Original Item: Only One Available. The Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst or RAD) was a major organization established in NSDAP Germany 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.

From June 1935 onward, men aged between 18 and 25 may have served six months before their military service. During World War II, compulsory service also included young women and the RAD developed into an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht armed forces.

This bullion cap band would have been sewn onto a RAD officer’s “Robin Hood” service cap, more than likely a privately purchased item. This 11” x 1 5/8" band is slightly curved upwards and appears to have been cut from a cap, there is evidence of stitching on the ends. The RAD insignia is of a beautiful bullion construction of silver, red and black thread. The thread is retained very well and appears without damage and only minor fading, The light brown wool background is also very nice and without damage. This would make a lovely addition to a framed RAD collection and would pair well with a portrait of a RAD officer.

Comes ready to display!

In the course of the Great Depression, the German government of the Weimar Republic under Chancellor Heinrich Brüning by emergency decree established the Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst ('Voluntary Labour Service', FAD), on 5 June 1931, two years before the NSDAP ascended to national power. The state sponsored employment organisation provided services to civic and land improvement projects, from 16 July 1932 it was headed by Friedrich Syrup in the official rank of a Reichskommissar. As the name stated, participating was voluntary as long as the Weimar Republic existed.

The concept was adopted by AH, who upon the NSDAP seizure of power in 1933 appointed Konstantin Hierl state secretary in the Reich Ministry of Labour, responsible for FAD matters. Hierl was already a high-ranking member of the NSDAP and head of the party's labour organisation, the Nationalsozialistischer Arbeitsdienst or NSAD. Hierl developed the concept of a state labour service organisation similar to the Reichswehr army, with a view to implementing a compulsory service. Meant as an evasion of the regulations set by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, voluntariness initially was maintained after protests by the Geneva World Disarmament Conference.

Hierl's rivalry with Labour Minister Franz Seldte led to the affiliation of his office as a FAD Reichskommissar with the Interior Ministry under his party fellow Wilhelm Frick. On 11 July 1934, the NSAD was renamed Reichsarbeitsdienst or RAD with Hierl as its director until the end of World War II. By law issued on 26 June 1935, the RAD was re-established as an amalgamation of the many prior labour organisations formed in Germany during the Weimar Republic, with Hierl appointed as Reich Labour Leader (Reichsarbeitsführer) according to the Führerprinzip. With massive financial support by the German government, RAD members were to provide service for civic and agricultural construction projects. Per Reich Labor Service Act of June 26, 1935:

-The Reich Labor Service is an honorary service to the German people.
-All young Germans of both sexes are obliged to serve their people in the Reich Labor Service.
-The Reich Labor Service is to educate the German youth in the spirit of National Socialism to the national community and to the true working attitude, above all to the due respect of manual labor.
-The Reich Labor Service is intended for the performance of charitable work.