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.

Name

The name "Swing kids" is a rough translation of the German "Swingjugend" ("Swing Youth"), which was some sort of parody of the numerous "youth" groups which florished under the National-Socialists. They also referred to themselves as "Swings" or "Swingheinis" ("Swingity"); the members were called "Swing-Boy", "Swing-Girl" or "Old-Hit-Boy".

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