Original Item: Only One Available. The NSDAP or Nationalsozialistische Deutsche ArbeiterPartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party), was originally founded in Munich as the DAP, Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (German Worker’s Party), on January 5TH 1919. When Adolf AH joined the DAP in the autumn of 1919 he was to reform what was basically a debating society into an active political party. Appointed as the first chairman of the party on July 29TH 1921, AH was to restructure it along para-military lines in a hierarchy.

This new NSDAP structure consisted of four ascending levels of government: the Ortsgruppenleitung (Local group leadership), the Kreisleitung (District leadership), the Gauleitung (Regional District leadership), and the Reichsleitung (National leadership). Each group was distinguished by a specific color of piping on the collar tabs and visor cap. From 1936 to 1939 in this scheme, light blue was for the Ortsgruppe level, black for Kreis level, burgundy red for Gau level, and gold yellow for the Reich level. After that the Kreis level changed to white piping.

Politische Leiter Anwärter (Political Leader Candidate) was the lowest rank within the extensive system of NSDAP political ranks, and existed at multiple levels of the government. Anwärter was someone who had been accepted into a government service position and the rank was issued in two degrees: one for party members and the other for non-party members. The blue piping on this example indicates that it is for the Ortsgruppe (Local Group) level. This style of armband could also be used to denote Sonderbeauftragter, or "Specially employed persons".

This lovely armband is constructed of a red wool/cotton blend cloth with an embroidered central black swas (hook cross) on a white rayon field, all bordered by yellow/gold cotton thread. There is no other adornment except for the light blue piping borders on the edges of the armband. Total length is 21 1/2” with a width of 5 1/16”. The armband is in very good, lightly worn condition showing some staining in areas, and a few moth nips. It also looks like there was some type of insignia attached to the center of the swas for a while, which has since been removed. The inside no longer has the original RZM tag, but there are traces of a partial paint stamped N.S.D.A.P. Kampfbinden-Tuch (armband cloth) marking with an RZM marking.

This lovely armband would pair nicely with a uniform or a dagger! Comes ready to display.

Orts Role in Municipal Government
After the founding of NSDAP Germany, the political rank of Ortsgruppenleiter was held by the chief NSDAP member in a municipal area. In many situations, town and city administration overlapped with the NSDAP political system, meaning that the traditional local government was overshadowed, if not entirely replaced, by NSDAP leadership. Traditional government titles did continue to exist, such as Bürgermeister; however, if these positions were not already held by a corresponding NSDAP official, city government was little more than a rubber stamp to NSDAP designs.

During World War II, the position of Ortsgruppenleiter encompassed a large amount of responsibility and power as it was these NSDAP officials who typically ran the city civil defense systems as well as the allocation of war rations and civil relief efforts. As Germany was invaded and defeat became imminent, NSDAP leaders in major towns and cities also became ad hoc military commanders in charge of mixed-unit German forces and Volksturm units.

Between 1930 and 1932, the political rank of Ortsgruppenleiter was denoted by a braided shoulder cord and a white collar bar worn on a NSDAP Party brown shirt. After 1933, the rank was denoted by two light yellow collar bars. The actual rank of Ortsgruppenleiter was phased out of the Party in 1939, replaced by a large number of expanded paramilitary political titles. The position of Ortsgruppenleiter was after this time typically held by a Party Member with the rank of Abschnittsleiter, paired as well with a political armband denoting the specific position of Ortsgruppenleiter.