Swing kids music. "Swing Heil": Swing Youth, Schlurfs, and others in Nazi Germany 2022-10-06
Swing kids music
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Swing kids is a term used to describe young people in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s who were devoted to swing music and jazz culture. This subculture emerged in opposition to the dominant Nazi ideology, which sought to suppress non-Aryan art forms and promote a homogenous, militaristic culture.
Swing kids were typically teenagers and young adults who were drawn to the energetic and rebellious spirit of swing music. They formed clubs and held secret gatherings where they could listen to music, dance, and socialize. These activities were often covert, as the Nazi regime viewed swing music as degenerate and sought to suppress it.
Despite the risks, swing kids remained dedicated to their passion for swing music and resisted the Nazi cultural agenda. They adopted a distinctive style, characterized by tailored suits, fedoras, and dance shoes. This style, which was influenced by American jazz culture, was a deliberate act of rebellion against the conservative and militaristic fashion norms imposed by the Nazi regime.
Swing kids were also notable for their defiance of racial segregation. In a time when the Nazi regime promoted the idea of Aryan superiority and actively persecuted Jews and other minority groups, swing kids embraced a multicultural and inclusive ideology. They often included Jews and other minority group members in their circles, and their music and culture reflected a diverse range of influences.
Despite the efforts of the Nazi regime to suppress swing music and culture, the swing kids movement persisted throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Their dedication to their passion for swing music and their resistance to Nazi ideology made them an enduring symbol of resistance and defiance. Today, the legacy of the swing kids lives on through the enduring popularity of swing music and the cultural influence of jazz.
Swing Kids
Bassist John Brady has since played in Sweep The Leg Johnny and Agonista. Bassist John Brady has since played in Sweep The Leg Johnny and Agonista. What they had in common was a love for jazz and an affinity for British and American pop culture which stood in stark contrast to the enforced Nazi culture of German nationalism, uniformity, and military regulation. Orchestras had to follow strict rules like not exceeding 20 percent of the repertoire to jazz, and some areas outlawed swing dancing and dances. Restrictions on the music and its dissemination came gradually.
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Swing kids
The Swing Kids name was playing on the fact that Hitler required the youths of Germany to join youth oriented programs, but they were highly against this. Some were sent to the front lines, suspected leaders were sent to concentration camps as political prisoners, and Jewish swing kids, like Coco Schuman, faced the Holocaust. These youths rejected the Nazi Regime because of its ideology, uniformity, and its militarism. None of the couples danced normally; there was only swing of the worst sort. One of the rare photographs of swing kids in Germany. The clash of Swing Kids On 18 August 1941, in a brutal police operation, over 300 Swingjugend were arrested.
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James Horner
Measures and sanctions against swing kids varied based on location. If they were over the age of 18, then they were sent to adult concentration camps. Jose Palafox went on to play in notable acts such as Bread and Circuits, Yaphet Kotto, and Baader Brains. Vocalist Justin Pearson is known for contributing to a multitude of bands and projects over the years including Dead Cross, The Locust, Retox, Planet B, Head Wound City, and Deaf Club. That fall, based on these records, 63 swings were arrested. Some engaged in provocative actions and violent confrontations, mostly with their counterparts in the Hitler Youth. What followed were years of raids on music events, dance schools, and other informal meeting places.
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Swing Kids (soundtrack)
Photo courtesy of the German Federal Archives. Visually they could not have been in starker contrast to typical Hitler Youth style. I do not know what became of the older gentleman I danced with that evening. They danced in private quarters, clubs, rented halls, and more notably, Café Heinze. Swing was not proscribed by the Nazi regime initially. Their use of music and dance was a way for them to rebel in a way that was non-violent. If under the age of 18, they were sent to youth concentration camps such as Moringen for boys and Uckemark for girls.
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"Swing Heil": Swing Youth, Schlurfs, and others in Nazi Germany
Further, a key element of their culture was a laissez-faire outlook on life. In January 1943, Günter Discher, as one of the ringleaders of the Swing Kids, was deported to the youth concentration camp of Moringen. The look varied from location and sometimes reflected differences in social background. The band did their last few shows recruiting Jimmy Lavalle who was part of notable acts such as The Locust, The Crimson Curse, The Black Heart Procession, Gogogo Airheart, and Album Leaf, to play second guitar. Over the years, this nine-song collection would become a staple for the Three One G community.
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The Swing Kids
On 2 January 1942, Heinrich Himmler wrote to Reinhard Heydrich calling on him to clamp down on the ringleaders of the swing movement, recommending a few years in a concentration camp with beatings and forced labor. Then the unexpected happened; guitarist and founding member of Swing Kids and Unbroken, Eric Allen, took his own life. The Swing Kids were mostly middle and upper class and, it must be stressed, largely apolitical youths who wore long whips of hair in direct contravention of the order that men must wear military length hair and long, often checked English sports jackets, shoes with thick light crepe soles, showy scarves, homburg hats; some even carried umbrellas in imitation of the British foreign secretary at the time, Anthony Eden. . The dancing was considered vulgar, inappropriate, and often connected to claims of sexual promiscuity.
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Layout and design by Bran Moon. An overwhelming majority of them were women and children. Vocalist Justin Pearson is known for contributing to a multitude of bands and projects over the years including Dead Cross, The Locust, Retox, Planet B, Head Wound City, and Deaf Club. Music is hard to regulate and this ambiguity offered many ways to circumvent rules and trick the system. Advertisement for the exhibit on degenerate art in Salzburg, Austria in 1938.
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The Swing Jugend Swing Kids were one of a number of loosely organized youth groups or movements that, in their own small ways, opposed the relentless and draconian homogenization that would serve Germany forever. This led to an odd duality in the way Nazi authorities dealt with jazz. This mass arrest encouraged the youth to further their political consciousness and opposition to National Socialism. Most boys would wear long, often oversized and checked sports jackets, hats with American-style brims, shoes with thick crepe soles and, in some cities, an umbrella, no matter the weather. Over a decade later, and Eric still lives on in his music. Even while located in these concentration camps, they still maintained a strong sense of love and devotion to swing dance and jazz music, often risking their lives to sing and a little and dance some in their confinements. The band, made up of Justin Pearson, Jose Palafox, John Brady and Eric Allen drew inspiration from jazz and swing era ethics, creating a strand of genre-defying music.
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They were also often discriminated against, faced many sanctions and acts of reprisals. Here, the teens had been particularly bold in their gatherings, from volunteering for lookout shifts and using those to sit on the rooftops and listen to illegal songs, to organizing dances of several hundred participants. The measures against them ranged from cutting their hair and sending them back to school under close monitoring, to the deportation of the leaders to concentration camps. Teenagers, the most ardent followers of a new musical trend, were also hard to regulate and for some of them the anti-jazz propaganda had the exact opposite effect. Most were sent home at one point or the other, their jazz records confiscated and hair cut short.
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