Original Item: Only One Available. This is an original German WWII period HJ wooden donation diamond manufactured by the Schulwandtafelfabrik Gottfr. Glasmachers of Essen. Measuring approximately 13" wide by 24" high, it is constructed from painted plywood with a reinforced wooden frame on the reverse and retains numerous steel donation brads across the front.

Donation displays of this type were used by HJ units as public fundraising and propaganda pieces. Contributors would place or sponsor a small brad in the painted surface, gradually filling the emblem as donations were collected. The precise fundraising event, unit, or Bann associated with this example has not been identified.

The obverse is painted in the red, white, and black HJ diamond design. The finish remains strongly visible but shows age related crazing, flaking, abrasions, and scattered surface wear.

Numerous small steel brads remain installed across the front. Some were originally painted or finished to correspond with the section of the design in which they were placed. Several brads are now missing, though their original mounting holes remain visible.

The extensive coverage suggests that the fundraising display was largely or completely filled during its period of use. However, without accompanying records, the amount raised and the circumstances of the campaign cannot be determined.

The diamond is made from plywood and reinforced around the perimeter of the reverse with a wooden brace. A steel fitting is mounted at the bottom, possibly to support the display when standing or to connect it with a larger mounting arrangement.

A small folding steel tab with a suspension or attachment hole is fitted to the reverse. It is mounted on a hinge and accompanied by a spring catch that holds it in position. The exact original method of display or attachment remains uncertain.

A faded paper manufacturer label remains on the reverse and reads in part:

Schild Nr. ???? 08

Nur bei technischen Rückfragen
wende man sich an die Lieferfirma
unter Angabe obiger Nummer.

Schulwandtafelfabrik
Gottfr. Glasmachers
ESSEN
Postfach 294

The German instruction translates approximately as:

For technical inquiries only, contact the supplying company and quote the number above.

The label identifies the maker as Gottfr. Glasmachers of Essen, a manufacturer of school wall boards and related display materials. The surviving partial shield number may have served as a factory, pattern, or order reference.

Overall condition is very good for a painted plywood display of this age. The surface shows expected crazing, paint loss, flaking, missing brads, exposed brad holes, and general storage wear. The reverse frame, steel fittings, folding tab, spring catch, and maker label remain present.

With its substantial 13" x 24" size, original painted HJ diamond design, numerous surviving donation brads, reinforced plywood construction, unusual rear mounting hardware, and Gottfr. Glasmachers maker label, this is an especially distinctive example of German WWII youth organization fundraising material. The paint deterioration, missing brads, faded label, and uncertain unit and mounting history are fully disclosed. It would display particularly well in an HJ organization, German fundraising, political propaganda, period signage, or WWII home front collection.

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 (AH Jugend) and girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel) were enlisted in the Party-run organization. The The Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ) was the junior branch of the HJ, for boys aged 10 to 14.

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.