Hitlerjunge Quex
(1933)

Country: Germany

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

Heini V?lker lives in poverty in Berlin with his mother and his Communist father. Invited to a weekend of camping with the Communist Youth Group, Heini finds himself uninterested in their activities, which seem to consist in smoking, drinking and a somewhat bored hedonism. Wandering off from the camp, he stumbles on a camp of Hitler Youth, and is attracted by their activities, such as swimming, and singing together as a group. Back home, Heini joins the local Hitler Youth group and is nicknamed 'Quex' (Quicksilver) for his zeal in carrying out his duties. He suffers various ordeals, including the suicide of his mother, and eventually dies by being stabbed to death by a Communist, thus becoming a National Socialist martyr. As he lies dying in his comrades' arms, he just has the strength to say with his last breath: "Uns're Fahne flattert uns voran" (literally, "Our flag flutters us forward").

Notes

• Based on the 1932 novel of the same name by Karl Aloys Schenzinger, which in turn is based on the real-life story of Herbert Norkus.
• The film's subtitle, "Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend", means "A film about the sacrificial spirit of German youth".
• Hitlerjunge Quex is one of three films about Nazi martyrs released in 1933, the other two being "SA-Mann Brand" and "Hans Westmar".
• J?rgen Ohlsen, the boy who plays Quex, proved to be something of an embarrassment to the Nazis. By 1938, rumours of his homosexuality were so widespread that the verb "quexen" (literally "to quex") had entered the language as a slang term meaning to have homosexual sex.

Gallery

• BA Gallery