Herbert Norkus

Herbert Norkus (26 July 1916 – 24 January 1932) was a Hitler Youth member who was murdered by German Communists. He became a role model and martyr for the Hitler Youth and was widely used in Nazipropaganda, most prominently as the subject of novel and film Hitler Youth Quex.

Born to a working class family in the Tiergarten district of Berlin, Norkus joined the Naval Hitler Youth in 1931.^[1] He was reported to have enjoyed playing the piano and drawing. His father had been wounded in World War I, and supposedly had Communist sympathies. The official Nazi biographies of Norkus claimed his father initially opposed his son's Nazi activities but was ultimately converted and became a Nazi too.

Clashes between the Hitler Youth and the Communist Red Front youth movement (Rote Jungfront) were becoming increasingly common as the NSDAP and the German Communist Party struggled for power in the waning days of the Weimar Republic.

His comrades nicknamed him “Quex” because ”he carried out orders faster than quicksilver” (German: Quecksilber).^[2]

On 24 January 1932, 15-year-old Herbert Norkus and other Hitler Youth members were distributing leaflets advertising a forthcoming Nazi rally. The group was confronted by Communists. Norkus fought them off and ran to a nearby house for help. A man answered and slammed the door in his face. Norkus was then stabbed six times by the pursuing Communists. He banged on another door, which was answered by a woman who tried to get him to a hospital. However, he died on arrival.^[3]

El escritor Karl Aloys Schenzinger convirtió a Norkus en un modelo a seguir para las Juventudes Hitlerianas en la popular novela nazi Der Hitlerjunge Quex (1932). La novela era lectura obligatoria para todos los miembros de las Juventudes Hitlerianas. En 1933, se adaptó al cine bajo la dirección de Hans Steinhoff , con Jürgen Ohlsen, miembro de las Juventudes Hitlerianas, en el papel principal y Heinrich George en un papel importante como el padre del niño.

Passau nombró una calle en honor a Norkus. ^{[ 4 ]}

Un buque escuela de la Armada alemana, llamado Herbert Norkus, fue bautizado en su honor, pero nunca se terminó debido a la guerra. Muchas escuelas, calles y plazas también recibieron su nombre durante el período nazi.

Otros recibieron fama póstuma gracias a los nazis.

• Wilhelm Gustloff
• Horst Wessel
• Lista de nazis que murieron en el Putsch de la Cervecería.

Notas

Referencia general

• Arnold Littmann: Herbert Norkus und die Hitlerjungen vom Beußelkietz. Berlín: Steuben. 1934.
• Hermann Gerstmayer (Ed.): Herbert Norkus, der Hitlerjunge. Berlín: Neues Verlagshaus für Volksliteratur. 1934.
• Rudolf Ramlow: ¿Herbert Norkus? - ¡aquí! Opfer und Sieg der Hitler-Jugend. Stuttgart ua: Unión Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft. 1933.
• Wolfgang Schwarz: Cámara de Representantes Herbert Norkus. Breslau: Händel. 1934.
• Artur Axmann: "Das kann doch nicht das Ende sein". Hitlers letzter Reichsjugendführer erinnert sich. Coblenza: Bublies. 1995. (Norkus gehörte zu Axmanns Gefolgschaft en Berlín) ISBN 3-926584-33-5.

• El lugar de la historia - Juventudes Hitlerianas