Hitlerjugend: An In-Depth History: Unsterbliche Gefolgschaft der Hitlerjugend
by Arvo L. Vercamer

In late 1933, early 1934, Hitler and the HJ leadership created what they called the Unsterbliche Gefolgschaft der Hitlerjugend, the immortal following of the Hitlerjugend. This was a special organ created to honour those Hitlerjugend members who had died or been murdered while serving the cause of Nationalist Socialism. One of the most prominent HJ martyrs was 15-year old Herbert Norkus. The communists, in an especially brutal fashion, had murdered him on January 24th, 1932. Because he was the youngest HJ member to have died to date, he was of excellent propaganda value to the NSDAP and to the HJ movement. Herbert Norkus was to the Hitlerjugend what Horst Wessel became to Hitler and the NSDAP in the years to come.

Name Age Date of death
Fritz Kröber 17 26 Apr 1925
Hans Queitsch 16 20 June 1927
Paul Thewellis 25 23 Jan 1931
Rudolf Schröter 17 12 Feb 1931
Gerhard Liebsch 17 26 May 1931
Hans Hoffmann 17 17 Aug 1931
Hans Mallon 17 3 Sep 1931
Gerhard Wittemburg 18 17 Sep 1931
Herbert Norkus 15 24 Jan 1932
Georg Preiser 18 7 Feb 1932
Herbert Howarde 18 20 June 1932
Wener Gerhardt 19 30 June 1932
Erich Niejahr 15 5 Oct 1932
Josef Grün 12 26 Oct 1932
Erika Jordan 17 28 Oct 1932
Walter Wagnitz 16 1 Jan 1933
Otto Blöcker 17 26 Feb 1933
Christian Grössmann 18 26 Feb 1933
Josef Neumeier 18 16 Mar 1933
Peter Friess 16 17 Mar 1933
Otto Schmelzer 18 4 Apr 1933
Karl Thomas 19 31 Aug 1933


Two Deutsche Jungvolk members stand guard at a shrine for HJ martyrs
hj-martyrs
(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)