Up until which year, did Hitlerjugend members have to purchase their HJ membership badges? (After a certain date, the HJ membership badge was given to new members by the Formationsführer when they were accepted into the HJ)
HJ Membership badge question
- Thread starter Jo Rivett
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Hi Jo,
Badges were awarded from 31.1.1938 but.... the order (Reichsbehl RJF 4/I) states that the cost of the badge still had to be borne by the wearer. The thinking behind the change was that the new member should feel that the badge was not something that they simply bought from a shop but rather that it should be something that they had proudly earned. This order was still in effect in 1943 so unlikely that it changed after that.
Okay, I've totally ruined the poll but on the positive side, it's great to see threads like this making a return. We used to have a lot of fun with interesting questions like yours on the old quiz forum
Badges were awarded from 31.1.1938 but.... the order (Reichsbehl RJF 4/I) states that the cost of the badge still had to be borne by the wearer. The thinking behind the change was that the new member should feel that the badge was not something that they simply bought from a shop but rather that it should be something that they had proudly earned. This order was still in effect in 1943 so unlikely that it changed after that.
Okay, I've totally ruined the poll but on the positive side, it's great to see threads like this making a return. We used to have a lot of fun with interesting questions like yours on the old quiz forum
They were still made to pay? poor HJ lads
but somehow typical TR policy though, Jack for free.I wish i could have found out whether the later HJ and BDM that joined the NSDAP in their yearly mass joining had to pay for the Parteiabzeichen they received. Alas i couldn't, but i believe the conclusion reached was that they most likely would have paid.
The year is not 1938 though, the first time i have now seen this mentioned was in the 1st March 1936 UM :swiss
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The Reichsbefehl dated 31.1.1938 says "Das HJ Abzeichen ist in Zukunft den neu in der HJ Aufgenommen zu verleihen.". It doesn't reference any earlier orders. I also checked the RJF Verordnungsblätter from the end of 1935 and there is nothing there that supports the statement in the UM so I can't explain it. Certainly going by the 1938 order, that is the year when badges began to be awarded by local leaders.
1 March 1936 was the first time (that i have found so far) that this was mentioned in-print, in an official paper. Just another example i guess of the time frame windows open with orders, awarding, dates, rules etc...... But 1938, as you can see below, would not be correct.
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Well, as I said, I can't explain what is contained in that issue of the UM. I respect all period sources of course but it seems extremely illogical that the RJF would wait two years before publishing an order in 1938 stating that something was to happen that, according to the UM, had already been happening for two years. I have that 1938 order in front of me (promulgated by Stabsführer Lauterbacher) and it is very clear but perhaps something will turn up which will explain the discrepancy between the 1936 and 1938 sources.