So lets see what i have found out so far about these badges.
The first time i encountered these was on a Norwegian auction site in October were this badge
(picture one) was put up on auction.
In the auction text it was stated that it came from a lot of badges belonging to a Norwegian front fighter.
There was also 2 other badges from the same lot that were put up on separate auctions
(picture 2), and i was lucky enough to be able to by these, but the HJ badge was to expensive for me and i didn’t manage to by that one.
Since i managed to by the Jugendstorm pin and the Rex badge(booth very nice originals by the way), i was able to contact the seller of these and the HJ badge, and i now have the full information on the former owner (name, adress some history and so on...He died in 2008).
He was a member of the NS party/NSUF and a former Norwegian Front fighter.
The badges were put up for sale on the auction site by the widow with help from a friend of the family.
Later the same month a similar badge was put up for auction on another auction page here in Norway, and this time i was lucky enough to be able to by it. (Badge in the first post.)
These badges are identical but mine has a lovely patina that is lacking for the most part on the first badge.
I contacted the seller of my HJ badge for information about it, but the only thing he would tel me was that it was found in the belongings to a close relative after he died.
It is still regarded as a shame by many here i Norway to have been a member of the NS party and its organisations during the war...
The price i paid for the badge was very modest.
So why does suddenly 2 of these pop up for sale in Norway? (i have later learned of a third badge that came out of Norway as well, and are in another collection here in Scandinavia.)
The first place i started to look for information about these and the competition they were made for, was of cause the Internet.. :laugh:
Not to much information to be found but enough to firmly establish in my opinion that the competition these were made for, were held.
Among the references is this
book about Artur Axmann:
Verlag Bublies
Under the chapters about his war service: "Die Kriegszeit", i found this reference:
"1941: Aufbau in den neuen Gebieten - In Norwegen - Vidkun Quisling -
Winterkampfspiele der HJ mit europäischer Beteiligung"
I have also found an identical badge to mine on the net in what seems to be a Danish collection:
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http://www.moonwheel.eu/HJ-Pins/index.htm
From the same collection; a postal stamp from the event. Please notice the striking similarity with the badge:
http://www.moonwheel.eu/HJ-Cancels/index.htm
There is probably a lot more information about this event to be found on the net but this is some i have found so far.
And then...so why does these badges show up in Norway?
The answer to that is simple...because a contingent of NSUF (Norwegian HJ) was participating in the event.
I have found a reference to this in the period printed book NS Årbok 1942 (NS Yearbook 1942). This book is one of the main sources of information about the NS party during the war, and also extensively used by authors like for instance David Littlejohn when he published the first volume of "Foreign Legions of the third Reich".
Here are the actual text in Norwegian: " I 1941 begynte idrettsarbeidet i Ungdomsfylkingen å utfolde seg for alvor. I april ble de første vinterlekene avholdt på Lillehammer, og NSUF hadde senere en avdeling nede i Tyskland som deltok i Ungdommenes Vinterolympiade i Garmisch"
Please also look at the 2 pictures of the book in this post; first one is of the front page, and second one of the actual page with the reference.
This is all ive got at the moment, but im waiting for some more information about the Frontkjemper and his service during the war, from the widow.
I’m pretty sure there are some more information about the NSUF participation in this event in the period newspapers here in Norway; like "Fritt Folk" and others, maybe also pictures of NSUF boys wearing this badge or even pictures of the badge it selves.
If i manage to find more information later i will post it here.
Best regards
Gunnar