The Young German Order (in German Jungdeutscher Orden, often abbreviated as Jungdo) was a large para-military organisation in Weimar Germany. Its name and symbol (see picture) were inspired by the Teutonic Knights (Deutscher Orden in German).
The pseudo-chivalric group was involved in nationalistic German politics. Its youth organisation was called Jungdeutsche Jugend (Young German Youth). Jungdo's political arm, the Volksnationale Reichsvereinigung (People's National Reich Association) merged with the German Democratic Party and parts of the Christian Social People's Service in 1930 to become the German State Party.
The group was founded by Artur Mahraun in May 1920 in Kassel. The organisation tried to revive ideals of pre-war Wandervogel youth movement. Very soon it reached 70,000 members, was temporarily banned in early 1921 and, temporarily being the largest of the many para-military groups in the 1920s, later expanded to almost 300,000 members. In 1933 it was banned by the Nazi rulers.
Famous quotes containing the words young, german and/or order:
“Those of us who are in this world to educate—to care for—young children have a special calling: a calling that has very little to do with the collection of expensive possessions but has a lot to do with the worth inside of heads and hearts. In fact, that’s our domain: the heads and hearts of the next generation, the thoughts and feelings of the future.”
—Fred M. Rogers, U.S. writer and host of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. “That Which is Essential Is Invisible to the Eye,” Young Children (July 1994)
“I heard a Californian student in Heidelberg say, in one of his calmest moods, that he would rather decline two drinks than one German adjective.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The herd of mankind can hardly be said to think; their notions are almost all adoptive; and, in general, I believe it is better that it should be so; as such common prejudices contribute more to order and quiet, than their own separate reasonings would do, uncultivated and unimproved as they are.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)