Swing Youth by gwen

Who were the Swing Youth?

grcannon — 2024-03-06 16:21:39 UTC

In the time of the Nazi regime, the Swing Youth, also known as Schlurfs or Swingjugend, were teens and young adults who shared a love for jazz, American and British pop-culture, and swing dancing. While it wasn't the exact intention of their interests, the swing life contrasted sharply to the military, uniform, and, in Nazi Germany, respected Hitler Youth. Because of this, and the Swing Youth's love for outlawed American music and jazz, they quick became the enemies of the HJ.

Was swing illegal?

grcannon — 2024-03-06 16:34:06 UTC

In short: Pretty much.

While only some areas of Germany had outlawed swing dances, it was criminalized to listen to jazz or a non-German radio, and many of the musical artists that Swing Youth enjoyed weren't allowed to have records in Nazi Germany. The style of swing rebelled against the "standard" styles of Nazi Germany, for example, wearing long hair, non-uniform clothing, and defying the idea of a "proper German girl". Some punishments for the swing kids (who were caught) ranged to the extremes, leaders of the swing communities would be sent to specific concentration camps.

References

grcannon — 2024-03-06 16:53:57 UTC

Unstated, Bobby. “Swingjugend: The Real Swing Kids.” Swungover*, Wordpress, 24 Sept. 2013, swungover.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/swingjugend-the-real-swing-kids/.

Gross, Terry. “‘swingtime for Hitler’ Explores the Nazis Use of Jazz as a Propaganda Tool.” NPR, NPR, 20 Sept. 2023, www.npr.org/2023/09/20/1200547564/swingtime-for-hitler-explores-the-nazis-use-of-jazz-as-a-propaganda-tool.

Rios, Mina. “Swing Dance Lives on in the Bay Area.” Dancers Group, 19 July 2019, dancersgroup.org/2019/07/swing-dance-lives-on-in-the-bay-area/.

Unstated Author. Swing Kids Behind Barbed Wire, ORT Impact Through Education, Unstated Date https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/swing-kids-behind-barbed-wire/

What is swing dancing?

grcannon — 2024-03-07 21:08:44 UTC

Swing dancing is a dance style that began in the 1920's-1950's, and typically has a triplet step to jazz music. A triplet is when there is three beats/steps in the place of two, ex. dah bah-da or bah-da dah. Swing further expanded into styles such as the Lindy Hop, Balboa, and Charleston, and each sub-group style or individual style has their own spices and speeds to their dances.

What is swing dancing? Video

grcannon — 2024-03-07 21:09:57 UTC

A short video on swing dancing, explaining the triplet beat.

What happened to swing youth in Nazi Germany?

grcannon — 2024-03-08 16:34:08 UTC

Punishments for caught Swing "ringleaders" were severe. The youth could be sent to either the Moringen or Uckermark "youth detention camps" for 2-3 years, which was just another term for a youth concentration camp. After the year of 1942, the adults, however, and Jewish Swing members, would be sent to the more extreme concentration camps, including Auschwitz.

Surviving Morale

All the swing kids were placed in camps for the same "crime", which made sure that they were all together in the same block. This was the demise of the Nazi's attempted erasing of swing. The swing youth would boost their morale and keep their spirits alive in the camps by singing swing songs in secret. They would even replicate the tempos and sounds of the jazz or just music in general, even in the labor camps.

"The salt mine where we worked had really nice acoustics. One of us played on the cartridges – these were like wooden boxes, and he would play drums with some sticks. We improvised all sorts of things. Sometimes it sounded horrible. Either way, we had successfully gotten through our so-called breakfast break. It was a survival strategy."

-Unstated Author. Swing Kids Behind Barbed Wire, ORT Impact Through Education, 2000, holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/swing-kids-behind-barbed-wire/.

grcannon — 2024-03-12 16:53:59 UTC

A video of swing dancing in the Lindy Hop style. This video showcases well the quick footwork, impressive spins, and exciting energy of swing.