Original Items: Only One Set Available. This is a lovely set of RAD Labor Service insignia, attached to an approximately 9 1/2" square piece of earth brown wool fabric, as used on depot issued RAD tunics. We do not know if this was constructed as a bring-back item, or whether it was made for the owner to remember their time in the RAD. The stitching used to assemble it was definitely done with a sewing machine using two colors of thread, so we suspect it is the latter. All of the insignia are in great shape, and include the following:

- an RAD machine embroidered sleeve shovel insignia unit patch, which has 204 / 1 embroidered on the white shovel.
- a Bevo embroidered RAD cap badge
- a painted cast metal RAD cap badge, with both prongs intact.
- a matched set (left and right) of plain black felt collar tabs, which indicate the rank of Arbeitsmann (working man), the lowest enlisted rank in the RAD, equivalent to a Heer Army Soldat or U.S. Army Private.
- a small red banner with a printed Herſcheid on it, most likely where the owner was stationed.

A lovely set 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, under the control of Reichsarbeitsführer Konstatin Hierl. 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.

In April 1934 Hierl had developed a uniform, including the distinctive "Robin Hood" style service cap. The design of the cap was based on a cross between a traditional style peasant cap and the traditional hunters cap. Originally the caps were issued with rank distinction piping with black piping for the EM/NCO ranks of Arbeitsmann to Truppführer, silver piping for company and field grade Officer’s ranks of Obertruppführer to Oberstarbeitsführer and gold piping for General Officer’s ranks of Generalarbeitsführer to Reichsarbeitsführer. In 1940 the use of the black piping for the EM/NCO ranks was discontinued but the silver and gold Officer’s piping remained in use until the end of the war.