Back to nature movement

1
Back to nature movement
2
Life before the back to nature movement
(Wandervogel)
Before the Wandervogel movement, the children
grew up in an awful environment and for this
reason they didnt know the attractions and
beauties nature offered. The children had to obey
their parents and they werent allowed to do
everything they wanted.Real life, which man
searched at this time, could not be found in the
cities. Real life was only to be found in nature,
which did not exist in the cities.The cities
were immoral and reprehensible.The quality of
life and housing conditions were very terrible in
the cities. The flats were dark, the people did
not enjoy life and they didnt realize that they
were a part of wonderful nature.
3
Chronology

• The Wandervogel movement (Wandervogel
• means migrant bird) can be divided into 3
• phases, but only the first phase is that of the
• original Wandervogel. Later new groups
• developed, which didnt have anything to do
• with the original idea.

4
Chronology

• First phase Wandervogel (1890 to 1914)
• When H. Hoffmann was a student he went on hiking
  tours with his classmates.
• This experience left such a
  deep impression on him that even
• later, during his apprenticeship, he
  continued hiking.
• Herman Hoffmann went on hiking trips in the
  surroundings with his students
• Karl Fischer joined these trips and became
  Hoffmanns deputy leader. He already had his own
  groups because of his skills as a group leader.
• 25/01/1900 Fischer became the new head of the
  group
• 04/11/1901 Fischer founded the Wandervogel
  Association AfS (Committee for students hiking
  tours)

5
Chronology

• 1904 Because of tensions within the association
  Fisher resigned from his office. For him the idea
  of leadership was important, and he did not want
  to share it with anybody.
• June 1904 Breaking off of the AfS new
  foundation of the Wandervogel movement
• July 1904 Together with his followers Fischer
  founded the Altwandervogel.
• Many splittings and new foundations of the
  Wandervogel Association followed.
• Girls were not allowed to be members of the
  Altwandervogel because it was feared that the
  boys would be softened and the girls would become
  manly in other associations girls were
  tolerated, but they had to do activities
  separately.
• Until 1913 In this period many new groups of the
  Wandervogel developed and many other groups
  united. But they differed in some criteria like
  cultural demands, the use of nicotine and alcohol
  and the question of who was allowed to join the
  group (Jews, non-academic students,)

6
Chronology

• Oct 11th First free German Youth Day on the
  Hohe Meißner (a mountain)
• 13th 1913 to memorize the battle of Leipzig and
  to unite different groups, which had developed
  from the original Wandervogel
• ? they didnt achieve a complete union the
  orientation became more and more right-wing
• ? the Wandervogel groups developed the so-called
  Meißner-formula, which said that they were not
  allowed to smoke or to drink alcohol
• ? but every group interpreted the formula in a
  different way
• 1914 The beginning of the First World War A lot
  of members of the Wandervogel groups were
  drafted the young people went to war full of
  enthusiasm, which soon turned into dismay, when
  the lists of dead soldiers became longer and
  longer

7
Chronology

• Second phase Development from Wandervogel to
  Bündische Jugend (1919 bis 1927)
• 1919 After the war, the youth groups were split
  and some had broken groups from the right and
  from the left wing wanted to revive the old
  conditions they organized meetings to unite the
  groups again
• -gt but at the big meeting in Coburg they
  realized their contrasts
• Until 1925 The Wandervogel was characterized by
  disharmony and a lack of determination. Its
  members wanted a new direction. Politics and
  religion were getting important now. So two big
  groups developed the Bündische Jugend und the
  youth movement
• -gt There were unions with the boy scouts
  (according to the British model), in which
  obedience and discipline were of great importance
• 1927 The group of the boy scouts and the
  Wandervogel were renamed German Freischar

8
Chronology

• Third phase From Bündische Jugend to Hitler
  Youth (HJ) (1933 to 1938)
• Many groups united with the Bündische Jugend
  because they wanted to escape the threatening
  dissolution by Hitler
• ? In the beginning, many members of the
  Wandervogel joined the HJ because they had
  similar hierarchical structures and shared the
  same principles and the same criteria
• ? Hitler banned the boy scouts and the
  Wandervogel group
• ? Not all members of the Wandervogel joined the
  HJ, but strongly opposed it (and were called
  wild youth group)
• Resistant unions were more and more persecuted by
  the Gestapo
• 1937 The Scholl siblings were arrested because of
  their contact to the wild youth group

9
Way of life

• Fashion reform of clothes
• The corset was considered as bad for health and
  as the clothing of prostitutes.
• Women should be able to move more easily
• The clothes were discussed on the Berlin
  Congress for Women, briefly after the foundation
  of the Association for the Improvement of Womens
  Clothes
• The first exhibition of new clothes took place in
  April 1897
• 35 designers had sent their suggestions of how to
  reform the clothing style
• The clothes were made without a waist, they were
  bagshaped
• Since 1900 women had been allowed to wear
  something like trousers, but only for sports
• In 1912 the association changed its name into
  German Association for New Womens Clothes and
  Womens Culture

10
Way of Life

• Progressive education
• Progressive education attempt at reforming
  schools, teaching methods and general education.
  This reform was directed against the prevailing
  teaching methods of that time. The
  educationalists wanted to change the educational
  system.
• The educationalists showed a lot of social
  commitment.
• Important principles, which they wanted to
  achieve
• Independence of the students
• Free conversations
• Learning by doing
• Important branches Working school, boarding
  school and comprehensive school
• The New Education Fellowship was created in 1921.
  It was a forum for educationalists and, through
  this organisation, conferences were organised
  between 1923 and 1932. At these conferences they
  discussed questions of education. The German
  branch of this organisation is theWeltbund für
  die Erneuerung in der Erziehung
• Important representatives e.g. Wilhelm Blume,
  John Dewey, Minna Specht...

11
Way of life

• Youth hostels
• Cheap accommodation/dormitories
• Youth hostels were built at the beginning of the
  20th century as a consequence of the youth
  movement. At that time the youth hostels were
  just haystacks, where young people stayed
  overnight.
• The first real youth hostel, as we know it, was
  in Altena
• Travelling young people spread the idea of youth
  hostels to other countries
• In Germany you had to be a member of the German
  youth hostel organisation in order to be able to
  sleep in a youth hostel
• A big part of the youth hostels in Germany was
  run by this organisation

12
Way of life

• Health food shop and food
• Health food shop a grocery store selling
  products which are produced on natural base, i.e.
  without preservatives
• This food should offer alternatives to the
  ordinary products, e.g. medical herbs and
  vegetable products should replace meat. So many
  members of the Wandervogel movement were
  vegetarians.
• The first health food shop was opened by Karl
  August Heynen in Wuppertal-Barmen.
• Besides food these shops also offered other
  products, e.g. body care products and natural
  medicine. These shops also intended to spread the
  ideas of healthy life.
• The members of the Wandervogel ate natural
  products and mostly did without meat. On their
  hikes they often took a kind of pea sausage with
  them, out of which they made a pea soup.

13
Way of life

• Music
• The Zupfgeigenhansl is a well-known songbook,
  which was published by Hans Bühler in 1909.
• This book contains a lot of different songs, e.g.
  some farewell songs, love songs, ballads,
  religious songs,...
• The songs were accompanied by the Zupfgeige (a
  guitar), the Waldzither and the Mandoline (all of
  which were plucked instruments). The members of
  the Wandervogel also played rhythm instruments
  like bells,...
• They danced the round dance and the free dance

14
Way of life

• Ideals
• Self-determination
• - Autonomy, breaking away from existing norms
  and authorities
• Renouncement of luxury and comforts
• - Simplicity and modesty
• - the parents of these young people couldnt
  understand their children
• These families had enough money for spending
  expensive holidays,
• but their children just wanted to go out
  into nature for camping...

15
Way of life

• Everyday life
• Long hikes ? great attachment to nature
• Feeling of community ? Singing (Zupfgeigenhansel)
• Feeling of independence among peer groups of the
  same age

16
Way of life

• Gender
• Girls were not allowed to join these groups
  because the leaders thought that the boys would
  be softened
• Society and the youth were characterized by
  anti-feminism
• Hans Blüher, who was a radical representative of
  misogyny, influenced the society of that time
  with his writings provoking controversial
  discussions
• The Wandervogel had a homoerotic basis -gt
  allowing girls to join them could destroy their
  creative power
• They believed, women lacked intellectual
  abilities, being unable to form an idea or
  material things with the help of the intellect
  --gt women were restricted to the physical side of
  things and men were intellectually superior to
  women

17
Way of life

• Blüher faced great opposition, but to a certain
  degree his thoughts were to be found in the minds
  of many men
• The idea that the man is intelligent and the
  woman acts intuitively was widespread (among
  both sexes)
• Blühers theories didnt find open support in the
  Wandervogel movement, but a certain number of
  antifeminists aspects were inherent
• The separation of the sexes should also prevent a
  premature contact between woman and man. Woman
  and man should find their own sexual identity
  first.

18
Way of life

• During the war, the Wandervogel changed
• Women got a better position in mixed groups
• The consequences were fewer hikes, shorter
  excursions --gt very soon the female leaders were
  blamed for the fact that the Wandervogel lost
  its typical features
• - Other reasons were more decisive
• The war changed some conditions
• Poverty, rationing and survival
• The freedom of the boys, that they had had
  because of the relatively stable structures
  declined
• The female leaders couldnt do justice to the
  demands because they didnt earn the respect that
  would have been necessary nor did they have the
  chance to learn the abilities to be respected

19
The aftermath

• The following associations still exist today or
  have been recreated
• Der Zugvogel
• - absolutely non-violent, neither biased nor
  religious or racist
• - Holidays, camps and journeys to other
  countries
• Wandervogel Siebenstreich
• - since 1998
• - journeys in the home country and abroad,
  singing and
• playing music (particularly old folk songs
  and songs of the
• Wandervogel)
• - great emphasis on tolerance, honesty and
  friendship
• - not bound to any religious community and
  independent from
• political parties

20
The aftermath

• Weinbacher Wandervogel
• - importance of individual personality,
  willingness of the group,
• sincerity, helpfulness and the respect of
  the wishes of others
• - independence from public financial support
• Draiser Wandervogel
• - created on August 8th, 1995
• - it isn't a traditional association of the
  youth movement
• - they declare themselves for the traditions of
  the Bündische
• Jugend
• Nerother Bund
• - this association is the oldest one that still
  exists today. It was
• created as a consequence of the youth
  movement
• - founded in 1919/ 1920
• - this association has its own castle as their
  centre
• - independence from public financial support

21
The aftermath

• Wandervogel Lippe
• - consists of the Wandervogel Lippischer
  Mädelbund (girls union)
• and Lippischer Jungenbund (boys union) with
  their own federal
• direction
• - its members live according to the traditions
  of the Altwandervogel
• Tomburger Ritterbund (knights union)
• - created after several hikes to Tomburg castle
• - puts emphasis on a noble attitude
• Independent Wandervogel
• - this association was founded on January 1st
  2006 on Balduinstein
• castle
• - its members are boys and girls
• - not local, neither biased nor religious
• independent and autonomous