Original Item. Only One Available. This is an original WWII-period painted membership badge of the Volksdeutsche Bewegung (VdB) in German-occupied Luxembourg, bearing the organization’s slogan HEIM INS REICH, meaning approximately “Home to the Reich.” The circular gray-metal badge has a black-painted outer border with the raised inscription HEIM / INS REICH, surrounding a white-painted central field with a red canted swas. emblem.

The reverse retains its horizontal pin attachment, mounted across a circular central plate. Below the pin is the clearly impressed manufacturer marking: K. & Q. This identifies Klein & Quenzer of Idar-Oberstein, a German metalware and insignia manufacturer closely associated with the production of badges, decorations, and related items during the period.

Condition is very good overall, with the red, white, and black painted finish remaining particularly strong. There is light age-related surface wear, minor scattered paint loss, and oxidation and patination to the reverse and attachment hardware. The raised lettering remains sharp and fully legible, and the horizontal pin assembly is retained.

Historical Context

German forces entered the neutral Grand Duchy on May 10, 1940, and the occupation authorities soon began a systematic campaign intended to suppress Luxembourgish national identity and draw the country politically, culturally, and administratively into the German Reich. The Volksdeutsche Bewegung, or VdB, became one of the principal organizations used in this Germanization program.

The VdB was established in Luxembourg City in July 1940 and operated under the slogan Heim ins Reich. Its political purpose was to promote the occupation authorities’ contention that Luxembourgers belonged to the German Volk and that Luxembourg consequently belonged within the German Reich. Contemporary propaganda presented German language, ancestry, and culture as evidence for this claim, while the organization maintained local branches throughout the country and became an important vehicle for the occupation administration’s political program.

Membership figures must be understood within the coercive circumstances of the occupation. German authorities placed substantial pressure on civil servants, teachers, police officers, members of the judiciary, and other employees to join the movement, with employment and livelihood potentially affected by refusal. Contemporary and later Luxembourg sources consequently distinguish formal membership from genuine political enthusiasm. The organization eventually reached tens of thousands of members, yet those figures included many Luxembourgers who entered under administrative or economic pressure.

The political campaign intensified during 1941 and 1942. The occupation authorities attempted to demonstrate that Luxembourg’s population was fundamentally German through the Personenstandsaufnahme, or population-status survey, of October 1941. Luxembourgish resistance encouraged residents to identify their nationality, language, and ethnicity as Luxembourgish, frustrating the intended result. The failure of this effort contributed to increasingly coercive Germanization measures, including stronger political pressure and, in 1942, the introduction of compulsory military service for Luxembourg men.