Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice WWII German HJ National Youth Organization Belt Buckle (Koppelschloß), showing light wear from service. This example is a wartime example, made with a stamped and crimped steel box body, which was then nickel plated. The front is embossed with the HJ motto Blut und Ehre (Blood and Honor) on a ribbed border around the HJ Emblem surmounted by an Eagle. The buckle is in very good condition, showing wear to the obverse, but no major plating loss or oxidation. It has a great "been there" look that is impossible to duplicate. The interior retains the plating to a similar degree, with some oxidation in the recessed areas, and the adjustment claw and clip loop are both fully intact.

It is faintly marked on the back under the clip loop with an ((RZM)) circle and with the code M4 / 27. 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 27 is Overhoff & Cie., of Lüdenscheid, a German city which had a large number of companies who made buckles, buttons, and other clothing items.

This is a very lovely complete HJ belt buckle, ready to research and display!

AH believed German youth to be the future of his 3rd Reich. The HJ (AH Jugend) was formed officially in 1935, and with the exception of NSDAP ideology indoctrination was very similar to the Boy Scouts. Beginning at about the age of ten years, both boys (AH Jugend) and girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel) were enlisted in the Party-run organization. The boys only were given HJ Knives after having passed minor exams. The knives had nickeled hilts with black checkered grip plates. The obverse plate was fitted with an enameled HJ swas insignia. Through 1937, these knives were etched with the motto of the organization, Blut und Ehre! (Blood and Honor!). Examples produced after this date were made with plain blades usually bearing an RZM marking.

The HJ Leaders were professionals in charge of the training and NSDAP education of the German Youth. They wore a special dagger consisting of silvered hilt fittings with blue-black leather-covered scabbard. The grip was composed of tightly wrapped silver wire, over a wood base. The pommel cap featured an HJ diamond on top, complete with swas. The upper scabbard fitting portrayed an open-winged HJ eagle with swas cut into the bird's chest. The blade was etched with the HJ motto, Blut und Ehre