Kriegsbücherei der deutschen Jugend - War story books for youth

[Neil Hever]

Hi folks, This is one of my favorite little fiction books. The title translates to Secrets of a ruined city. It tracks the activity of a field phone group. On the cover you can see the Kabelroller and the Anzieher. You can see the Rückentrage backpack reel wire dispenser and the single leather Handschuh in use. Does anyone else have any of these books or any history? NH

[drmessimer]

Neil: I found this information online that might be of interest to you: The Nazis published an extensive series of booklets on the war intended for the youth titled the Kriegsbücherei der deutschen Jugend. There were 156 of them, appearing at weekly intervals from 1940 through December 1942. There were also fourteen special editions that were not for sale, rather used as rewards by the Nazi youth group. These were published at the end of the series. These booklets presented the war in an exciting manner, and often ended with an appeal to join the military. This page include the covers of twenty-eight of them, with translations of the full text of four and some interior illustrations. John Edward Kuykendall did a dissertation comparing these booklets to ones published in Britain: “‘The Unknown War’: Popular War Fiction for Juveniles and the Anglo-German Conflict, 1939-1945” (University of South Carolina, 2002).
Someone reprinted the fourteen undated special editions, with no indication as to who or when. However, the reprints are easily distinguishable from originals, as the paper of the originals will be yellowed, whereas the reprints are on new white paper.
Some of the authors later became prominent journalists. For example, the author of #52 was Josef Müller-Marein, later chief editor of the weekly Die Zeit. And below is the link that will take you to the original wed site that displays many of the issues. Dwight

Kriegsbücherei der deutschen Jugend

[Neil Hever]

Fantastic Dwight - thanks so much! I'm hoping others will post some covers or illustrations from these books. One thing that is useful in the books are the illustrations. For example, on the cover I posted you see the Anzieher (cable dresser) wearing just one glove. The Wehrmacht did not issue two gloves for this purpose - just one. While translating a manual on the field phone I was puzzled by the equipment list having only one glove listed. This photo confirms the fact that only one was issued for dressing cable. The illustrations in the books appear to be very accurate. NH

[Neil Hever]

I actually have corresponded with Randall at Calvin! A few years back I sent him some original newspapers put out during the elections in the early 30s. They reside in the archive. NH

[der alte oberst]

A lot of these paperbacks were taken to the front for reading material when nothing was happening.

[bigmacglenn]

I'm finding these on German and Dutch Militaria sites at 10-15 Euros...A good price, especially the cover-art makes them attractive display pieces for a HJ Grouping...
cheers, Glenn