargon, the era from the mid 1920's to 1933 would be known as the "Kampfzeit". This concept would take on greater significance in the later years of Germany's Third Reich era.

After being released from prison in 1925, Hitler decided that the structure of the NSDAP should be a mirror reflection of the existing German Weimar government. Where the German Weimar government had a duly accredited Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so did Hitler's party; the Weimar Government's Ministry of the Interior had its NSDAP counterpart, etc. General Ritter von Epp was selected to be the head of the NSDAP's "Wehrpolitisches Amt".

As Adolf Hitler revamped and resurrected the NSDAP in 1925, he also cleaned house with the leadership of the NSDAP's youth movement. Hitler dismissed Gustav Lenk as the head of the "Jugendbund" and replaced him with Edmund Heines. Heines had worked with Gerhard Rossbach and his "Schilljugend" in Austria a short while earlier and as a reslut of his contributing organizational efforts, Heines was now rewarded for his efforts by being selected as the new "youth leader" of the NSDAP. Efforts were quickly undertaken to bring back into the fold the many existing splinter youth groups.

While the largest of these was Rossbach's "Schilljugend", this group also had a negative side - it was viewed by most outsiders as being a youth group for only middle and upper class youths; it was thought of being a somewhat elitist entity.

In lieu of the now dismissed Gustav Lenk, Kurt Gruber quickly came to the attention of Hitler. Gruber's youth group was initially formed with Gustav Lenk's assistance. Gruber was also an active organizer and had managed to persuade Martin Mutschmann to help bankroll many "Jugendbund" activities in his native Plauen and in the province of Saxony. Gruber also had a successful track record as an organizer and "leader".

It did not take long for both of these competing youth groups, the "Jugendbund" and the "Schilljugend", and Hitler as well, to realize that only one youth group could prevail in the new order. Favoring Gruber was the fact that when Gerhard Rossbach returned to Germany from his exile in Austria, Rossbach quickly dissasociated himself from Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP. This essentially caused the "Schilljugend" youth group to fold, as one of its leading ideological and organizational talents was no longer available to lead. As things turned out anyway, Hitler favored Gruber because Gruber was much easier to control.

Kurt Gruber quickly worked hard to endear himself in the eyes of the "der Führer". One of Gruber's first actions was to separate the party's youth movement from its parent organization, the SA, as much as possible. Quickly, the party's youth groups were issued with new uniforms and a new recognition symbol. To acknowledge the early ties to the SA, Gruber retained the familiar brown shirts of that group. But he added black shorts to complete the outfit and thus provide for a more "youthful" appearance of the member. A new armband was also designed - the now familiar HJ diamond pattern symbol replaced the party's "standard" swastika armband.

After being released from prison in 1925, Hitler decided that the structure of the NSDAP should be a mirror reflection of the existing German government. Where the German government had a duly accredited Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so did Hitler's party; the Ministry of the Interior had its NSDAP counterpart, etc. General Ritter von Epp was selected to be the head of the NSDAP's "Wehrpolitisches Amt".

Gruber observed Hitler's actions and then copied much of the structure of the NSDAP for the HJ. In short, Gruber took this cue from Hitler and established the following HJ organization:
1st Department: Administration and Treasury
2nd Department: Youth Education and Organization
3rd Department: Youth Welfare
4th Department: Racial Questions
5th Department: Film and Photography Services
6th Department: Youth Social Politics and Trade Unions
7th Department: Propaganda
8th Department: Art and Culture
9th Department: "Jungmannschaften" (Young Boys' Section)
10th Department: Girls' Section
11th Department: Sport
12th Department: Press
13th Department: Excursions and Travel
14th Department: "Wehrsport" (Military Sports)

One other major event occurred in 1925. In May of that year, the right wing Wandersportverein Vogtland (Vogtland hiking club) of Plauen, Saxony, merged with the Jugendbund chapter headed by Kurt Gruber in Munich, Bavaria. A short while later and at the recommendation of Dr. Hans Severus Ziegler, the deputy Gauleiter of the state of Thuringia, and Julius Streicher, the Gauleiter of the state of Franconia, a new name was coined for the new organization - the Hitlerjugend. This name would be officially adopted in 1926.