Hitlerjunge-SA Sturmer and “martyr”. He was a member of the Hitler Youth, who was murdered by communists while distributing leaflets advertising a Nazi propaganda rally. Following his death he became an “example of heroic commitment of the Hitler Youth and was declared a “blood witness of the Movement”. On the morning of his death, he was distributing Nazi propaganda leaflets with other Hitler Youths in Berlin-Moabit when a group of communists attempted to stop them and began chasing them. Norkus fought them off and ran to a nearby house for help. A man answered and slammed the door in his face, presumably because he saw the other boys. Norkus was then stabbed six times by the pursuing Communists. He banged on another door, which was answered by a woman who tried to get him to a hospital, however, he died on arrival. The following day, the Nazi paper “der Angriff” appeared with the headline “How the Hitler Youth Herbert Norkus was assassinated by red murderers”. He was given a martyr funeral. Writer Karl Aloys Schenzinger made Norkus into a role model for the Hitler Youth in a popular Nazi novel, Der Hitlerjunge Quex (1932). In 1933, it was made into a film directed by Hans Steinhoff, with Heinrich George in a leading role as the boy's father. The novel was required reading for all members of the Hitler Youth. A German Navy school ship called the Herbert Norkus was named in his honor, but it was never completed because of the war. Many schools, streets and squares were also named after him during the Nazi period.
Hitlerjunge-SA Sturmer and “martyr”. He was a member of the Hitler Youth, who was murdered by communists while distributing leaflets advertising a Nazi propaganda rally. Following his death he became an “example of heroic commitment of the Hitler Youth and was declared a “blood witness of the Movement”. On the morning of his death, he was distributing Nazi propaganda leaflets with other Hitler Youths in Berlin-Moabit when a group of communists attempted to stop them and began chasing them. Norkus fought them off and ran to a nearby house for help. A man answered and slammed the door in his face, presumably because he saw the other boys. Norkus was then stabbed six times by the pursuing Communists. He banged on another door, which was answered by a woman who tried to get him to a hospital, however, he died on arrival. The following day, the Nazi paper “der Angriff” appeared with the headline “How the Hitler Youth Herbert Norkus was assassinated by red murderers”. He was given a martyr funeral. Writer Karl Aloys Schenzinger made Norkus into a role model for the Hitler Youth in a popular Nazi novel, Der Hitlerjunge Quex (1932). In 1933, it was made into a film directed by Hans Steinhoff, with Heinrich George in a leading role as the boy's father. The novel was required reading for all members of the Hitler Youth. A German Navy school ship called the Herbert Norkus was named in his honor, but it was never completed because of the war. Many schools, streets and squares were also named after him during the Nazi period.
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