Original German WWII 1939 Honorary Table Award of the S.A. Sturmabteilung Lower Rhine Group – Heavyweight Wrestling Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice German WWII Era Presentation “Table Medal”, a large award usually displayed on a shelf or table, as the name implies, for the Sturmabteilung. The medal itself measures about 4” in diameter, and is 5mm thick, made of zinc alloy with a powdered silver paint.

The table medal was an honorary award for the S.A. Lower Rhine group, awarded for the 1939 Heavyweight Wrestling Competition. The design of the medal features a German WWII soldier marching with a Kar98k over his shoulder and a dagger at his hip. To his left are two men boxing, and to his right is another man javelin throwing, with the insignia of the Sturmabteilung in the bottom middle surrounded by the date 16.-18.6.1939, for the dates of June 16th-18th, 1939.

The reverse of the medal reads

EHRENPREIS
DER
S.A. GRUPPE
NIEDERRHEIN
RINGEN
SCHWERGEWICHT

Which translates to:

Honorary Award
Of the
S.A. Group
Lower Rhine
Heavyweight
Wrestling

The medal is in fair condition but has some heavy wear from being without its case for so long. There is a bit of discoloration and some dents to the rim, and it has developed a fine patina. A great table medal ready for further research and display.

The S.A.-
The Sturmabteilung, literally Storm Detachment, was the NSDAP Party’s original paramilitary. It played a significant role in Adolf AH’s rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for NSDAP rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Red Front Fighters League (Rotfrontkämpferbund) of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), and intimidating Romani, trade unionists, and, especially, Jews – for instance, during the NSDAP boycott of Jewish businesses.

The SA were also called the “Brownshirts” (Braunhemden) from the color of their uniform shirts, similar to Benito Mussolini’s blackshirts. The SA developed pseudo-military titles for its members, with ranks that were later adopted by several other NSDAP Party groups, chief amongst them the Schutzstaffel (SS), which originated as a branch of the SA before being separated. Brown-colored shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large number of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered during the war for colonial troops posted to Germany’s former African colonies.

The SA became disempowered after Adolf AH ordered the “blood purge” of 1934. This event became known as the Night of the Long Knives (die Nacht der langen Messer). The SA continued to exist, but was effectively superseded by the SS, although it was not formally dissolved until after NSDAP Germany’s final capitulation to the Allies in 1945.