Free German Youth

Establishment in 1946 in the Soviet Occupation Zone The FDJ had its origins in the months following the end of the Second World War and it was formally founded on 7 March 1946 under the leadership of a youthful Erich Honecker. Initially developed as an ostensibly non-political national, youth organization, at first the FDJ functioned in all four zones of occupied Germany. Conceived as a 'free' and 'democratic' united youth organization, 'Free German Youth' comprised young antifascists who would cooperate in order to rebuild their homeland. The name of the organisation was inspired by the 'Free German Youth' movements formed by young German antifascists in Prague, Paris and London, before the Second World War. The FDJ was responsible for the teaching of socialist theory for the rising generation of young East Germans. Additionally, the FDJ aimed to increase the productivity of young East German workers through sponsored 'youth brigades', during the 1940s. As the sole official representative of East German youth, the FDJ's main objective was to win over the hearts and minds of young East Germans to socialism, through the Marxist–Leninist ideals of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). During the 1940s, the FDJ promoted a 'happy youth life' for young East Germans through a sense of unity, freedom, and education. This increasingly made the FDJ attractive to the youths. In 1946 and 1947, the responsibility of organising leisure activities predominantly rested with local FDJ groups, existing in towns and villages. The FDJ in the GDR The FDJ increasingly developed into an instrument of communist rule and became a member of the 'democratic bloc' in 1950. In turn, a more severe anti-religious agenda, whose aim was to obstruct the Church youths' work, grew within the FDJ, ultimately reaching a high point in mid-April 1953 when the FDJ newspaper reported on details of the 'criminal' activities of the 'illegal' . FDJ gangs were sent to church meetings to heckle those inside and school tribunals interrogated or expelled students who refused to join the FDJ for religious reasons. As an affiliated organisation of the SED party and government, the FDJ became targets of demonstrators in the lead up to the 1953 Uprising. Growing popular unrest caused members of the FDJ to flee to the West. By 1953, the FDJ was in a state of turmoil with many members and officials joining in with the strikes and demonstrations. On 25 April 1957, at the 16th session of the FDJ, the central council declared the FDJ as an official 'socialist' youth organisation. The FDJ was the GDR's second most important mass organisation, after the FDGB. The FDJ established a political directive that, in theory, made it an omnipresent force in all aspects of 'youth life' in the GDR. As the sole official representative of GDR youth, the FDJ was vital to the upbringing of young people as socialist personalities. Measures were employed in an attempt to encourage a sense of community spirit of working for a large whole and a better future. According to official prescription, this involved raising them to accept socialist ideals, to acquire a high level of knowledge and vocational skills, to participate actively in official economic and social programmes, to commit themselves to the cause of peace, and to participate in the military training programmes. In schools, the Hans-Beimler contests provided a form of military sports education for pupils in the eighth grade. FDJ members also demanded that license holders dismantled TV aerials that pointed westwards, which even led to FDJ members climbing onto the roofs and sawing off offending antennae. The focus on providing leisure activities for East German youth returned and the organisation of major cultural events by the FDJ, such as the 'German meeting' () increased, ultimately reaching a highpoint at the 1964 festival on the public holiday of Whitsuntide. Thousands of young East and West Germans gathered in East Berlin in a relaxed atmosphere where they danced, listened to jazz and rock music and exchanged views on political and personal matters. By the 1970s, well-organised mass parades and mass demonstrations on the occasion of public holidays such as May Day in which members of the FDJ would actively participate, marching in uniform and carrying official banners became a common occurrence. The FDJ possessed additional measures to mobilise young East German people. The FDJ aimed to make physical culture and sport a form of popular mass activity. The 'Joint Sports Programme' organised by the FDJ, the DTSB, and the FDGB, encouraged not only physical relaxation but also the competitive spirit of participation. The children's "Spartakiads", also organised by the FDJ, alongside the Thälman Pioneers and other mass organisations, were staged in the schools, localities and districts biannually at regional and national level in order to stimulate a high level of performance and help sports functionaries to identify talented youths who could benefit from further development in East German sports schools and training centres. Another objective of the FDJ was to ensure that individual students experienced holiday camp or carried out some activity during their holidays in a pupils' brigade. In 1952, Phillip Müller, a member of the FDJ, was shot by the North Rhine-Westphalia Police during a demonstration in Essen against West German re-armament. Afterwards, large numbers of the FDJ's membership were imprisoned. ==Structure==

Democratic Centralism The FDJ's basic organizational structures were established at the 3rd Parliament in Leipzig in June 1949. Just like the SED and mass organizations in the GDR, the FDJ was grounded on the principle of democratic centralism, a principle first introduced by Lenin to bring order and discipline to the Bolshevik Party during the Russian Revolution. Accordingly, the FDJ was run on a strictly hierarchical and centralized basis. Each organizational unit was directly subordinate to the next-highest organizational body and instructions issued by the central FDJ leadership were binding for all lower-level organizations. ZR Secretariat The real executive power, however, lay in the hands of the ZR Secretariat, perhaps the FDJ's nearest equivalent to the SED Politburo. Elected by the Central Council, the ZR Secretariat shaped most of the political and organisational direction of the FDJ. It was responsible for cadre selection within the organization and directly instructed the Bezirk (regional) leaderships. Weekly meetings of the secretariat, generally chaired by the FDJ first secretary, were attended by the various ZR secretaries, each of whom responsible for a certain area of FDJ work (such as higher education or international affairs). The ZR Büro was, in theory, the fourth central leadership organ of the FDJ. It was created at the 3rd Parliament in 1949. It incorporated a wider range of youth representatives, including the leader of the government department for 'youth questions' and representatives of the bloc parties such as the CDU and the LDPD (23). However, it had no real power and was little more than an adjunct to the far more important ZR secretariat. Bezirk and Kreis The sub-structure below the FDJ's highest echelons, consisted of three main bodies organised in strictly hierarchical level: Bezirk (regional) leadership organizations, Kreis (district) leadership organizations, and 'basic units' (Grundeinheiten). At both Bezirk and Kreis level, the leadership structures essentially replicated those in place at the highest level. The 'delegates' conference' (Delegiertenkonferenz) was the lower-level equivalent to the FDJ Parliament, meeting twice every five years at Bezirk level and once every two years in the districts. The Bezirk and Kreis secretariats constituted the real seats of decision-making power at regional and district level respectively. The Kreis secretariat was the key organization linking the last of the full-time functionaries to the 'grass roots' of the youth organization, as represented by the basic unit, which constituted the FDJ's 'nerve centre' in schools, universities, factories, farms, and residential areas. It was responsible for organizing the monthly 'membership meetings' of local FDJ members, where organizational and (less frequently) political issues were discussed. Basic Units In most cases, the basic units were subdivided into the smallest organizational division of all, the 'group' (which might consist, for example, of the FDJ members in a certain class at a school or in a particular work brigade in a factory). In the case of the larger basic units (those with more than 100 members), specialized intermediary bodies—Abteilungsorganisationen ('branch organizations')—were inserted into the organizational hierarchy, serving as a bridge to the FDJ groups below them. At these lower levels of the youth organization, only a small minority of functionaries—such as the first secretaries of some of the larger basic units—were full-time. Membership After submitting an application, young people, 14 years of age and older, could be accepted into the FDJ. Membership was voluntary, but, nonmembers faced disadvantages when choosing a career or applying to higher education. By the start of 1950, approximately one million had joined the FDJ. By 1985, the FDJ had acquired over 2.3 million members. Once accepted, the members of the FDJ organized several agricultural, economic, cultural, and political initiatives to encourage youth engagement and grow political loyalty in the GDR. ==List of chairmen of the Free German Youth==

Die Wende At the end of November 1989, the FDJ leadership led by Eberhard Aurich was dismissed by the 13th session of the Central Council. At the end of January 1990, during the XIII Parliament the FDJ gave itself a new statute, defining itself as a "left federation" which stood for an independent GDR as a "socialist alternative on German soil", and no longer as a "helper and combat reserve of the party". The later spoke of a "failure of the organisation" because "the concentrated presence of former full-time officials" prevented a "radical break with the old FDJ". After the Peaceful Revolution in the GDR, from November 1989 to November 1990, the number of members dropped from 2.3 million to 22,000. The FDJ contested the only multiparty election in East Germany in March 1990, as part of the (Alternative Youth List), an electoral list consisting of four leftwing youth organizations. However the list only gained 14,615 votes (0.12%) and no seats. After unification After German reunification in October 1990, the FDJ quickly lost nearly all of its remaining membership, shrinking in mid-1991 to 7,000 members and in 1994 to a maximum of 300 members, dwindling further in 2003 to about 150. The 7,500 full-time employees of the FDJ were all released by the end of 1991 and the remaining staff handled the FDJ facilities and structures. The assets of the FDJ were placed under the administration of the . Its youth clubs and vacation resorts were redistributed, closed, or sold. The reformed SED, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), founded its own new youth organization, the , and no longer recognized the FDJ. However, the FDJ continues to maintain a titular existence to this day. It has reverted to a strict Marxist–Leninist political line, which is exemplified by a positive reading of East German history and the rejection of the federal republic and its annexation of the GDR. The FDJ remains independent, but cooperates with political groups such as the KPD (Ost) and the (Workers' Union for the Reconstruction of the KPD). Currently, the FDJ has its headquarters in the office section of the Karl-Liebknecht-Haus. The former newspaper of the FDJ, the , still exists as a small Marxist newspaper, but is now independent from the FDJ. The present newspaper of the FDJ is named the Fanfare, and it is published irregularly. == See also ==