Motor-HJ qualification badge series

Garry

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I'm looking through the regulations in order to fully understand the chronology of the Motor-HJ sleeve patches in order to put a HJ wiki page together but I'm stuck on one of them. On the 18th of Sept 1933 the list of specialist patches was published by the RJF and this shows a patch for 'Kraftfahrer' (drivers) that is described as having 6 spokes and aluminium thread. In Bekleidung u. Ausrüstung der HJ 1934 the patch is again shown but there it is described as having 8 spokes and aluminium thread. Here is Joe's example of an 8-spoke patch with aluminium stitching.

What I'm trying to establish is when that patch was discontinued and the version with silver/grey thread (below) was introduced, I assume, to replace it.

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I've got plenty on the other patches for the Motor-HJ but as I say, for this one I can't find a date for the changeover from stitched aluminium to normal silver/grey thread. If anyone can help I'd appreciate it.
 

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Hello Garry,

The patch as introduced with the Vbl. from September 18, indeed mentions a six spoked wheel
in aluminum embroidery.
But could there have been a mistake? In the well-known "Uniformen der HJ" from 1933, plate 2
shows the patch has eight spokes and a whitish looking wheel; so has the 1934 issue, page 2.
In "Ausrüstng und Bekleidung" from January 15, 1934 on page 45 the patch is shown and said
having eight spokes in aluminum embroidery.
In the Vbl. there is anoher order which describes the various patterns, but I can't remember
when (what year and issue) this was published.

March 21, 1934 it still is phrased as "silver" wheel.
 
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Hi Wim,

I agree - very probably a printing error.

Yes, the wording in the 1936 RZM certainly makes it sound as if the change to silver-coloured thread and machine stitching was recent: "...wird die Armscheibe nunmehr in Automatenstickerei hergestellt". RZM Mitteilungsblatt issue 28 from 26.10.1935 announces that "exact manufacturing instructions and pictures of the cloth badges will appear in the next issue"' (they are actually announced in issue 30 dated November 23 1935) so this seems to be a logical time for the change from aluminium thread to normal thread to have taken place because as you say, the RZM 1936 shows the new version of the Motor-HJ patch. To get a more exact intro date it would be useful to know exactly when in 1936 the RZM manufacturing instructions book was published but '1936' is certainly good enough as an answer.

Now, were the Motor-HJ, Nachr-HJ, Flieger-HJ, Pionier-HJ and Reiter-HJ sleeve patches originally introduced for wear only by those who had some sort of qualification? Or were they introduced simply to show membership of those formations?

Vbl. 1935 III/3 p3, for example, lists the patches for the Sonderformationen but doesn't show the Motor-HJ patch whereas Vbl. 37 18.9.1933 lists the Motor-HJ patch as being for 'Kraftfahrer' so the qualification scenario seems logical but because it is shown alongside patches like the one for the Pionier-HJ (for which there can't have been a qualification test..) it's confusing.

When the Reiter-HJ was disbanded on 1.1.1936 for example it was stated in the order that the Reiter-HJ sleeve patch was to continue in use but that it could only be worn by those who held the Class A horse-riding qualification. This seems to be suggesting that the patch had previously functioned as an outward sign of general membership of the Reiter-HJ and that it was not a qualification badge initially - or perhaps not :)

My thinking is that because training for the special formations was not formalised in 1933, that these patches were therefore just something that identified the wearer as a member of one of the formations. To support that it says in Vbl. 37 that the patches were: "zur Kenntlichmachung der Angehörigen der Sonderformationen der Hitler-Jugend" (for the purpose of denoting members of the special formations of the Hitler Youth) so I'm going with that as the initial scenario.
 
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