312 pages Text by Sascha Lange Foreword by Johann Chapoutot 21 x 14 cm Language: French Paperback Publisher: Éditions bpm 2025
In 1930s and 1940s Germany, amid dictatorship, propaganda, and war, some young people refused to conform. Defying the strict control of the Hitler Youth and the totalitarian state, they gathered in small, rebellious groups known as the Meuten, the Swings, the Cliques, and the Edelweiss Pirates.
Armed not with weapons but with music, style, and solidarity, these teenagers forged a quiet yet potent resistance. Their affinity for American swing and jazz, outlawed by the regime, became both a badge of belonging and an act of defiance. In parks, basements, and city backstreets, they created spaces of freedom in a society bent on obedience.
Drawing on archives, testimonies, and rare photographs, historian Sascha Lange uncovers this little-known chapter of youth resistance in Nazi Germany. Far from being marginal figures, the Meutes and Edelweiss Pirates stand as precursors to the great counter-cultural movements of the twentieth century; a reminder that rebellion, even in its smallest forms, can be an act of courage.
With a preface by Johann Chapoutot, this illustrated edition restores to history the voices of those who chose music, friendship, and defiance over fear and conformity.
