ABSTRACT
Before the First World War the Wandervogel, tolerated as a curiosity, had little effect beyond its own membership and hardly any upon the school, youth welfare, or other authorities. Catholic and Protestant groups were prone to revolt against their confessional advisers from time to time; the non-political Bunde frequently became involved in politics; while certain political party youth organizations moved in the opposite direction— away from politics. The Protestant and Catholic youth groups were strongly influenced by the Bunde in the twenties and were frequently indistinguishable from them, except by the stress put on religious motives in their cultural activities. The largest and most numerous of the Bunde in the Weimar Republic were not those of the youth movement, but the para-military organizations, most of which were inclined towards the right. The Bunde, and the youth movement in general, thought that the group was a deeper, more immediate and organic way of living together than that provided by 'mechanistic society'.
