Ranks and insignia of the Hitler Youth

The ranks and insignia of the Hitler Youth were a Nazi Party paramilitary rank system that existed from 1932 to 1945. The Hitler Youth had existed for nearly a decade before, but the organization did not maintain any particular system of ranks. Such ranks were introduced in the early 1930s and became widespread after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933.

The ranks of the Hitler Youth were divided into an adult leadership corps, which maintained their own system of ranks, as well as the general membership of boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years of age.

Reich Youth Leader

Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader) was the highest rank of the Hitler Youth and was held by the Nazi Party official in command of the entire organization.^[1] The rank of Reichsjugendführer was only held by two people during its existence, first by Baldur von Schirach and later by Artur Axmann.^[2] Von Schirach wore no particular insignia and can be seen in photographic evidence as donning a Nazi Party brown jacket with Hitler Youth armband. When Axmann took the rank of Reichsjugendführer in 1941, he adopted similar insignia collar patches to that of the rank of Reichsführer-SS.

Ranks and insignia

Unit designators

Membership in local Hitler Youth cells was denoted by a number worn on the upper portion of the rank insignia shoulder patch. These unit designators were worn by all members of the Hitler Youth, with the exception of the National Youth Leadership Corps, who served on the staff of the Reichsjugendführer.

Hitler Youth titles

Prior to the establishment of a paramilitary rank system, the Hitler Youth maintained a simple system of paramilitary titles which were as follows:

• Reichsjugendführer: National Youth Leader (Commander of the Hitler Youth)^[1]
• Hitlerjugendführer: Hitler Youth Leader (Adult Leadership Corps)
• Hitlerjunge: Hitler Youth (Juvenile Membership)

Reichsjugendführer and Hitlerjunge would later become actual ranks, with Hitlerjunge also commonly used to denote any juvenile member of the Hitler Youth. The title of Hitlerjugendführer never became an actual rank but was used throughout the Hitler Youth's existence as a term applied to members of the adult leadership.

References