EL-DE Haus, officially the NS Documentation Centre of the City of Cologne, is the former headquarters of the Gestapo and now a museum documenting the Third Reich.

Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls (or Band of German Maidens).

“The Hitler Youth (German: Hitlerjugend) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins dated back to 1922 and it received the name Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend (‘Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth’) in July 1926. From 1933 until 1945, it was the sole official youth organisation in Germany and was partially a paramilitary organisation; it was composed of the Hitler Youth proper for male youths aged 14 to 18, the German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth (Deutsches Jungvolk in der Hitler Jugend or ‘DJ’, also ‘DJV”) for younger boys aged 10 to 14, and the League of German Girls (Bund Deutsche Mädel or ‘BDM’).

“The League of German Girls or Band of German Maidens was the girls’ wing of the Nazi Party youth movement, the Hitler Youth. It was the only legal female youth organisation in Nazi Germany.

“At first, the League consisted of two sections: the Jungmädelbund (‘Young Girls’ League’) for girls aged 10 to 14, and the League proper for girls aged 14 to 18. In 1938, a third section was introduced, the BDM-Werk Glaube und Schönheit (‘Faith and Beauty Society’), which was voluntary and open to girls between the ages of 17 and 21.”