---- Forwarded article From: atitlan on his Yahoo Group [ymna2] wandervoegel 5-8
This series will not be of interest to many of you, as only some of the pictures (and none until later in the series) contain nudity. I'm posting them because I find them a fascinating and intimate portrait of young people away from home, bonding together on trips in the outdoors. They may bring back memories of similar adventures you once enjoyed.
The photos are from an Austrian Wandervoegel organisation. It i a youth group of both sexes and mixed ages. The pictures reflect this, but as far as I can judge none of the images involving nudity shows anyone 'under-age'.
Wandervoegel means 'twittering birds', conveying the happy freedom of birds flying together up in the sky. The Wandervoegel movement was at its strongest between the two World Wars, when it often encompassed nudist ideals and a belief in the health-giving properties of sunshine, fresh air and cool water on the naked body. The movement began in Germany at the end of the
19th Century. Here's one account:
"From the Wandervogel came a stronger culture of hiking, adventure, bigger tours to farther places, romanticism and a younger leadership structure. Scouting brought uniforms, flags, more organization, more camps and a clearer ideology. Influenced by the ideas of Gustav Wyneken, some members of the Wandervogel movement were quite open about their homoerotic feelings, although this kind of affection was supposed to be
expressed in a mostly chaste manner. The founding of the Jungwandervogel happened largely as a reaction to a public scandal about these erotic passions, which were said to alienate young men from women."
"Together this lead to the emergence of the Bündische Jugend. The Wandervogel, German Scouting and the Bündische Jugend together are referred to as the German Youth Movement. They had been around for more than a quarter of a century before the Nazis began to see an opportunity to hijack some methods and symbols of the German Youth Movement to use it in the Hitler Youth to manipulate the young.
This movement was very
influential at that time. Its members were romantic and prepared to sacrifice a lot for their ideals. That is why there are many to be found on both sides in the Third Reich. Some of the Wandervogel groups had Jewish members and Jewish scouting movements such as Hashomer Hatzair were influenced by the Wandervogel. Other groups within the movement were anti-semitic or close to the Nazis. From 1933 the Nazis outlawed the Wandervogel, German Scouting, the Jungenschaft and the Bündische Jugend, along with all youth groups independent of the Hitler Youth."
Taken from, with thanks: (source)
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Wandervogel
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