Reading about the ‘Swing Kids’ was extremely interesting because I have never heard of anything like this before. Most fascinating is the ability music can have on someones life or how it can influence someones political thought process. It is interesting to learn about Manfred Omankowsky work and although he did believe or show interest in the political concerns, he just expressed a ‘natural protest against the authority of the state’. It is so interesting to see that anyone can create a change to the world even if they do not intend to be a leader.
There’s a movie about it, called Swing Kids, featuring Christian Bale long before he was Batman! It’s a cute film if memory serves.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108265/
Definitely! While I found the political and religious opposition to the party very interesting, it is almost more enlightening to see these youth rebellions. The non-violent and apolitical nature of these organization definitely tells us something about the mindset of large portions of the younger generation back then.
From what I know, for all their nonviolence, the Swing Kids were not against confrontation, as the did have multiple run-ins with the Hitler Youth. Moorhouse mentions this in the resistance chapter, I believe. My character would have probably been too young to participate in the earlier Swing Kids movements, but I think that as someone who later joins an underground resistance group, he would have at least been inspired by such nonviolent opposition.