Original German WWII HJ National Youth Organization Doctor’s Armband with RZM Tag Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an absolutely textbook original example of the HJ Youth Doctor’s Armband with RZM tag. The armband is BeVo style machine woven rayon, white with wide red woven in borders. There is the correct a red machine embroidered ᛉ Leben (Life) rune in the center, a design based on the “Algiz” rune of the “Elder Furthark” runes. Many of the NSDAP organizations utilized the “Armanen runes”, a series of “pseudo-runes” compiled by occultist Guido von List and published in 1906-1908. In his table this run was known as “Man”. In the HJ Youth Organization, the “Life” rune was used for medical personnel, all the way from orderlies up to Doctors.

The armband is in very good condition, though it definitely is stained and age toned from long age and storage, and possibly water exposure. The colors are however still very vibrant, and there is no sign of degradation of the rayon material. It measures approximately 19 1/2″ x 5″, and is is not sewn together in the back, and shows no signs of ever having been attached to a uniform.

The inner side still features the original RZM tag on the end, which is a complete example with the correct blue printing and black particulars. The tag has a correct “B” tax code and features a RZM logo. The ink stamped numerical designation of the hersteller (manufacturer) is A4, however the stamped numbers are unfortunately illegible, though it does have the lot No. 499537 beneath it.

Overall condition is very good, and it is made exactly as one would expect with regards to materials and stitching patterns. Comes ready to be displayed!

In 1922, the Munich-based NSDAP established its official youth organization called Jugendbund der NSDAP. It was announced on 8 March 1922 in the Völkischer Beobachter, and its inaugural meeting took place on 13 May the same year. Another youth group was established in 1922 as the Jungsturm Adolf “AH”. Based in Munich, Bavaria, it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the main paramilitary wing of the NSDAP Party at that time.

One reason the HJ so easily developed was that regimented organizations, often focused on politics, for young people and particularly adolescent boys were a familiar concept to German society in the Weimar Republic. Numerous youth movements existed across Germany prior to and especially after World War I. They were created for various purposes. Some were religious and others were ideological, but the more prominent ones were formed for political reasons, like the Young Conservatives and the Young Protestants. Once AH came onto the revolutionary scene, the transition from seemingly innocuous youth movements to political entities focused on AH was swift.

Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch (in November 1923), NSDAP youth groups ostensibly disbanded, but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names. In April 1924, the Jugendbund der NSDAP was renamed Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung (Greater German Youth Movement). On 4 July 1926, the Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung was officially renamed HJ Bund der deutschen Arbeiterjugend (HJ League of German Worker Youth). This event took place a year after the NSDAP Party was reorganised. The architect of the re-organization was Kurt Gruber, a law student from Plauen in Saxony.

After a short power struggle with a rival organization—Gerhard Roßbach’s Schilljugend—Gruber prevailed and his “Greater German Youth Movement” became the NSDAP Party’s official youth organisation. In July 1926, it was renamed H -Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend (“H” Youth, League of German Worker Youth”) and, for the first time, it officially became an integral part of the SA. The name H -Jugend was taken up on the suggestion of Hans Severus Ziegler. By 1930, the Hjugend (HJ) had enlisted over 25,000 boys aged 14 and upward. They also set up a junior branch, the Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ), for boys aged 10 to 14. Girls from 10 to 18 were given their own parallel organization, the League of German Girls (BDM).

In April 1932, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the H Youth movement in an attempt to stop widespread political violence. However, in June, Brüning’s successor as Chancellor, Franz von Papen, lifted the ban as a way of appeasing “AH”, the rapidly ascending political star. A further significant expansion drive started in 1933, after Baldur von Schirach was appointed by H as the first Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader). All youth organizations were brought under Schirach’s control.