Swing Kids

The Swing Kids (German: Swingjugend) were a group of jazz and Swing lovers in the Germany of the 1930s, mainly in Hamburg (St. Pauli) and Berlin. They were composed of 14 to 18-year old boys and girls in high school, most of them middle or high-class students, but some apprentice workers as well. They sought the British and American way of life, defining themselves in Swing music, and opposing the National-Socialist ideology, especially the Hitlerjugend.

In other Countries

In France, a similar movement went by the name "zazous"; when Vichy and German racial laws demanded that the Jews wear the Yellow Star, a number of them, in defiance, wore yellow badge labeled "zazou". They were consequently arrested and deported.

Related Topics:
Zazou - Vichy - Yellow Star

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