Wolfhilde von König, 14 years of age when the war broke out, came from a middle-class, committed National Socialist family in Munich and was active in the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls – BDM), from 1941 as a “squad leader”. From August 1939 to November 1946, she kept a diary, which provides a considerable amount of information on the private life of a young woman and her family, but also on experiences and activities in the BDM. She did not view the demands of the Nazi youth organization as an infringement on her free time as part of her private sphere, but turned the organization’s offers and services into an integral part of her life, one in which she found fulfilment and recognition, and opted to make use of the individual opportunities offered to her there. She became enthusiastically involved in the health service of the BDM, taking advantage of training opportunities, something that would ultimately inspire her to study medicine after the war. This ongoing personal record provides a concrete understanding of what recent research has established as processes of actual individual and collective identity formation within the BDM.

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