2. The Edelweiss Pirates After the War
The deadly repression failed to break the spirits of the anti-Nazi youth movement. It continued as a defiant subculture, and continued to reject the norms of Nazi society until the “Thousand Year Reich” went down to defeat after a mere twelve years’ existence. After the war, some factions of the Edelweiss Pirates attempted to work with the Allied occupation authorities. Their advances were welcomed, particularly by the communists in the Soviet occupied zone. However, most of the rank and file membership, true to their ethos, turned their backs on the attempt to politicize their movement. They had risked their lives to evade the regimentation of the Nazis, and were not eager to embrace regimentation under the communists. As a result, those who remained in what became communist East Germany ended up as dissidents and social outcasts, and many of them did long stints in prison.
