Their objectives were originally more self-indulgent in nature, being privileged with wealth and German heritage, they spent their money on expensive clothing and liquor. But in pre-WWII Germany, the Nazi regimentation of society inadvertantly gave rise to massive teenage street gangs who beat up the Hitler Youth, tagged anti-Nazi graffiti at train stations– and listened to jazz. They started to distribute anti-fascist propaganda. Mainly located in Hamburg and Berlin this group consisted of boys and girls ranging in age from 14 to 18 years old. The hunger for English dance music and for their own dance bands led to break-ins in shops selling musical instruments. Relative wealth also fostered a distinctive style among the Swing Kids, which was in some ways comparable to the zoot suit style popular in the United States at the time. The Hitler Youth patrol the night streets looking for anyone who breaks the rules. The leaders of these organisations realized they had to offer some attraction in the area of social dancing to recruit members. When bigger gatherings were banned, the Swing Kids moved to more informal settings, and swing clubs and discotheques emerged in all the major cities of the Reich. It is referred to as a number of youth movements that developed in Western Germany as a result of the Nazi control over youths, but not as a cohesive movement. Set in the St. Pauli of the early 1990s, the protagonists of the film – musicians around the band Die Goldenen Zitronen – uncover and stumble upon the history of the Swing Kids. They were typically from more wealthy families than the Edelweiss pirates. ", mocking the infamous "Sieg Heil! The youth also referred to themselves as Swings or Swingheinis ("Swingity"); members were called "Swing-Boy", "Swing-Girl" or "Old-Hot-Boy". Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published The Nazis felt that the best way to instill their way of life into the German people was to start educating them young as opposed to in adulthood. The Swing Youth (German: Swingjugend) were a group of jazz and swing lovers in Germany formed in Hamburg in 1939. [6], The Swing Kids were defining a counterculture, shown by their clothing and music. Even before the war boys and girls from Hamburg from the socially privileged classes joined groups, wearing strikingly casual clothing and became fans of English music [i.e. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. [citation needed]. German filmmaker Margit Czenki's 1994 made-for-television movie Swingpfennig/Deutschmark featured the original Swingboys Günter Discher and Otto Bender. A secret report from the Reich Ministry of Justice in January 1944 described the Swing Youth as follows:[16]. [2] For example, many half-Jews were sought out and persecuted before others if they were known as Swing Kids.