Original German WWII EM/NCO RAD Labor Service Aluminum Belt Buckle by Dr. Franke & Co. – Dated 1938 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent nearly unissued WWII German Reichsarbeitsdienst (National Labor Service or RAD) EM/NCO’s Aluminum Belt Buckle (Koppelschloß). The central RAD logo features five sheaves of wheat surrounding a shovel head with an embossed, canted, pebbled, swas on a textured circular central field. This is an early, injection molded, natural aluminum box buckle with a pebbled base field and a circular, embossed central motif. Later models used a stamped buckle with a separate logo.

The back of the buckle has a maker mark of Dr. F. & Co., and the leather tab on the back has the full maker information and date:

DR. FRANKE & Co K.G.
1938
LÜDENSCHEID

Lüdenscheid, Germany, is a city with a large garment accessories industry, with many companies manufacturing material for the war.

Overall an excellent condition example of a hard to find German WWII Era belt buckle. Ready to display!

The basis of the RAD, Reichsarbeitsdienst, (National Labor Service), dates back, at least, to 1929 with the formation of the AAD (Anhalt Arbeitsdienst) and the FAD-B (Freiwillingen Arbeitsdienst-Bayern).  Shortly after AH’s appointment as Chancellor in Jan 1933, the NSDAP consolidated all labor organizations into the NSAD (Nationalsozialist Arbeitsdienst), a national labor service. It served as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarize the workforce and indoctrinate it with NSDAP ideology. It was the official state labor service, divided into separate sections for men and women.

On June 26 1935 the NSAD was officially re-designated RAD. Originally personnel serving with RAD wore a variety of earlier FAD/NSAD belt buckles until February 15TH 1936 when new pattern belt buckles for Officer’s and EM/NCO’s were introduced to provided uniformity in dress.