Original Item: Only One Available. This is lovely WWII German Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labor Front or DAF) leather belt, fitted with a great Aluminum Werkschar-koppelschloß (Factory brigade belt buckle), which shows only light wear from service. The front of the buckle is embossed with a fourteen tooth cogwheel encompassing a swas in the center. The buckle also has a small embossed circular bead to each corner. This example has a two piece buckle, with stamped aluminum single piece box construction with a soldered on hook loop. The hooked "claw" is made from plated steel, attached to the buckle body by a peened over securing pin.

The back of the buckle near the securing loop has some very interesting markings, as the DAF belt buckles seem to not have completely adhered to the RZM system. It is marked with KH M4/49 over (RZM) (LST). The Reichszeugmeisterei, or RZM, was was based at the Brown house in Munich and NSDAP party headquarters in Berlin. The RZM ensured that the manufacturers of military items were consistent in design, quality of materials and other characteristics of the items. It also defined standards of design, manufacturing and quality and published an authoritative color chart for textiles. The M4 in the code stands for buckles, and registrant 49 is Steinhauer & Lück, of Lüdenscheid, a German city which had a large number of companies who made buckles, buttons, and other clothing items. The logo in the lower right is the companies WWII era logo.

The  leather belt is in very good condition, with the original gloss black finish on the exterior well retained, showing wear from the buckle. It measures about 43 inches overall, and is marked with Leibweite 108 (Waist Measurement 108) on the buckle end, for 108cm (42.5in.). It still has the full length adjustment tab with double rows of 7 holes, and the other end has a plated steel end hook. The inside of the adjustment tab is marked with (RZM) L2/2819/30, which we unfortunately were not able to identify.

Overall condition is excellent, with just a bit of wear from use, and no major damage from storage. A hard to find DAF belt that would make a great addition to any German belt collection.

With the dissolution of all Free Trade Unions in Germany in May 1933 the Deutsche Arbeitsfront, (German Labor Front), was established to replace the unions and to educate the workers in industry and commerce for smooth and efficient operation of all labor in the Third Reich. In October 1934 the DAF was given official status as a sub-section of the NSDAP and in March 1936 it was recognized as an independent NSDAP affiliated association and granted control of its own monetary budget. In 1934 the first pattern of DAF uniform was introduced for DAF Werkscharen, (Work Squads), and a belt buckle was introduced in late 1935 for wear by all ranks.