Original German WWII Damaged NSDAP Ethnic Germans in Hungary Membership Badge Pin Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. As the NSDAP deepened its grip on power in the late 1930s, it began to target ethnic German populations who were outside the current borders of Germany. Various conflicts over the years had re-drawn borders, and also often in those regions there were many areas of mixed ethnicity. Hungary, previously part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was one such area, and had relatively large German population. Past migrations over the centuries had also played their part.

In 1938, the Volksbund der Deutschen in Ungarn (People’s League of Germans in Hungary) was formed, as an arm of the NSDAP in Hungary. They were issued membership badges very similar to the German NSDAP badge, a 24mm diameter, die struck brass alloy badge with multi-colored enamel work. The badge features a translucent red, circular outer border with embossed block letters, VOLKSBUND DER DEUTSCHEN IN UNGARN. This encompasses a white enamel field with canted brass “Sunwheel” style Swas (hook cross).

This example looks to have a seen a lot of use, and has suffered damage to the enamel on the obverse. The white enamel at the end of each “arm” is missing, and there are also chips to the translucent red enamel around the perimeter. The safety pin style attachment on the back looks to have broken off at some point, and then was soldered back on.

A great example with some real period damage and repairs, ready to display!

NSDAP Party
The NSDAP, officially the National Socialist German Workers’ Party ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of N**ism. Its precursor, the German Workers’ Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; DAP), existed from 1919 to 1920. The Party emerged from the extremist German nationalist, racist and populist Freikorps paramilitary culture, which fought against the communist uprisings in post–World War I Germany. The party was created to draw workers away from communism and into völkisch nationalism. Initially, N**i political strategy focused on anti–big business, anti‑bourgeois, and anti‑capitalist rhetoric. This was later downplayed to gain the support of business leaders, and in the 1930s the party’s main focus shifted to antisemitic and anti‑Marxist themes.

Ad**f Hi**er, the party’s leader since 1921, was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. Hitl** rapidly established a totalitarian regime known as the Third Reich. Following the defeat of the Third Reich at the end of World War II in Europe, the party was “declared to be illegal” by the Allied powers, who carried out denazification in the years after the war both in Germany and in territories occupied by NSDAP forces. The use of any symbols associated with the party is now outlawed in many European countries, including Germany and Austria.