Background: Der Pimpf was the monthly for boys 10-14 years old in the Hitler Youth organization. The first issue appeared in 1935 under the title Morgen. The title changed to Der Pimpf with the April 1937 issue. It contained a mixture of adventure and propaganda. Its frequency of publication diminished during the war.
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Source: My collection.
Der Pimpf: 1935-1944
This is the first issue of Morgen, dated February 1935.
January 1937. This issue has an interesting article titled “Hey, You There!” It describes the kind of boy the Nazis didn't want.
January 1938
February 1938
April 1938
May 1938
July 1938
August 1938
September 1938. The cover illustrates “Karsten’s Wild Ride”, a story about a Hitler Youth boy who pulls some pranks on a neighbor, but rescues his reputation by riding his horse through the rain to get a film from the railroad station in the next village, thus rescuing an important meeting.
October 1938. The cover illustrates the major theme of the issue on American Indians. There is a most interesting article on the Souix, which basically says that they were a strong race that was unable to withstand the even stronger white race.
November 1938
May 1939: Articles about auto racing, a bomber pilot forced to bail out, and the building of the Panama Canal. There is a story about a proud boy who joins the Pimpfs for pragmatic reasons. The other boys teach him a lesson. Several items deal with military scouts.
July 1939: The lead story is about German troops in the Spanish Civil War. An article about rocketry wonders if space travel is even possible.
October 1939: The cover shows a German tank rolling over Polish troops. There are articles on the early days of World War II, on Zeppelins, and on the Spanish Civil War.
April 1940: A cover for Hitler’s birthday.
August 1940
November 1941: The rather busy cover shows the Luftwaffe dropping supplies to an armored unit. The lead article describes how five German tanks defeated half a Soviet division. Another article deals with the paratroop invasion of Crete. Several stories describe adventures by members of the Hitler Youth.
March 1942: The cover shows a German fighter blowing a British plane out of the sky. Much of the interior material also concerns the Luftwaffe.
June 1942. The cover is captioned “Hunting for Spies.” The story is about a competition between two Pimpf groups. Another story is about a brave Pimpf who fought incendiary bombs dropped on his apartment building.
October 1942. The cover has a member of the Dutch Nazi youth group, the Jeugdstorm. The majority of the issue has a military theme. An Iron Cross winner shows boys how to use a compass, and there are pictures of submarines and a story of a Stuka pilot.
December 1942: The cover shows a young boy admiring a military uniform, while in the backgound an artillery crew is firing. He longs for the day when he can join them. Most interior material concerns the military in some way. The lead article is titled “I Choose My Weapon.” It reports on a visit of a Hitler Youth brigade to a military base, where they experience the use of a variety of weapons.
January 1943
February 1943: A story of a member in China (the part occupied by Japan). There is also a story about Japanese youth, and a piece on a submarine that survived a hurricane.
May-June 1944. The lead article here is titled “Freedom and Heaven,” a rather interesting piece on Germany’s greatness. The last paragraph gives the flavor: “Freedom is also the goal of the battle of our day. It grows from the behavior of us boys as we join the war and the front, from our inner conduct which results from a conscious return to the truth and genuine values of life, the values of art and culture, that we are defending from the arsonists of this war.”
