Original Item: Only One Available. Recently purchased directly from the family of a 93 year-old veteran is this genuine USGI bring back. This is an Original German WWII HJ Cotton Armband.
This HJ Armband looks to have been worn but remains in very fine condition. The band is red with a white center stripe, with the usual applied HJ diamond with a woven swas. A very nice HJ Armband, especially if you like examples that have the battle-hardened look provided of a bit of period wear. Stitching on lower right of diamond panel has partially come away.
The HJ or jugend, and often abbreviated as HJ in German, was the youth organization of the NSDAP Party in Germany. Its origins dated back to 1922 and it received the name AH-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend (“HJ, League of German Worker Youth”) in July 1926. From 1933 until 1945, it was the sole official youth organization in Germany and was partially a paramilitary organization; it was composed of the HJ proper for male youths aged 14 to 18, the German Youngsters in the HJ (Deutsches Jungvolk in der AH Jugend or “DJ”, also “DJV”) for younger boys aged 10 to 14, and the League of German Girls (Bund Deutsche Mädel or “BDM”).