NS Frauenschaft Badges

[Matt Gibbs]

Hi there Fraulein;
I took a few more pics and here they are. I believe these are all Type 3 badges. Interested in your thoughts. The enamel is slightly cracked on the Kreis [white] but I still like it!

Regards
Matt Gibbs

[Vikki]

Matt,

Very, very nice!!! They are Type III badges (1939-44). The three with the plain borders are Staff badges, and the one with the oak leaf border is a Kreis-level Leader's badge.

Below are a couple of pictures of Type III badges. The first photo is of (left to right) large and small Members' badges, and on the far right is a Member's badge from the related NS-Frauenwerk. Below these three is a late-war painted version of the NSF Member's badge. (Sorry I couldn't get the picture any clearer.)

The second picture is of Type III Kreis-level Staff and Leaders' badges: from left to right, a Staff badge, a Leader's badge, and a late-war painted example of the Leader's badge.

[Vikki]

Type III Members' badges:

[Vikki]

Type III Kreis-level Staff and Leaders' badges:

[Vikki]

Here are a couple more items related to Type II badges---that style is my favorite.

A cloth version of the Type II badge:

[Vikki]

And I know this probably should be posted in the documents section, but I couldn't resist....

The Type II badge shown on the cover of the NS Frauenschaft membership booklet that each member would have carried, and on a leatherette cover for the booklet:

[Vikki]

The earlier membership badges were in 3 sizes for a reason I guess..?? Was this to do with the Jungmadel/BDM/NSF relationship, between the organisations.?

I think it had more to do with women's fashion whims, and with their private purchase of different sized badges for wear on different garments. (You know women and fashion... )

The official age for women entering the Frauenschaft was 21, but there was a very limited number of special pins made for women under that age, the NS Jung Mädchenschaft, who had worked significantly for the Organization. This is the only one of these I've ever seen; even the one in J.R. Cone's book appears to be from a photo in an Assman catalog.

[Matt Gibbs]

Very Nice collection FV.
No doubt I shall look out for one of the members badges at some point.
I like your Kreis Level senior leaders zinc badge from the late war period, something for me to look out for in the future!
I'll have a go at a picture of the backs and maker marks sometime soon.
I also have a DAF Female caseworkers badge to post - I suppose thats a related subject.
Regards
Matt Gibbs

[-Koj-]

NS Frauenwerk, cloth version for armband

[Siegfried Wilhelm]

Koj,
I can't quite see in the photo, but is that insignia printed on the cloth? I had always assumed that those armband patches were woven and then the woven insignia was then sewn onto the armband. Or could that patch perhaps come off a funeral sash--I think because sashes are generally of less quality, they might be printed?


SW~

[-Koj-]

Hello Siegfried,
Yes you´re right. The badge is printed. It is perhaps for the left arm of overalls, aprons etc.
The Quality of the pic is bad, in "real" it is very detailed.
greetings from Germany
Flo (Koj)

[Vikki]

Here's a photo of one of the badges in wear.....by the Reichsfrauenführerin herself. It appears to be a Type II badge (which would agree with the date of the picture), worn above a Party pin.

[Matt Gibbs]

Hello F.V.!
Nice picture of Scholtz-Klink greeting people on a visit. Did you find it in an album?
We'll end up having to start a frauenschaft thread on the Party Organisations thread to post such nice things!
Kind regards
Matt Gibbs

PS I don't suppose you know if Bruckner-Mohr was an NSF member? She was BDM leader before Jutta Rudiger.

[Vikki]

Hello F.V.!
Nice picture of Scholtz-Klink greeting people on a visit. Did you find it in an album?

Hello Matt,

Glad you enjoyed the photo! It's the frontispiece (well, right after the real frontispiece picture of Hitler) of a period book, Deutsches Frauenschaffen: Jahrbuch der Reichsfrauenführung (Berlin: 1936). The book is an absolute treasure regarding Reich women's organizations. Right after Scholtz-Klink's photo, there's a double-page organizational chart showing the Reichsfrauenführerin's control of the NS Frauenschaft, Deutsches Frauenwerk, Frauenamt der DAF, DRK, etc., as well as the breakdown of the various Abteilungen (Presse und Propaganda, Kultur und Schulung, Reichsmütterdienst, Volkswirtschaft und Hauswirtschaft, etc.). Even a listing of all of the Gaufrauenschaftsleitung and DAF offices' addresses and telephone numbers....

We'll end up having to start a frauenschaft thread on the Party Organisations thread to post such nice things!

As you can see from the way I got going above.....Don't tempt me!!!

PS I don't suppose you know if Bruckner-Mohr was an NSF member? She was BDM leader before Jutta Rudiger.

I couldn't find anything on it in a quick search, but I'll look some more.
I should add that membership in the Frauenschaft was supposed to be "mandatory" for women, in perhaps the same way that membership in the youth organizations was pretty much expected for children and teens---although I've heard personal accounts from at least a couple of women of the period that they never joined. But I'd think it would be odd if a high political figure like Bruckner-Mohr weren't a member.


~FV

[Vikki]

Siegfried and Koj,

The Frauenschaft-Frauenwerk patches of that type I've seen are woven rather than printed, and with a smooth (rayon?) background rather than linen.

Here's one in my collection: