1 review    
Item:
ONSV24JLM038

Original German WWII HJ National Youth Association First Pattern Enamel Membership Badge

Item Description

Original Items: Only One Available. This is a very nice First Pattern German WWII HJ-Mitgliedsnadel (HJ Membership Badge), a style introduced 1926 when the HJ was renamed the H-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend ("H Youth, League of German Worker Youth"). Was the party was officially the "National Socialist German Workers' Party", it made sense that their youth branch would also have "worker" in their title, though this was later removed after the NSDAP takeover. when the second pattern diamond shaped badge more commonly seen was adopted.

The first pattern design is a 22mm diameter, die struck brass alloy badge with multi-colored enamel work. The center shows a swas as a "sun" rising above a black enamel horizon, with red in the background behind the suns "rays". Around the perimeter it is marked H.J. and DEUTCHE ARBEITER-JUGEND. The reverse has a standard safety pin attachment, with GES. GESCH stamped below, short for Gesetzlich Geschützt (Protected by Law), indicating the design is registered with the German trademark office.

Condition is very good, with the design crisp and the enamel fully intact. We have only seen a few of these, and we do not know if these were issued in raw brass, or if it was originally plated, and the plating wore away. Either way, it is a lovely example of a hard to find early badge, ready to display!

AH believed German youth to be the future of his 3rd Reich. The HJ (AH Jugend or HJ) 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 aged 14-18 (AH Jugend) and girls aged 14-18 (Bund Deutscher Mädel) were enlisted in the Party-run organization. 

History of the HJ National Youth Organization:
In 1922, the Munich-based NSDAP established its official youth organization called Jugendbund der NSDAP. It was announced on 8 March 1922 in the Völkischer Beobachter, and its inaugural meeting took place on 13 May the same year. Another youth group was established in 1922 as the Jungsturm Adolf “AH”. Based in Munich, Bavaria, it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the main paramilitary wing of the NSDAP Party at that time.

One reason the HJ so easily developed was that regimented organizations, often focused on politics, for young people and particularly adolescent boys were a familiar concept to German society in the Weimar Republic. Numerous youth movements existed across Germany prior to and especially after World War I. They were created for various purposes. Some were religious and others were ideological, but the more prominent ones were formed for political reasons, like the Young Conservatives and the Young Protestants. Once AH came onto the revolutionary scene, the transition from seemingly innocuous youth movements to political entities focused on AH was swift.

Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch (in November 1923), NSDAP youth groups ostensibly disbanded, but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names. In April 1924, the Jugendbund der NSDAP was renamed Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung (Greater German Youth Movement). On 4 July 1926, the Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung was officially renamed HJ Bund der deutschen Arbeiterjugend (HJ League of German Worker Youth). This event took place a year after the NSDAP Party was reorganised. The architect of the re-organization was Kurt Gruber, a law student from Plauen in Saxony.

After a short power struggle with a rival organization—Gerhard Roßbach's Schilljugend—Gruber prevailed and his "Greater German Youth Movement" became the NSDAP Party's official youth organisation. In July 1926, it was renamed H -Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend ("H” Youth, League of German Worker Youth") and, for the first time, it officially became an integral part of the SA. The name H -Jugend was taken up on the suggestion of Hans Severus Ziegler. By 1930, the Hjugend (HJ) had enlisted over 25,000 boys aged 14 and upward. They also set up a junior branch, the Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ), for boys aged 10 to 14. Girls from 10 to 18 were given their own parallel organization, the League of German Girls (BDM).

In April 1932, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the H Youth movement in an attempt to stop widespread political violence. However, in June, Brüning's successor as Chancellor, Franz von Papen, lifted the ban as a way of appeasing “AH”, the rapidly ascending political star. A further significant expansion drive started in 1933, after Baldur von Schirach was appointed by H as the first Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader). All youth organizations were brought under Schirach's control.

  • This product is available for international shipping. Shipping not available to: Australia, France, or Germany
  • Not eligible for payment with Paypal or Amazon

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Cash For Collectibles