Original Item: Only One Available. This is a rare, genuine Reichsarbeitsdienst (National Labor corps) officers armband, in the correct brown color with silver bullion machine embroidery work. The armband has silver bullion borders on both sides, and a larger Reichsadler eagle perched on top of a half laurel / half oak leave wreath. Inside is the RAD logo: a shovelhead bearing a canted Swas (hook cross) in the middle, with two sheaves of wheat extending from the bottom at 45 degree angles. The armband measures about 17" x 4 1/8" and is sewn together in the back.

This example is in very good lightly used condition, and is definitely the best example that we have seen. These often are quite degraded due to how fragile the bullion thread is. There is just a bit of staining and wear on what is only the second example that we have ever handled. Ready to display!

The basis of the RAD, Reichsarbeitsdienst, (National Labor Service), dates back, at least, to 1929 with the formation of the AAD (Anhalt Arbeitsdienst) and the FAD-B (Freiwillingen Arbeitsdienst-Bayern). Shortly after AH’s appointment as Chancellor in Jan 1933, the NSDAP consolidated all labor organizations into the NSAD (Nationalsozialist Arbeitsdienst), a national labor service. It served as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarize the workforce and indoctrinate it with NSDAP ideology. It was the official state labor service, divided into separate sections for men and women.

On June 26 1935 the NSAD was officially re-designated RAD. Originally personnel serving with RAD wore a variety of earlier FAD/NSAD belt buckles until February 15TH 1936 when new pattern belt buckles for Officer’s and EM/NCO’s were introduced to provided uniformity in dress.