Hitlerjunge Quex

Hitler Youth Quex was about the sacrificial spirit of the German youth. Young Heini Volker faces a conflict of ideals between his Communist father and his growing allegiance to the Hitler Youth movement which eventually leads to his own death. Set against the caotic political and economic crisis of the late Weimar years. Heini Völker, a printer's apprentice, joins a communist youth group at the prompting of his father, an unemployed worker and war veteran, a choleric drinker who torments his mournful wife. During a weekend outing Heini quickly grows disenchanted with his unruly communist comrades and flees their alcoholic and sexual revelry. Retreating into the woods, he spies am idealized group of Hitler Youths and looks upon their nighttime ceremony with fascination, an interest undiminished even after the Nazis discover him and send him away. Heini returns to Berlin effusing about the order and discipline of the Hitler Youth, singing their anthem to his mother, and causing his father to scold and beat him. Despite this outburst and the promptings of the communist leader, Stoppel, Heini seeks out the young Nazis Fritz and Ulla. He refuses to participate in a communist raid on the new Hitler Youth dormitory, but cannot fully convince the NAZIs of his good faith until he warns them that Stoppel and his group plan to bomb the new hostel. Mother Völker, confronted by an enraged Stoppel after the communist plot backfires, fears for her son, but does not know how to protect him. In desperation, she turns on the gas to put an end to both herself and the sleeping boy. After awakening in a hospital, Heini finds himself surrounded by a group of Hitler Youths who express their gratitude and present him with a uniform and a mirror. As a result of his mother's death and his father's submission to the special plea of Hitler Youth Brigade Leader Cass, Heini moves into a Nazi dormitory. Active and energetic (so much so that his alacrity gains him the nickname "Quex," i.e. quicksilver), Heini works all night to print leaflets for the upcoming election and insists on distributing them in his old neighborhood, Beuselkitz. Members of Stoppel's group, headed by the vicious Wilde, learn of Heini's presence and chase him through the streets, cornering him in a fairground where Wilde bludgeons him with the knife once coveted by Heini. When his Nazi cohorts reach him, it is too late. With his last breath Heini gestures upward and utters the words, "Our flag flutters before us, it leads . . . " as the image segues into a close-up of a party banner over which marching figures parade.

"This realistic Third Reich film shows the struggle in the streets of Berlin between the National Socialists and Communists. Based on the real life story of HJ member Herbert Norkus wha at the age of 12 was brutally murdered by adult Communist thugs! Hitlerjunge Quex ("Hitler Youth Quex") was the first NAZI films of consequence. It was about the sacrificial spirit of the German youth." - Michael Kelly PzG Inc., President

An immediate box office success, the film became a Nazi propaganda staple, viewed by 20 million by 1945.

DVD005 - Hitlerjunge Quex

= German Dialogue with English Subtitles

Details: Germany 1933, Directed by Hans Steinhoff, Featuring Heinrich George, Berta Drews & Claus Clausen. B&W, 87 minutes, German Dialogue with English Subtitles.

$30.00 +s/h