Golden Party Badge

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NSDAP Golden Party Badge

The Golden Party Badge (German: Goldenes Parteiabzeichen, officially the Goldenes Ehrenzeichen der NSDAP) was a special badge of the Nazi Party. The first 100,000 members who had joined and had uninterrupted service in the Party were given the right to wear it (these were denoted by the party members' number stamped on the reverse). Other Golden Party Badges (with the initials 'A.H.' stamped on the reverse) were awarded at the discretion of Adolf Hitler to certain members of the party who merited special attention. An identical badge was awarded each year on 30 January to persons who had shown outstanding service to the Party or State.[1]

The Golden Party Badge was the basic Nazi Party Badge with the addition of a gold wreath completely encircling the badge. The badge was awarded in two sizes: 30.5 mm for wearing on uniforms and 24 mm for other use.

The badge was associated with the Alte Kämpfer (Old Fighters) and those favored by the Führer, the Nazi Party elite. The Alte Kämpfer, also referred to as the "Golden Pheasants", were those who had joined the Party before 1930. Those who joined after its electoral breakthrough in the September 1930 Reichstag elections were referred to by the Alte Kämpfer with the put-down of Septemberlinge ("little September people"). After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, there was a rush of applications from Germans to join the Party, and the old guard regarded these new members with contempt, seeing their applications as more opportunistic than idealistic. The basic Nazi Party badge, without a gold wreath, as worn by the newer members, was sarcastically referred to by the old guard as the Angstbrosche (Badges of Fearfulness).

Adolf Hitler's own Golden Party Badge had the number '1'. He awarded it to Magda Goebbels on 27 April 1945, less than 48 hours before he committed suicide in his Führerbunker. She called it "The greatest honour any German could receive". It was awarded to her for being "The Greatest Mother in the Reich".[2] The '1' badge was stolen from a display in Russia in 2005. The guards thought that a cat had set off the alarms and this allowed the burglar to escape.[3]

The only makers of the Golden Party Badge were the firms Joseph Fuess and Deschler & Sohn, both located in Munich.

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Notable Recipients [edit]

Volksdeutsche decorated Golden Party Badge by Adolf Hitler in Berlin after Invasion of Poland in 1939. From left: Ludwig Wolff from Łódź, Otto Ulitz from Katowice, gauleiter Josef Wagner from Wrocław, mayor Rudolf Wiesner from Bielsko-Biała, obergruppenfuhrer Werner Lorenz, senator Erwin Hasbach from Ciechocinek, baron Gero von Gersdorff from Wielkopolska, Weiss from Jarocin.

Note - In the movie Schindler's List Oskar Schindler is shown wearing the Golden Party Badge. It has not been confirmed that Schindler received the badge in real life.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Angolia, John (1989). For Führer and Fatherland: Political & Civil Awards of the Third Reich, R. James Bender Publishing, pp. 178-179. ISBN 0-912138-16-5
  2. ^ Angolia, John (1989). For Führer and Fatherland: Political & Civil Awards of the Third Reich, p. 183.
  3. ^ Times online

External links [edit]

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