Young German Order Jungdeutscher Orden | |
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Ideology | German nationalism National liberalism Antisemitism Anti-communism |
National affiliation | German State Party People's National Reich Association |
The Young German Order (German: Jungdeutscher Orden, shortened form Jungdo) was a nationalist and antisemitic association founded by Artur Mahraun in the early years of the Weimar Republic. It grew out of a Freikorps unit but kept its paramilitary structure for only a few years before it turned away from the political Right. It differed from other similar associations in its organisation and customs, which were based on the medieval Teutonic Order, and in its political aims. Mahraun hoped to overcome class and social differences in German society by instilling it with the camaraderie that front-line soldiers had experienced during World War I.
Most of its members belonged to the middle classes. It was antisemitic and elitist and in favour of reconciliation with France. It achieved its historical prominence through its brief merger with the left-liberal German Democratic Party to form the German State Party in 1930. It was banned when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933.