ABOUT THE EDELWEISS PIRATES

The Edelweiss Pirates was a loosely organised youth movement that arose, mainly among the working classes, in towns and cities across Nazi Germany. Many groups had different names but they all considered themselves to be Edelweiss Pirates, named after the edelweiss badges that many of them wore. The groups arose in response to the strict, paramilitary nature of the Hitler Youth, and rebelled, initially, against the government’s control of leisure time.

One of their slogans was ‘Eternal War on the Hitler Youth.’

Groups of Edelweiss Pirates were mostly peaceful, engaged in hiking and camping trips, and defying the laws restricting free movement. They were known to paint buildings with anti-Nazi graffiti and to distribute propaganda leaflets dropped by the Allies. As the war progressed, however, some groups became more defiant by attacking Hitler Youth patrols, harbouring army deserters, Jews, and even prisoners of war.

Much later in the war, Edelweiss Pirates were even suspected of involvement in the murder of Gestapo officers.

In October 1944, Heinrich Himmler (the Chief of German Police and Minister of the Interior) ordered a crackdown on the group.

On 10th November 1944, thirteen youths were hanged at a public gallows in Ehrenfeld train station in Cologne. Six of them were, or had been members of the Edelweiss Pirates.

The youngest was sixteen years old.