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Looking at Blau-Weiss as the first Zionist youth movement in Germany between 1912 and 1927, Svenja Bethke examines the role of dress in expressing new feelings of national belonging as “Jewish” in modern Germany.

Image courtesy of interviewee. January 23, 2024

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This video video discusses the Blau Weiss Youth Movement, a German Jewish Zionist youth group founded in 1912 that existed until 1927. The movement was notable for being the first and largest Zionist youth organization in modern Germany. It emphasized the belief that Jews would not have a future in Germany and aimed to promote resettlement in Palestine.

The speaker reflects on how the movement cultivated a group identity through clothing and visual representation. They conducted research into the significance of how members were instructed to dress, noting that dress served as a means to distinguish the members from both German nationalist youth groups and other Jewish organizations.

The speaker also explored the memories of former members related to their attire, highlighting that the way they dressed held emotional and political significance. They argue that the emphasis on clothing was not solely about visual appearance, but also about instilling a sense of identity, solidarity, and distinction among members.

The research incorporated various primary sources, including written guidelines on dress, photographs, and oral histories. The findings suggest that while the differences in attire between groups were not always substantial, the meaning attached to dress was significant in shaping members' identities as Jewish, Zionist, and distinct from their German counterparts.

In conclusion, the speaker advocates for integrating the study of dress into cultural history, particularly in understanding identity and belonging among Jewish communities in modern Germany. They emphasize that identity is fluid and shaped by various factors, making the study of dress an important dimension of historical research.

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00:00.145 --> 00:03.565
The Blau Weiss Youth Movement was a ger,

00:03.665 --> 00:08.405
German Jewish, youth group, that was founded in 1912

00:08.585 --> 00:12.525
and existed roughly under 1927.

00:13.225 --> 00:15.165
Um, and it was actually the first

00:15.305 --> 00:17.685
and the largest Zionist youth group

00:17.685 --> 00:19.565
that existed in modern Germany.

00:20.385 --> 00:22.645
Um, so we have to understand,

00:22.825 --> 00:26.205
how this group plays itself into the broader context,

00:26.435 --> 00:30.085
both in Germany and within the German Zionist movement.

00:30.705 --> 00:32.725
Um, and if we look at numbers,

00:32.985 --> 00:35.445
it was not a very large group, but

00:35.475 --> 00:39.405
nonetheless, it was the first that took on board this idea

00:39.625 --> 00:42.885
of, yeah, kind of not believing anymore

00:43.075 --> 00:46.765
that there would be a future as Jews in Germany,

00:47.425 --> 00:50.485
but kind of aiming yeah, to build a homeland

00:50.485 --> 00:54.085
and Palestine on propagating the idea of resettlement.

00:54.085 --> 00:58.765
Eventually in Palestine, I came to this case study,

00:59.155 --> 01:02.885
through my broader interest in national stress

01:03.025 --> 01:04.045
and Zionist dress.

01:04.105 --> 01:07.885
So I was more broadly interested in the question, how does

01:08.605 --> 01:11.485
clothing and a certain outfit become political?

01:11.905 --> 01:15.725
And I looked at Zionist youth groups, more broadly

01:15.755 --> 01:20.165
because they quite often try to forge this group identity

01:20.465 --> 01:22.565
and a visual identity through dress.

01:23.305 --> 01:27.245
And, I came across this example,

01:27.585 --> 01:31.445
and specifically in memories, it was quite often mentioned

01:31.465 --> 01:33.525
by former members,

01:33.795 --> 01:36.405
that they remembered the outfit they were wearing.

01:36.945 --> 01:38.885
Um, so I looked into this

01:39.025 --> 01:41.765
and I then noticed that there was a lot

01:41.765 --> 01:43.525
of guidance on how to dress.

01:43.785 --> 01:47.765
And, it was closely linked to a certain idea of

01:47.905 --> 01:52.765
how the group wanted to be seen, in modern Germany,

01:53.065 --> 01:55.205
and specifically in contrast

01:55.305 --> 01:58.245
to other German nationalist youth groups.

01:58.345 --> 02:01.165
And later on, also other Jewish youth groups.

02:01.685 --> 02:06.165
I didn't plan on looking into the Blois group specifically.

02:06.865 --> 02:10.765
Um, and yeah, to be more specific, it was between, like

02:10.825 --> 02:12.165
during pandemic time.

02:12.465 --> 02:14.765
So I was based in Jerusalem

02:14.785 --> 02:16.725
and Israel at the, at the time

02:16.865 --> 02:19.605
for my larger project on Zionist dress.

02:20.305 --> 02:24.565
Um, and I came across a memory by a former BLO vice member.

02:25.185 --> 02:28.405
Um, so I kind of approached it from, yeah,

02:28.485 --> 02:29.885
a more contemporary angle,

02:29.885 --> 02:32.285
someone talking about the meaning of dress.

02:32.625 --> 02:34.685
And then I came across, yeah,

02:34.945 --> 02:38.165
larger photographic collections on the movement.

02:38.785 --> 02:42.085
Um, and I, I read about the use of photography.

02:42.185 --> 02:44.365
So some research has been done on the use

02:44.365 --> 02:48.285
of photography more widely within hiking groups,

02:48.495 --> 02:50.405
youth groups in the 20th century.

02:51.025 --> 02:53.965
And I realized that this played an important role for,

02:55.305 --> 02:58.765
and then I tried to look into, yeah, kind of

02:58.765 --> 03:02.005
This, this aim to dress differently

03:02.425 --> 03:05.525
or similarly, to German use groups.

03:05.905 --> 03:08.805
And, it was, it was the coincidence,

03:08.825 --> 03:10.925
but then I, I added, yeah,

03:11.215 --> 03:13.045
additional primary source material.

03:13.665 --> 03:16.525
Um, and I looked specifically into the diversity

03:16.705 --> 03:19.365
of primary sources that allow us to kind

03:19.365 --> 03:23.845
of combine written guidance, for example, with visual,

03:24.345 --> 03:28.685
yeah, visual, primary sources, photographs,

03:28.945 --> 03:31.605
and then also some oral history interviews

03:31.605 --> 03:35.205
where this is kind of later also remembered in a certain way

03:35.435 --> 03:37.285
looking at the case study.

03:37.665 --> 03:42.405
And, as I said, I started, by looking at

03:42.975 --> 03:44.645
rules that were established.

03:44.785 --> 03:49.245
So, publications by bla vice, by the leadership

03:49.265 --> 03:53.205
of Blabla Vice in giving guidance, on

03:53.265 --> 03:55.765
how a blo Blaise me should dress.

03:56.585 --> 04:00.105
Um, and I kind of compared this

04:00.205 --> 04:02.905
to the German nationalist Van Fogger,

04:02.905 --> 04:04.745
another German youth group,

04:05.015 --> 04:08.105
because in a similar way, they paid attention

04:08.165 --> 04:10.425
or they were the first to, to pay attention

04:10.565 --> 04:12.705
to the way the members dressed.

04:13.925 --> 04:16.185
So by reading the guidance of Levis,

04:16.365 --> 04:20.945
by looking at photographs, that were taken on hikes,

04:21.045 --> 04:24.705
and also kind of on other occasions,

04:25.085 --> 04:27.585
at some point I came to the conclusion

04:28.055 --> 04:30.985
that there's not necessarily such a

04:31.725 --> 04:33.145
big difference in

04:33.205 --> 04:36.225
how these groups looked when comparing them, for example,

04:36.325 --> 04:38.185
to the German nationalist youth groups.

04:38.845 --> 04:40.585
So when being interested in dress

04:40.645 --> 04:44.305
and the meaning of dress, of course, you could see this

04:44.305 --> 04:48.825
as a problem and, ask yourself critically, well,

04:48.965 --> 04:50.705
how does it then actually matter?

04:51.485 --> 04:55.465
And while there were some differences, I realized

04:55.615 --> 04:59.345
that even if as can be seen in these photographs,

04:59.655 --> 05:01.625
differences were not massive.

05:02.235 --> 05:05.345
There must be a significance in defining

05:05.885 --> 05:09.265
how the Blois members should dress and why.

05:10.005 --> 05:13.425
So I concluded, not

05:13.425 --> 05:17.065
to give up on my article and this research idea,

05:17.565 --> 05:21.705
but rather to ask myself, but why does it matter so much

05:21.925 --> 05:26.625
and why does it matter to constantly remind the members of

05:27.325 --> 05:28.385
how they should dress,

05:28.565 --> 05:31.185
how this should look different from the wonderful

05:31.185 --> 05:33.585
with the German nationalist, movement

05:34.365 --> 05:36.185
and, to kind of

05:36.765 --> 05:39.065
charge the way they dressed with meaning.

05:39.245 --> 05:43.065
And this is my, I think, main conclusion that

05:43.595 --> 05:47.745
maybe it does not matter so much how objectively

05:48.275 --> 05:50.425
these members looked differently

05:50.885 --> 05:52.905
or similarly to other youth groups,

05:53.485 --> 05:58.045
but maybe it was most important that these points were made

05:58.265 --> 06:01.685
and that it was communicated to the members of the movement

06:02.265 --> 06:04.245
how they should feel about the way they dressed.

06:04.705 --> 06:08.205
And maybe, and this is also what I've then seen in memoirs,

06:08.705 --> 06:10.165
it comes up constantly.

06:11.305 --> 06:13.485
The former members do remembered.

06:13.485 --> 06:16.645
It's quite often one of the first things they mentioned,

06:16.905 --> 06:18.245
how they used to dress.

06:18.425 --> 06:21.405
So I do think that we should kind of

06:22.035 --> 06:25.125
integrate these ideas about dress, when you want

06:25.125 --> 06:28.605
to understand why it matters, how we dress, why it matters,

06:28.865 --> 06:31.605
what people think about the way they dress.

06:32.305 --> 06:35.125
Um, so I think it was more this inner function.

06:35.585 --> 06:37.845
And of course there was an element of visibility.

06:38.185 --> 06:42.125
So there was constantly this, argument that was made.

06:42.385 --> 06:44.605
We have to look at it a specific way

06:44.785 --> 06:49.125
to be seen in a specific way, but I think it goes both ways.

06:49.315 --> 06:50.685
It's how to be seen,

06:50.745 --> 06:54.325
but also how to feel about, yeah, how you dress.

06:54.465 --> 06:57.445
And this goes, I think specifically for this,

06:57.945 --> 06:59.485
German Jewish youth group,

06:59.835 --> 07:03.165
because it was a development in terms

07:03.265 --> 07:04.845
of do we feel German?

07:04.985 --> 07:07.125
Do we feel German Jewish? Do we feel Jewish?

07:07.305 --> 07:08.365
Do we feel Zionist?

07:09.025 --> 07:13.575
Um, so I came to the conclusion that in the end, maybe

07:14.425 --> 07:15.975
there were subtle differences

07:16.475 --> 07:20.775
and, a development on how kind of this uniform

07:20.805 --> 07:22.895
that they were then wearing emerged.

07:23.275 --> 07:28.015
But more importantly, it was this inner dialogue,

07:28.755 --> 07:32.575
and this guidance inside of the group that led

07:32.575 --> 07:35.455
to this group feeling a certain way, feeling Jewish,

07:35.605 --> 07:39.375
feeling Zionist and feeling different from the Germans.

07:39.405 --> 07:42.415
That was most important as historians

07:42.555 --> 07:43.615
and researchers

07:43.635 --> 07:47.495
to take dress seriously when doing our research.

07:47.885 --> 07:51.775
Because quite often, I mean, this has,

07:51.775 --> 07:52.935
luckily changed,

07:53.275 --> 07:56.375
but I think as cultural historians, we were more aware

07:56.795 --> 08:01.415
of these cultural expressions of, yeah, identities

08:01.755 --> 08:03.895
and, feelings of belonging.

08:03.915 --> 08:07.315
And I think we should really integrate

08:07.345 --> 08:08.755
this into other studies.

08:08.935 --> 08:10.835
Of course, I'm not the first by far,

08:10.975 --> 08:14.755
who has done research on the Jewish, German youth movement.

08:14.975 --> 08:18.595
And, but I hope I've shown

08:18.745 --> 08:22.035
that we can take, we can add another layer.

08:22.615 --> 08:25.395
And, I think this is kind of my first takeaway,

08:26.185 --> 08:29.075
that integrating dress into existing studies,

08:29.215 --> 08:32.635
and this goes beyond modern Jewish history,

08:32.775 --> 08:33.955
is really beneficial.

08:34.655 --> 08:37.475
And I think, what it adds is really this kind

08:37.475 --> 08:41.315
of intimate and personal level of what do people do

08:41.315 --> 08:43.235
with ideas of nationalism?

08:43.705 --> 08:46.115
What do they do about ideas of Zionism?

08:46.295 --> 08:47.555
How does it matter to them?

08:47.815 --> 08:50.795
And I think this is kind of, yeah, the broader,

08:51.785 --> 08:54.875
hopefully the broader takeaway from this,

08:55.385 --> 08:58.005
For the, for the field of modern Jewish history.

08:58.605 --> 09:00.925
I would also say, I mean, there is a lot

09:00.925 --> 09:04.245
of exciting research that has been done on history

09:04.245 --> 09:08.685
of the body appearance, kind of this idea

09:08.785 --> 09:12.645
of creating this new strong, muscular Jewish identity

09:13.545 --> 09:17.085
to kind of, yeah, kind of, counter

09:17.635 --> 09:19.045
antisemitic stereotypes

09:19.145 --> 09:21.525
and so on that quite often saw this yeah,

09:21.525 --> 09:23.885
Jewish thinker at the forefront.

09:24.785 --> 09:28.805
So I think, dress hasn't been considered,

09:30.225 --> 09:34.355
yeah, enough to be added to this layer of kind

09:34.355 --> 09:35.835
of bodily appearance.

09:36.035 --> 09:40.075
I think dress is quite often seen as, yeah, kind of this not

09:40.075 --> 09:42.515
so important topic, but I think integrating both

09:42.655 --> 09:47.115
and seeing it, as a way to, to understand how,

09:47.465 --> 09:49.195
yeah, identities can also change.

09:49.615 --> 09:52.235
Um, and what, what this allows us to understand.

09:53.135 --> 09:55.675
And I think, looking at Jewish

09:56.315 --> 09:58.315
identity in modern Germany also shows

09:58.745 --> 10:00.035
that it was quite fluid.

10:00.085 --> 10:01.395
These were processes

10:01.415 --> 10:04.435
and developments, so there was not such a thing

10:04.435 --> 10:07.875
as being objectively German, objectively Jewish as we know.

10:08.655 --> 10:11.555
But what this means in terms of, yeah,

10:11.875 --> 10:15.115
changing maybe ideas, yeah, where we belong to

10:15.495 --> 10:16.955
how we understand ourselves.

10:17.175 --> 10:21.195
Um, I think for this, this is quite, a good example and,

10:21.295 --> 10:24.595
and hopefully, this can also then be applied.

10:24.755 --> 10:29.115
I mean, migration as a broader topic, migrant groups,

10:29.455 --> 10:33.195
questions of identity I think are relevant to so many,

10:33.375 --> 10:35.195
themes and broader fields.

10:35.295 --> 10:38.515
And maybe some of this can be taken, from,

10:38.545 --> 10:39.355
from my study.

00:00 - The Blau Weiss Youth Movement was a ger, German Jewish, youth group, that was founded in 1912 and existed roughly under 1927. and it was actually the first and the largest Zionist youth group that existed in modern Germany.

00:20 - so we have to understand, how this group plays itself into the broader context, both in Germany and within the German Zionist movement. and if we look at numbers, it was not a very large group, but nonetheless, it was the first that took on board this idea of, yeah, kind of not believing anymore that there would be a future as Jews in Germany, but kind of aiming yeah, to build a homeland and Palestine on propagating the idea of resettlement.

00:54 - Eventually in Palestine, I came to this case study, through my broader interest in national stress and Zionist dress. So I was more broadly interested in the question, how does clothing and a certain outfit become political? And I looked at Zionist youth groups, more broadly because they quite often try to forge this group identity and a visual identity through dress. And, I came across this example, and specifically in memories, it was quite often mentioned

01:31 - by former members, that they remembered the outfit they were wearing. so I looked into this and I then noticed that there was a lot of guidance on how to dress. And, it was closely linked to a certain idea of how the group wanted to be seen, in modern Germany, and specifically in contrast to other German nationalist youth groups. And later on, also other Jewish youth groups.

02:01 - I didn't plan on looking into the Blois group specifically. and yeah, to be more specific, it was between, like during pandemic time. So I was based in Jerusalem and Israel at the, at the time for my larger project on Zionist dress. and I came across a memory by a former BLO vice member. so I kind of approached it from, yeah, a more contemporary angle, someone talking about the meaning of dress.

02:32 - And then I came across, yeah, larger photographic collections on the movement. and I, I read about the use of photography. So some research has been done on the use of photography more widely within hiking groups, youth groups in the 20th century. And I realized that this played an important role for, and then I tried to look into, yeah, kind of This, this aim to dress differently or similarly, to German use groups.

03:05 - And, it was, it was the coincidence, but then I, I added, yeah, additional primary source material. and I looked specifically into the diversity of primary sources that allow us to kind of combine written guidance, for example, with visual, yeah, visual, primary sources, photographs, and then also some oral history interviews where this is kind of later also remembered in a certain way looking at the case study.

03:37 - And, as I said, I started, by looking at rules that were established. So, publications by bla vice, by the leadership of Blabla Vice in giving guidance, on how a blo Blaise me should dress. and I kind of compared this to the German nationalist Van Fogger, another German youth group, because in a similar way, they paid attention or they were the first to, to pay attention

04:10 - to the way the members dressed. So by reading the guidance of Levis, by looking at photographs, that were taken on hikes, and also kind of on other occasions, at some point I came to the conclusion that there's not necessarily such a big difference in how these groups looked when comparing them, for example, to the German nationalist youth groups. So when being interested in dress

04:40 - and the meaning of dress, of course, you could see this as a problem and, ask yourself critically, well, how does it then actually matter? And while there were some differences, I realized that even if as can be seen in these photographs, differences were not massive. There must be a significance in defining how the Blois members should dress and why. So I concluded, not to give up on my article and this research idea,

05:17 - but rather to ask myself, but why does it matter so much and why does it matter to constantly remind the members of how they should dress, how this should look different from the wonderful with the German nationalist, movement and, to kind of charge the way they dressed with meaning. And this is my, I think, main conclusion that maybe it does not matter so much how objectively these members looked differently

05:50 - or similarly to other youth groups, but maybe it was most important that these points were made and that it was communicated to the members of the movement how they should feel about the way they dressed. And maybe, and this is also what I've then seen in memoirs, it comes up constantly. The former members do remembered. It's quite often one of the first things they mentioned, how they used to dress. So I do think that we should kind of

06:22 - integrate these ideas about dress, when you want to understand why it matters, how we dress, why it matters, what people think about the way they dress. so I think it was more this inner function. And of course there was an element of visibility. So there was constantly this, argument that was made. We have to look at it a specific way to be seen in a specific way, but I think it goes both ways. It's how to be seen, but also how to feel about, yeah, how you dress.

06:54 - And this goes, I think specifically for this, German Jewish youth group, because it was a development in terms of do we feel German? Do we feel German Jewish? Do we feel Jewish? Do we feel Zionist? so I came to the conclusion that in the end, maybe there were subtle differences and, a development on how kind of this uniform that they were then wearing emerged.

07:23 - But more importantly, it was this inner dialogue, and this guidance inside of the group that led to this group feeling a certain way, feeling Jewish, feeling Zionist and feeling different from the Germans. That was most important as historians and researchers to take dress seriously when doing our research. Because quite often, I mean, this has, luckily changed, but I think as cultural historians, we were more aware

07:56 - of these cultural expressions of, yeah, identities and, feelings of belonging. And I think we should really integrate this into other studies. Of course, I'm not the first by far, who has done research on the Jewish, German youth movement. And, but I hope I've shown that we can take, we can add another layer. And, I think this is kind of my first takeaway, that integrating dress into existing studies,

08:29 - and this goes beyond modern Jewish history, is really beneficial. And I think, what it adds is really this kind of intimate and personal level of what do people do with ideas of nationalism? What do they do about ideas of Zionism? How does it matter to them? And I think this is kind of, yeah, the broader, hopefully the broader takeaway from this, For the, for the field of modern Jewish history.

08:58 - I would also say, I mean, there is a lot of exciting research that has been done on history of the body appearance, kind of this idea of creating this new strong, muscular Jewish identity to kind of, yeah, kind of, counter antisemitic stereotypes and so on that quite often saw this yeah, Jewish thinker at the forefront. So I think, dress hasn't been considered, yeah, enough to be added to this layer of kind

09:34 - of bodily appearance. I think dress is quite often seen as, yeah, kind of this not so important topic, but I think integrating both and seeing it, as a way to, to understand how, yeah, identities can also change. and what, what this allows us to understand. And I think, looking at Jewish identity in modern Germany also shows that it was quite fluid. These were processes

10:01 - and developments, so there was not such a thing as being objectively German, objectively Jewish as we know. But what this means in terms of, yeah, changing maybe ideas, yeah, where we belong to how we understand ourselves. I think for this, this is quite, a good example and, and hopefully, this can also then be applied. I mean, migration as a broader topic, migrant groups, questions of identity I think are relevant to so many, themes and broader fields.

10:35 - And maybe some of this can be taken, from, from my study.

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