Interesting regulation concerning HJ clothing items.

Garry

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I came across a regulation today dated 1936 which states that it was permitted for the NS-Frauenschaft, NSV and the BDM (as part of the weekly meetings) to make youth uniform items. Prior permission from the RZM was not required and the underlying purpose was to make clothing for needy children whose parents could not afford the RZM prices. These clothing items were permitted for wear with the following stipulations:

The makers were not allowed to make a business out of the manufacture of such items.
The items had to look exactly like the original RZM item.
The items had to be made from the same materials used by the RZM

I thought this was quite interesting as it shows that the iron grip of the RZM would not seem to have been as tight as we think.
 
Very interesting Garry.

I wonder how closely the following stipulations were adhered to/monitored?

The items had to look exactly like the original RZM item.
The items had to be made from the same materials used by the RZM


Best,
Toby.
 
That's what I was thinking Toby. I wonder if items have come up on forums before which have been given a thumbs-down because they were slightly different to the standard RZM-labelled product. I know from another regulation that zips were not allowed on party uniforms but I recently saw a photo of a leader wearing a Stiefelhose with zipped pockets. It's almost as if the RZM knew we'd be collecting this stuff years later and thought they'd make things extra difficult. I would think though that much effort was put into exactly copying the uniforms made by the women and girls but I don't imagine that they would have had the facility or indeed the need to stamp sizes etc because they would be quite possibly be making to order.
 
makes you wonder what sort of quality they could turn out only doing these items themselves during their weekly meetings,hardly going to be factory quality are they ???
 
I've found a little more detail on that Stu. There is a second complimentary regulation from a year later which states that this clothing was being made as part of the annual Winterhilfswerk (WHW) only. The RZM agrees in the second regulation that party clothing items may be delivered to the WHW by the NSV (Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt) on the condition that such clothing was made as described in my post above, was made from the same stamped original material and that a standard RZM label was applied so I would imagine that NSV-made items were indistinguishable from RZM-made items. A further part of the regulation states that if any items were received from the NSV which were non-standard that a sample was to be sent to the RZM in order that further action could be taken. So, there were items made by the NSV and the other groups mentioned in my first post prior to these regulations which were non-standard and the regulations were introduced to combat this.

It is very unlikely that the NSV was engaged in this kind of activity after 1937/38 because by then mass unemployment and poverty were no longer an issue.
 
Really interesting information Garry. I wonder if this would include items like flags as well? I find this most curious also,

"A further part of the regulation states that if any items were received from the NSV which were non-standard that a sample was to be sent to the RZM in order that further action could be taken. "

I wonder what action would be taken, would they consider approval of the items, or order them to cease making them?
 
This only concerned clothing Darin. Yes, I think the RZM would have been able to prevent further items being made until the standard produced was up to scratch.
 
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