Free German Youth

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Emblem of the Free German Youth

The Free German Youth (German: Freie Deutsche Jugend, FDJ) was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic.

The FDJ was a member of the National Front and had representatives in the People's Chamber. While the movement was intended to indoctrinate East Germany's young people in Marxism-Leninism, it did not concentrate on this to the exclusion of other activities. It arranged thousands of holidays for young people through its Jugendtourist agency, and even ran discos. After being a member of the Thälmann Pioneers, East German youths would usually join the FDJ.

Membership in the FDJ was nominally voluntarily. However, those who didn't join lost access to organized holidays, and found it difficult (if not impossible) to be admitted to university. Most youths who refused to join did so for religious reasons.

[edit] History

Founded in 1936 in Germany to oppose Hitler's rule, as an underground Communist movement it was proscribed from its inception, and had its headquarters in exile in various cities—firstly Paris in 1936, then Prague in 1938. After Hitler's conquest of much of Europe, the FDJ was forced, like many other anti-fascist movements, to move to Britain, and settled in London.

After the defeat of Hitler in 1945, the FDJ headquarters moved to the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and once again became active in German politics. When Germany was partitioned into the eastern German Democratic Republic and the western Federal Republic of Germany, supported by the Soviet Union and the United States respectively, the FDJ assumed a role in the GDR which was similar to the Soviet Komsomol. It was recognized as part of the communist World Federation of Democratic Youth at its annual meeting in Otwock, Poland, on August 21, 1948.

Because of its pro-communist orientation and links to East Germany, the FDJ was treated with suspicion by the West German government. In 1951, the government of Konrad Adenauer banned the FDJ along with the KPD. In 1952, Phillip Müller, a member of the FDJ, was shot by the West German armed forces during a demonstration. Large numbers of the FDJ's membership were imprisoned.

The FDJ's official newspaper was Junge Welt, which at one time was the largest-circulation paper in East Germany. It continues publication today on a smaller scale without FDJ affiliation.

In 1990, the organisation lost much of its membership, and now shares a building with the Left, but is in no way affiliated with said party or any other major political group. Legally, the statutes declaring the FDJ an illegal organisation are still in place, although the organisation operates openly and claims they have legal status as part of an agreement in 1990 between both countries prior to annexation.