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The origins of the Edelweißpiraten can be traced to the period immediately prior to World War II, as the state controlled Hitler Youth was mobilized to serve the state, at the expense of the leisure activities it had previously offered young people. This tension was exacerbated once the war began and youth leaders were conscripted. In contrast, the Edelweißpiraten offered young people considerable freedom to express themselves and to mingle with members of the opposite sex, whereas Nazi youth movements were strictly segregated by sex into the Hitler-Jugend (boys) and Bund Deutscher Mädel (girls). Though predominantly male, the casual meetings of the Edelweißpiraten even offered German adolescents an opportunity for sexual experimentation with the girls that tagged along with every group.

Apart from gatherings on street corners, the Edelweißpiraten engaged in hiking and camping trips, which kept them away from the prying eyes of the authoritarian Nazi regime. They often engaged in fights with the Hitler Youth and took great pride in attacking them. As one group, the "Navajos", sang:

Des Hitlers Zwang, der macht uns klein,

(Hitler's power may keep us small)

noch liegen wir in Ketten.

(we're still bound in chains)

Doch einmal werden wir wieder frei,

(But one day we'll be free again)

wir werden die Ketten schon brechen.

(We'll smash through the chains)

Denn unserer Fäuste, die sind hart,

(With our fists, we will fight)

ja--und die Messer sitzen los,

(Yes, and we'll draw our knives)

für die Freiheit der Jugend,

(For the freedom of Youth)

kämpfen Navajos.

(The Navajos are struggling)

The response of the Nazis to the Edelweißpiraten was harsh. Individuals identified by the Gestapo as belonging to the various gangs were often rounded up and released with their heads shaved to shame them. In some cases, young people were sent to concentration camps or prison. On October 25, 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered a crackdown on the group, and in late November of that year, a group of thirteen Edelweißpiraten were publicly hanged in Cologne. Among the victims was Barthel Schink, a sixteen-year-old leader of the local "Navajos."

Three of the members of the group killed.

Edelweiss Pirates in Cologne, c. 1943. Edelweiss badges can been seen on the collar of the boy on the left and on the hat of the girl in the middle.

Nevertheless, government repression never managed to break the spirit of most groups, which constituted a subculture that rejected the norms of Nazi society. While the Edelweiss Pirates assisted army deserters and others hide from the Third Reich, they have yet to receive recognition as a resistance movement, and the families of victims killed by the Nazis have as yet received no reparations.

See also: The Swing Movement in Nazi Germany

A film about the Cologne group is in production. http://www.palladiofilm.de/palladio/englisch/proj-01-00-e.htm