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The Situation of Young People in Aachen (1947)

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Youth criminality has witnessed a frightening increase since the collapse; the causes of this rise should be sought in the lack of food, consumer goods, clothing, shoes, heating fuel, and in the emotional neglect of youth by the Nazi regime.

In the year before the evacuation of Aachen, young people were accused of criminal acts in:

August

1943

6

January

1944

6

September

1943

5

February

1944

11

October

1943

2

March

1944

10

November

1943

2

April

1944

December

1943

18

May

1944

1

 

 

 

June

1944

1

 

 

 

July

1944

1

The statistical development of youth crime offers the following picture from January 1946 on:

January

1946

10

January

1947

42

February

1946

13

February

1947

27

March

1946

33

March

1947

32

April

1946

35

April

1947

70

May

1946

56

 

 

 

June

1946

23

 

 

 

July

1946

46

 

 

 

August

1946

50

 

 

 

September

1946

77

 

 

 

October

1946

60

 

 

 

November

1946

62

 

 

 

December

1946

54

 

 

 

Particularly high is the number of property crimes, which range from simple crop thefts to multiple robberies. At the same time, an increase in black marketeering can be seen, since young people wish to procure cash in this way.

The fact that even school-age youths are involved in black marketeering is characteristic of the hardship of the times and the resultant dissipation.

The number of male law-breakers is considerably larger than that of female lawbreakers. The likely explanation for this is that girls purchase food, luxury items, and consumer goods with sexual favors. Because of this, girls are far more endangered morally. A frightening increase in venereal diseases and illegitimate births is the result. Because of the hardship of the times, the moral standards in broad circles of youth have dropped so low that it is almost seen as perfectly normal if a girl gets “a foreigner” in order to enjoy coveted food or consumer goods.



Source: Sozialbericht der Stadt Aachen über die Lage der Jugendlichen 1947 [Social Report of the City of Aachen on the Situation of Youth 1947]. HSTA/Bestand NW 43/457; reprinted in Klaus-Joerg Ruhl, Frauen in der Nachkriegszeit 1945-63 [Women in the Postwar Era 1945-63]. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1988, pp. 31-33.

Translation: Thomas Dunlap

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