Bund Deutscher Mädel in der Hitler-Jugend

  • League of German Girls within the Hitler Youth
  • BDM
Identifier
348
Type of Entity
Corporate Body

Dates of Existence

Founded in 1930

History

In 1930, the Bund Deutscher Mädel in der Hitler-Jugend was founded as the official female branch of the Hitler Youth organization. Before the Nazi rise to power in 1933-01, the BDM did not attract a mass following. Membership expanded rapidly throughout the 1930s, until participation for eligible girls became compulsory in 1936. The BDM’s core constituency consisted of girls from fourteen to eighteen years of age, with a corresponding junior branch, the Jungmädel (Young Girls’ League), for girls aged ten to fourteen. In 1938, a third component, the Bund Deutscher Mädel-Werk Glaube und Schönheit (Union for Belief and Beauty), offered a voluntary association for young women aged seventeen to twenty-one.

Places

  • Founded in Germany.

Sources

  • Children during the Holocaust / P. Heberer. – Plymouth, 2011. – p. 457