League of German Girls

The **League of German Girls or Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM)** was the female branch of the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend or HJ) during the time of National Socialism. In accordance with the goals of the Reich, girls between the ages of 14 and 18 were organized within it. Additionally, a youth section called Young Girls' League (Jungmädelbund or JM) existed for girls aged 10 to 14. The creation of the organization was to support the German New Woman ideal.

## Origins

The first "girls' associations," also called "sisterhoods of the Hitler Youth," emerged within the NSDAP as early as 1923. However, these groups had few members, and it wasn't until June 1930 that they were consolidated into the Bund Deutscher Mädel. The organization, which had grown to 1,711 members by 1931, was integrated into the Hitler Youth in the same year under the leadership of Elisabeth Greiff-Walden.

## Membership

Due to the legally mandated membership of all female youth starting from 1936, unless they were excluded for "racial reasons," the BDM became the numerically largest female youth organization in the world with 4.5 million members in 1944. Baldur von Schirach, appointed Reich Youth Leader on June 17, 1933, issued regulations that dissolved existing competing youth organizations. Both the HJ and BDM experienced a significant increase in membership. With the "Law on the Hitler Youth" of December 1, 1936, all young people in the German Reich were compelled to become members of the HJ or BDM.

### Mature aged transfer

Once a young women is aged 17 to 21, she could join the organization called "Work of Faith and Beauty" (Werk Glaube und Schönheit). This provided an age-appropriate program and served as a transition for young women until they entered the NS-Frauenschaft (National Socialist Women's League).

## Organizational Structure

### Levels

 Girls' Troop (Mädelschar)
 Girl's Group (Mädelgruppe)
 Girl's Ring (Mädelring)
 Girl's Sub-District (Untergau)
 Girl's Upper District (Obergau)
 Girl's District Association (Gauverband)

### Shared Administrative Offices

Administrative offices were established for BDM and JM jointly from the level of "Obergau" upwards, with the Obergau being the highest common organizational unit.

### Ranks

1. Reichsreferentin (National Leader)
2. Gebietsmädel­führerin (Regional Girls' Leader)
3. Gau­führerin (District Leader)
4. Untergau­führerin (Sub-District Leader)
5. Hauptmädel­führerin (Chief Girls' Leader)
6. Bannmädelführerin (Banner Girls' Leader)
7. Ringführerin (Ring Leader)
8. Hauptgruppenführerin (Chief Group Leader)
9. Gruppenführerin (Group Leader)

## Chapters

The first local chapters of the BDM, the National Socialist Girls' League (NSS), and the Young Girls' Groups of the NS Women's Organization were founded in 1930/1931.

* Berlin chapter was founded in February 1930
* Danzig chapter was founded in July 1931.
* Achern chapter was founded in December 1930.

## Directives

During a speech at the Women's Congress in Nuremberg in 1935, Hitler stated: "The equality of women consists in that they are respected in the areas of life designated for them by nature. German women also have their battlefield: with every child they bring into the world, they fight their battle for the nation."

The BDM's Reich leader Jutta Rüdiger stated in writing for her jurisdiction in the first year of the war in 1939: "The boys are being raised as political soldiers, and the girls as strong and brave women who should be comrades to these political soldiers. They should later live and shape our National Socialist worldview in their families as women and mothers – and thus raise a generation of toughness and pride. Therefore, we consciously want to shape political girls. This does not mean women who will later debate and discuss in parliaments, but girls and women who know about the vital necessities of the German people and act accordingly."

## Curriculum

### Overview

Already in 1934, the official publication "Mädel im Dienst" mentioned that young girls aged 10 to 14 should be skilled in handwork and cooking and should ensure the warmth of the domestic hearth. They should also be able to make a home cozy.

### Racial awareness training

The core of BDM education, according to Klönne, was the "synthesis of physical and domestic training" in connection with the task of instilling the concept of "selective breeding" in the entire female youth. "The type of German woman stands complementary to the type of German man, their union signifies the racial rebirth of our people." In terms of the eugenic tasks required for the preservation of the national community, girls were declared the "racial conscience of the nation." The "true German maiden" was to be the "guardian of the purity of blood and the people, and to raise heroes from the sons of the people."

### Socialization

Additionally, the "Reich Youth Leadership" (since 1933) produced the National Socialist magazine "Das Deutsche Mädel" (The German Girl) for BDM in the HJ. This magazine emphasized the work of the NS youth organizations and aimed to socialize girls in a gender-specific way and introduce them to topics like motherhood and cultural traditions.

### Vocational education

However, there were sometimes other guidelines that seemed to grant girls more independence. Georg Usadel, influential in the Reich Youth Leadership, expressed: "Youth is not a preparatory time but a part of life that wants and should fulfill itself according to its own laws. This applies to boys and girls alike." According to Eva Sternheim-Peters, the female leadership in the Reich Youth Leadership repeatedly distanced itself from the idea of "cooking pot as an educational goal" and the "three Ks" (kitchen, church, children). Instead, the BDM promoted the importance of a solid vocational education and a period of work for girls and provided detailed training materials to facilitate career choices.

### Outdoor activities

A focus of the BDM's activities included outings, hikes, and backpacking marches in the great outdoors, often followed by campfires with cooking and communal singing. Moonlight observations followed by overnight stays in haylofts were common during the summer months. Fairy tale and theater performances, sometimes with puppets and marionettes, folk dancing and flute music, as well as various sports activities, often played as group games, were part of the standard program. However, unlike the male HJ organizations, the BDM had no special departments.

## Awards

* Performance Badge (Leistungsabzeichen) in Bronze, Silver, Gold
* Young Girls' Performance Badge (Jungmädel-Leistungsabzeichen)
* BDM Sports Badge (BDM-Sportabzeichen)
* BDM Combat Games Badge (BDM-Kampfspieleabzeichen)
* BDM District Badge (BDM-Gauabzeichen)
* BDM Defense Competitions Badge (BDM-Wehrwettkämpfeabzeichen)
* BDM Sports Day, District of Württemberg (BDM-Sporttag, Gau Württemberg)
* Metal Badge BDM Summer Camp 1937 Upper District 13 (Blechabzeichen BDM Sommerlager 1937 Obergau 13)
* JM BDM Subregion Oschatz April 8, 1934 (JM BDM Untergau Oschatz 8. April 1934)