Joe
Here is a very short discussion
http://www.hj-research.com/forum/f55/ernteeinsatz-der-hj-badge-3364/
However I am sure I have seen these discussed on WAF, I will have a search
Nick
Here is a very short discussion
http://www.hj-research.com/forum/f55/ernteeinsatz-der-hj-badge-3364/
However I am sure I have seen these discussed on WAF, I will have a search
Nick
Salu
Yes, i know this badge well. I remember having a go at C.M before the site was sold to Stark-Militaria, around 2005 or 2006, and the "debate" ended with a comment in my direction that: "I should not comment on things that i dont know about!"
The reasons given for it`s existence were pretty much the same as you will read on the net, "These were for..." "These were given to..."
It`s a pity that i have to comment in a negative way most times, but if opinions are asked for, then i suppose i should give mine.
All these badges, that i have seen so far, are without the slightest doubt, fake. BUT, if such a (maybe) non portable award was Given? i dont think so, purely because of the reason and slogan, WHY? and to who? to the HJ members who helped during the harvest times? If YES, to which ones? the special ones who dug up 10 potatoes more than others? there is nothing to denote this, that it is a special honor award, or only for a few HJ members who helped, or did "more" than others, and there must have been tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of HJ members who helped with the harvest each year across the country! Possibly many more than just a few 10,000.
So the next problem, we have many years on these, there is no Area specified, or Gau etc.. so we can only derive from the wording that each and every HJ member who helped with the harvesting around the country, received one. This is big problem though, because of the manufacturer, which is not only the most common fake name to find on these large square "funny badges" - like the 1939 Ski badges, like the 1944 Austrian (Tirol HJ) badge we discussed a few weeks ago..and like many more.. but the name also means that one sole producer, Poellath, was responsible for producing some few hundred thousand of these, all the time, year for year, and to be shipped all over Germany, to supposedly supply all the HJ members that helped with the harvest!
This might not sound like a problem, but when we take other badges, that many hundred thousand received, (or millions) say for example the Arbeitsdank-nadel, which was not bought, but given, the same as these are pretending to be "given - hence the wording - for the ernteeinsatz - then we find at the very least, that these were produced by 30,40,50 different makers... and of course they were, after all, you are talking about a badge given to millions, across the whole of the German Reich, year after year - we are not talking about a Golden Party Badge, made by one or two makers at the most, in limited numbers... so the fact that only the common fake name used - Poellath is found on these, steers the common logic in my head to tell me straight away that something cannot be right here.
The slogan is so "non-specific" that it cant actually be real IMHO, the maker is a known fake name used, the badges themselves (that have been shown to date) are also unquestionably fake, and the last nail is that there is no mention anywhere about them, except in books like Angola. (no spelling mistake, just cockiness on my part)
I have no doubt that they are an invention of an American Forger, and have nothing to do with the Third Reich.
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Yes
I have bookmarked this thread, and we shall come back to it in a few months. And we shall all have a good laugh.EDIT: shame on me for not adding the true story about these badges, as author J.R.Cone wrote in his 1983 wonderful book, wonderfully full of full of fakes and fantasy badges:
“This badge was half-heartedly tried for about three years from `39 to 1941 but never really caught on with many local H.J. groups, mainly because there was no major harvest in their areas. The firm of Carl Poellath of Schrobenhausen was given the contract for all badges but the H.J. withdrew their bid in `41 due to disapproval of badge design by the party. In any case several hundred badges for each year were minted.”
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Ok, there seems to be no logical explaination for this badge.
Since there is no written evidence before 1945 and no period photos of these in wear,
I think this item should be moved to the fake database section.
Since there is no written evidence before 1945 and no period photos of these in wear,
I think this item should be moved to the fake database section.
I read a thread, a recent thread, on WAF about these, and the explanation given for their use, was a direct quote from J.R Cones book, that i posted in yellow in the previous post, that it what was used to give a positive response. I Love Cone`s explanation for these... "In any case a few hundred were minted..." LOL
Maybe it would be best to just leave it here for a while, and then after you find out some more info on other badges from the same forger, then we can move it, and laugh as well, because it is so obvious.
Joe, i was thinking about this comment tonight, and it prompted me to have a check through my German small badge catalogs. I do believe that i have every "Kleinabzeichenkatalog" ever printed in German, BUT, now here comes the interesting part...i only seem to be able to find this badge pictured, and indeed even mentioned, in the last Hüsken 2010 Catalog !!!! Nothing in the early Rowedder books, nothing in the early Heering books, and nothing in the early Hüsken/Heering books either, in fact nothing even in the 1997 Heering/Hüsken book, only in the last one from 2010 ? Would you have a copy of the book you are referring to here? I cant find it in the Balentine`s Illustrated History books either? not from 1971, or 1974?
Some badges you can trace back, and see that after an American shows a badge, a German shows the same badge a few years later... this is the case for many others, but not for this one. It is pictured in the US 1983 book by Cone, but not in any German books around or after that, until 2010 ?
And Hüsken has it down as an Erinnerungsabzeichen, which means therefore that it was not given, (like the Arbeitsdank nadel for example) but available for purchase..meaning that it should be pictured in a period catalog like other Erinnerungsabzeichen are pictured and mentioned - for him to know this. I have asked him how he reached this opinion, but i dont expect a response, he is no longer talking to me or answering my mails.
Joe B
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I wouldn't use the word "documented" here. The BB books did not "document" anything really, it is simply images and nothing else, sometimes there is a description like: "Party badge" or "SS dagger" (LOL) but thats it.
It is pictured in the 1983 Cone book, but with, like most of the stuff in that book, a complete fantasy description. (see post 10 in yellow.) And if we weigh up the reality, that almost every second badge shown and "documented" in Cones book is a flat out fantasy badge, or fake at best, then it does not bode well at all. What would it be doing in a SS-Regalia book? the BB books at least do not show fantasy items (that i can see) And 1973 is still almost 30 years after the war, and a good few years after a mass of fantasy small badges flooded the market. (Some fantasy badges are even shown in the 1974 German small badge book by Rowedder) In any case, it is not in the Nazi Regalia BB books, so if it`s in the BB range, it must be the SS Regalia.. anyone?
I've been checking various period references and have yet to find a single mention of a badge for those involved in the Ernteeinsatz. It seems totally illogical to have a badge for this anyway because of how the harvest was organised. Firstly there was the Landjahr where assisting with the harvest was part of the normal duties of those involved and then we have the Kriegseinsatz der Hitler-Jugend during the war period. The whole of the Hitler Youth was involved in this 'Ehrendienst' and they were paid for their work. If this badge existed during the period then it is extremely unlikely to have been something issued or approved by the RJF. In any case, why just have a badge for the harvest? Why not one for collecting old clothes, metal or 78 rpm records? The HJ did all of that too.
Mate, i`ll save you the trouble of clicking back a page, and post the quote again: (Pssssshhhh, it`s been in-print since 1983 mate, and used today by WAF members to give each others badges the Thumbs Up!)
“This badge was half-heartedly tried for about three years from `39 to 1941 but never really caught on with many local H.J. groups, mainly because there was no major harvest in their areas. The firm of Carl Poellath of Schrobenhausen was given the contract for all badges but the H.J. withdrew their bid in `41 due to disapproval of badge design by the party. In any case several hundred badges for each year were minted.”
André Hüskens description of a Erinnerungsabzeichen is also wrong. No unit, no town name, no club name, no name! Erinnerungsabzeichen for what? It`s brain dead that`s what it is. The authenticity is not the issue, like i said, i can prove hands down that all badges shown here are fake, all made by a specific Forger.. the question MIGHT be, did such a badge exist, and that question is answered by the slogan IMHO, Nope !
“This badge was half-heartedly tried for about three years from `39 to 1941 but never really caught on with many local H.J. groups, mainly because there was no major harvest in their areas. The firm of Carl Poellath of Schrobenhausen was given the contract for all badges but the H.J. withdrew their bid in `41 due to disapproval of badge design by the party. In any case several hundred badges for each year were minted.”
André Hüskens description of a Erinnerungsabzeichen is also wrong. No unit, no town name, no club name, no name! Erinnerungsabzeichen for what? It`s brain dead that`s what it is. The authenticity is not the issue, like i said, i can prove hands down that all badges shown here are fake, all made by a specific Forger.. the question MIGHT be, did such a badge exist, and that question is answered by the slogan IMHO, Nope !
The question is: Why does this only appear NOW, in 2010 in the Hüsken catalog?
Of note are the other absolute BS badges that appeared in this catalog at the same time, the Cats Arse badge is a prime example!
Me thinks he is going for gold
or wait....going for second prize? 
based on the 4 opening pages of his latest book a few weeks ago, it is clear that he has shot himself in the head (twice) and is on the road to Never-Never land!
Video: Hitler-Jugend im Ernteeinsatz
Of note are the other absolute BS badges that appeared in this catalog at the same time, the Cats Arse badge is a prime example!
Me thinks he is going for gold
or wait....going for second prize? based on the 4 opening pages of his latest book a few weeks ago, it is clear that he has shot himself in the head (twice) and is on the road to Never-Never land!Video: Hitler-Jugend im Ernteeinsatz
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