As the World War I turned into a multi-front war of attrition that required constant mobilization, Ottoman authorities decided to establish a more efficient and comprehensive paramilitary training network. For this, German officer Heinrich Leonhard Emanuel von Hoff (1868-1941) was called to Istanbul in 1916. Emanuel von Hoff, who took the Young German Union as a role model, started the organization process in a short time. This study draws attention to the fact that the political construction of the youth was tried to be carried out under the control of the political and military elite through paramilitary associations in the last period of the empire. It also aims to follow the activities of Emanuel von Hoff, who was in the Ottoman lands as an unofficial member of the German military mission, in the Ottoman Youth Associations. For this purpose, what were the factors that triggered his arrival in the Ottoman Empire? What kind of policy did he follow in the process of organizing the Youth Associations? What kind of arguments did he produce to convince the society? What kind of dialogue was there between him and the rulers of the state? Finally, this study focuses on the ending of the Youth Associations experience and the reasons for von Hoff’s return to his country. In order to find answers to these questions, the press of the period, the Ottoman Youth Associations Journal, the articles and booklets written by Emanuel von Hoff, and research works on the subject are scrutinized.