Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice WWII German Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD - National Labor Service) small wall plaque, featuring a cast and plated non magnetic metal plate attached to a wooden backing plate measuring 6 1/8"H x 4"W. The top of the plate features an NSDAP Reichsadler Eagle facing to the left, and there is the RAD "Shovel" logo superimposed over the mobile swas (hook cross) that the Eagle is perched on. Under this is the RAD motto Arbeit adelt (Work Ennobles), and at the bottom is a small insert with unit making 2/320 Speyer. This is a town in Western Germany on the river Rhein.

It is in very good condition, and would make a great addition to any collection. Very interesting, with some great research potential!

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, and from then 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 to an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht armed forces. The RAD was divided into two major sections, one for men (Reichsarbeitsdienst Männer - RAD/M) and the voluntary, from 1939 compulsory, section for young women (Reichsarbeitsdienst der weiblichen Jugend - RAD/wJ).