Political Uniforms, Insignia, etc. Reference Req'd

[GregK]

Hello all,

I have various bits and bobs related to the NSDAP. I have all but given up collecting German militaria and focused strictly on Polish but of late the NSDAP stuff has caught my interest again. I was wondering if anyone could provide a list of good reference works to help me along on my new venture. Be it books, websites or whatever. I have many reference works that dabble a little here and there in the NSDAP but nothing concrete. I'm specifically interested in the uniforms and insognia but would welcome any help regarding the enamel party badges and awards as well.

Thanks,
Greg

[McCulloh]

Angolia published a book on cloth insignia of the party. Over at the GDaggers web site they have an SA/Party forum that has a lot of good info. If you're rich-there's an partei Organization book from 1938 over on the e-satnd. It has ALL the info you could want, but I'd also flesh it out with the 2 volume history of the NSDAP. Also Jill Halcomb-had a book on the SA and there's Osprey books on the SA as well.

[Erich B.]

reference books

There's not much published post war on the NSDAP. As noted, there is a book by Jack Angolia --Cloth Insignia of the NSDAP and SA-- but only 1/2 of the book is devoted to NSDAP and 1/2 to the SA. Either topic could fill 3 volumes easily.
Organization books are of limited use, because the regulations and insignia changed every so often, but you can usually pick up the 36, 37, 38 editions in the $350.00 price range. The 1943 is the most desireable and the most expensive, but if you're patient, you can find them.
There are a couple of other post war books on SA insignia, but nothing much on the NSDAP, other than the occasional article in Roger Bender's 'Military Advisor' magazine.
Erich

[VerKuilen Ager]

Badges and Insignia of the Third Reich by Brian Leigh Davis

Third Reich Cloth Insignia: Service Badges and Emblems 1 by Davis

German Uniforms of the Third Reich 1933-45 by Davis

Katalog ser Orden und Ehrenzeichen das Deutschen Reiches 1871-1945 by Andre Hüsken

Katalog der Abzeichen deutsche Organisationen 1871-1945 by Hüsken
Most or all are still available.

[GregK]

Wow!!!

Hello all,

Thanks for all the quick responses. I will definitely look into all these options. Part 2 of my question now. Do any of you know where I can find good period photos of these tunics, caps, badges, etc in wear? That would really help quite a lot.

Thanks again in advance.


Cheers,
Greg

[McCulloh]

This forum and the archives are a good start. I'd also look at the GDaggers forum. Pity Robert Noss's site is closed now-he had some great pics.

[Matthew Greer]

Hello Greg:

I am new to collecting but I have studied The Third Reich for about 15 years. The best sources I would say for wear of these items would be period film footage, try to get a copy of Triumph Des Willens "Triumph of the Will" by Leni Riefenstahl. Great period footage "all though it is all circa 1934". Also there was a documentary put out "back in the late 90's" by the Discovery channel here in the U.S. on the Munich festival of art held in may 1939 entitled: "Good morning Mr. Hitler" this is a very good doc. what is very impressive is that it has color film footage of the event not produced by the party! The other book I would strongly reccomend in addition to the ones mentioned above is another by Angolia, For Fuhrer and Fatherland vol 2. This is on Political and civil awards from the Third Reich. Other than that just by books on the different Orgs. that you may be interested in, and buy books that examine the more social and political aspects vs the military aspects of the Third Reich. The one thing I would ask you is what specifically are you looking for, are you looking for items related to the "Grunts" of the party or are you interested in items related to the party bosses? Let us know maybe we can help narrow the feild. Oh finally before I forget check out the website Axis history factbook and Axis Bio research "I think both are listed under the links on the Awards site link pg." if not I can provide you with the addresses.

Hope that helps!
Matthew Greer

[GregK]

You guys have been a huge help.

Hello all,

Thanks to all of you. You've all been a huge help so far. In fact I ran out and borrowed a copy of Angolia's book. It pretty much what I'm after so far.

Matthew,

I'm specifically looking for reference to uniforms, headgear, and cloth insignia of all levels of the NSDAP. Not exclusively though. I'm really quite interested in the enamelled badges. I know that there is a site or two dedicated to those in particular but it never hurts to get as much reference as possible.

Cheers,
Greg

[Matthew Greer]

I'm specifically looking for reference to uniforms and headgearand cloth insognia of all levels of the NSDAP. Not exclusively though. I'm really quite interested in the enamelled badges. I know that there is a site or two dedicated to those in particular but it never hurts to get as much reference as possible.

Cheers,
Greg

Hello Greg:

I am glad that I could help, like I said before I am new to collecting but I have several references on the Third Reich. The other book I fogot to mention is "Badges and Insignia of the Third Reich" by Brian Leigh Davis "put out by arms and armor" this is another good book that gives a small sampling of cloth insignia, armbands, ect. Not a bad starting place. The other thing I can throw out here is if you really want to get serious in to the research see if you can find an original copy of any of the NSDAP guide books put out for party members. "I don't own any but, if you can read german they would be the best source of all for wear and description of each insignia, uniform, award, ect related to the party." One piece of personal advice I can give is, be careful of which sites you visit as some are definatly slanted toward a Non-objective historical view, and usually have some political motive related toward the layout and information of their site. As such the information is not tailored to the history buff or collector but to a more politically based crowd. But nine times out of ten you can tell right away if they are "politically motivated" or not. Like I mentioned before the best source I have found is pictures and the more the better! Some of the best pics related to the NSDAP, is party propaganda photos, Gobbles did a wonderful job pumping up the party with speeches, documents, and pics. You can find these pics in most good books that document the Third Reich.

I hope that helps!

Matthew Greer