ABSTRACT
HE R M A N N H O F F M A N N , a student at Berlin Uni-versity, founded in 1896 a shorthand study circle at Steglitz Grammar School which also from time to time arranged group excursions. Hoffmann was then 21, impecunious and idealistic; tuition was free in his class, and many were attracted by his initiative and joined in the walks to the Grunewald and other targets in the neighbourhood of the German capital. The following year the group went on a more ambitious trip, traversing the Harz mountains for two weeks, and in 1898 they went to the Rhine. In 1899, to crown it all, they wandered for four weeks through the Bohmerwald, the chain of mountains dividing Bavaria from Bohemia. Out of this group there grew what subsequently became known as the Wandervogel, and is commonly called the German youth movement.1
