Swing Kids Movie (1923)

The poster depicted is for the debut of Thomas Carter's movie Swing Kids (1993). On IMDb, the synopsis is: "A group of teens adores forbidden music in Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of World War II." This film is a historical drama inspired by a real subculture that formed in Nazi Germany from 1939-1941.

The Swingjugend or Swing Youth was a counterculture of young Germans who enjoyed swing and jazz music. This admiration of music originated in American culture and turned their love of the genre into a way of life. Swing Youth developed into a protest movement that rejected the Nazi state. Swing represented freedom non-conformism, and self-determination.

The name Swingjugend is a mockery of Hitlerjugend or Hitler Youth. The first Swing Youth in Germany originated in Hamburg, Berlin, and Frankfurt am Main. This movement dressed smartly but added an American spin to their style and had an overall more laidback attitude. This more liberal attitude was an affront to the Nazis who began to suppress the embrasure of Swing and Jazz culture. The Swing Youth became more outspoken as they refused compulsory participation in the Hitlerjugend and serving in the military.

The Swing Youth were met with ostracization and were pursued by the Gestapo police and other government forces. Many participating youth were tortured, interrogated, and put in detention or sent back to school under a harsh watch. Some youths were even sent to concentration camps. They secretly sang at night covering windows with bedsheets. The girls were kept in the concentration camp Ravensbrück where they sang to other prisoners. An interview with one of the girls Jutta Madlung recalled: "They liked it and were happy about the variety it brought whenever we sang...". As a form of counterculture the Swing Youth had to stay hidden, there is not a lot of media from the Swingjugend. There are very few pictures of the members at risk of exposing their identities.