Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation

The Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation, consisting of the Young Pioneers and the Thälmann Pioneers, was a youth organisation of schoolchildren aged 6 to 14, in East Germany. They were named after Ernst Thälmann, the former leader of the Communist Party of Germany who was executed at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The group was a subdivision of the Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ, Free German Youth), East Germany's youth movement. It was founded on 13 December 1948 and broke apart in 1989 on German reunification. From the 1960s and 1970s, nearly all schoolchildren between ages 6 and 14 were organised into Young Pioneer or Thälmann Pioneer groups.

The pioneer group was based on the Scouts, but organised in such a way as to teach schoolchildren aged 6 – 14 socialist ideology and prepare them for the Freie Deutsche Jugend, the FDJ. Its organisation was similar to scouting and other such organisations. Afternoons spent at the pioneer group mainly consisted of a mixture of adventure, myth-like socialist teaching and the upkeep of revolutionary traditions. In the summer, children usually went to pioneer camps similar to the West German Wandervogel groups or the Scouts. International pioneer camps were also common, intended to foster friendship between different nationalities.

At the 17th congress of the FDJ's central council, the "Young Pioneers" were officially founded on 13 December 1948. It was the common political mass organisation for children in the GDR, run by the SED through the FDJ. From 1949 its chairperson was Margot Feist, who became Mrs Erich Honecker. From 1949 a newspaper was produced called "The Young Pioneer" (Der junge Pionier), later called "The Drum" (Die Trommel). In 1952 the organisation was named after Ernst Thälmann.

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