From until , it was the sole official boys' youth organisation in Germany and it was partially a paramilitary organisation. With the surrender of Nazi Germany in , the organisation de facto ceased to exist.
Under Section 86 of the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany , the Hitler Youth is an "unconstitutional organisation" and the distribution or public use of its symbols, except for educational or research purposes, is illegal.
Based in Munich , Bavaria , it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung SA , the main paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party at that time.
One reason the Hitler Youth HJ so easily developed was that regimented organisations, often focused on politics, for young people and particularly adolescent boys were a familiar concept to German society in the Weimar Republic. Numerous youth movements existed across Germany prior to and especially after World War I. They were created for various purposes. Some were religious and others were ideological, but the more prominent ones were formed for political reasons, like the Young Conservatives and the Young Protestants.
Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in November , Nazi youth groups ostensibly disbanded, but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names. This event took place a year after the Nazi Party was reorganised. The architect of the re-organisation was Kurt Gruber , a law student from Plauen in Saxony.
