Background
Born to a working class family in the Tiergarten district of Berlin, Norkus joined the equivalent of the sea scouts of the Hitler Youth organization. He was also reported to have enjoyed playing the piano and drawing. His father had been wounded in World War I, and supposedly had Communist sympathies. The official Nazi biographies of Norkus claimed his father initially opposed his son's Nazi activities but was ultimately converted and became a Nazi too.
Clashes between the Hitler Youth and the Communist Red Front youth movement (Rote Jungfront) were becoming increasingly common as the NSDAP and the German Communist Party struggled for power in the waning days of the Weimar Republic.
His comrades nicknamed him “Quex” because ”he carried out orders faster than quicksilver” (German: Quecksilber).
Read more about this topic: Herbert Norkus
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