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What is the origin of "The Ruptured Duck" insignia?

Bill Shea....51 Morgan Road....Hubbardston, Massachusetts 01452-1602....Telephone (978) 928-4495....FAX (978) 928-5278

Last Updated: 07/28/10 08:49 AM

In order to make it easier to find exactly what you are looking for, we have separated the Medals & Badges section into categories:

Awards and Decorations 1933 through 1939       Awards of the NSDAP       Campaign Shields       German Tinnies       Iron Crosses      Medal Bars      Miscellaneous Awards and Decorations        National Sozialistische Frauenschaft (NSF) Insignia        Special Offerings       Sports Awards       Stick Pins and Pinbacks       War Badges - Army/SS       War Badges - Luftwaffe       
War Badges - Navy       Wound Badges       Youth Badges and Awards    

SPECIAL OFFERINGS

I have decided to create a section of the medals and badges for some choice and select pieces.  This initial offering represents several pieces from my personal collection which I have decided to sell.  I have always firmly believed that we really do not own these pieces.  We simply lease them!  As I continue to add items to my "inner sanctum" I have looked a few pieces over and decided that the lease was up and it was time for me to allow the next temporary custodian these opportunities.  Many of these items are "indirect" Veteran purchases (one step removed from the actual Veteran who brought them home or a member of his family).  Each piece will be carefully described and a written affidavit will be offered with every one of these items from this section.  This was the lineage and pedigree will continue.  This paperwork will prove to be very valuable down the road.  Enjoy your tour!

Iron Crosses

Awards of the NSDAP

Youth Badges and Awards

Sports Awards

Campaign Shields

War Badges - Luftwaffe

War Badges - Navy

War Badges - Army/SS

Wound Badges

Awards and Decorations 1933 through 1939

Miscellaneous Awards and Decorations

Medal Bars

Stick Pins and Pinbacks

The following is a grouping of German Third Reich stick pins or small pinbacks. Collecting these items can be very exciting and what's even better, not too expensive. Every organization, association, combat badge, achievement award or party affiliated decoration had a miniature stick pin or pinback style. All of the following feature a knurled pin (circular ridges for better holding) and are maker marked unless otherwise noted.
These, just like all of our merchandise, are guaranteed 100% pre-May 1945 manufacture so order with confidence.

National Sozialistische Frauenschaft (NSF) Insignia 

Ruptured Duck Note:  Part of our job here at The Ruptured Duck is to provide our customers with background information so that they can learn about some of the less well-known, yet intriguing articles we offer. For your collecting pleasure, I have assembled a large number of pins used by the women’s organization known as the National Sozialistische Frauenschaft”, or "National Socialist Womenhood". In keeping with our goal of providing you with background knowledge, here is the scoop on the NSF:

The NSF was formed in 1931, after Gregor Strasser disbanded a number of competing socialist women’s organizations (among these the DFO - Deutsche Frauenordens) and unified them into the only women’s organization thenceforth recognized by the NSDAP as being distinctly National Socialist-oriented. This was called the National Sozilialistische Frauenschaft. Nearly all of these women were highly sympathetic to the Nazi party, if not Party Members. Other women’s groups not specifically allied with the Nazi party fell under the auspices of the “Deutsche Frauenwerks” (DFW) – the Women’s Welfare Organization.
In addition, there was also a women’s bureau within the DAF organization. In 1934, Mrs. Gertrud Klink-Scholz, a schoolteacher and journalist, was named as the first (and only) Reichsführerin (National Leader) of the NSF, as well as Leiterin (Director) of the DFW. Mrs. Scholz had been an NSDAP lobbyist and supporter from the early days (joined in 1929) and her rise had been fairly meteoric; that same year she was also made leader of the National Women’s League of the German Red Cross and Director for the Women’s Bureau of the DAF.  Mrs. Scholz had now effectively become the most influential woman in the Reich. In 1940 after a divorce from second husband Scholz (first husband Klink died of a heart attack in 1930), she re-married  -Obergruppenführer and General of Police Heißmeyer (who was the head of the NS Adolf Hitler School). Frau Scholz survived the war, but spent post-war time in prison for aiding the Nazis. Part of her punishment included being banned from the teaching or journalism professions for life.
In 1935, the NSF became an official party organ of the NSDAP. It had a triangular membership pin, (the point oriented downward). From 1935, the NSF’s structure was organized in the same manner and using the same associated level colors as the country’s political / administrative structure – that is, REICH Level (the highest), with yellow insignia edges, GAU Level with red insignia edges, KREIS Level with white insignia edges (black on early pins; this color was changed to white in 1938) and ORT Level, with blue insignia edges. Leadership positions usually involved adding an extra border in silver, around the outside of the pin and for higher leaders, a silver oak leaf border. Early pins were beautifully made in fine quality enamels with nickel-silver; late-war pins were often made of zinc, with the colors painted.
At the high point of the Third Reich with some 4 million organized women, approximately 2.3 million of these were NSF members. These pins are a unique collectible; the NSF organizational system was complex and this offers a great deal of room for various collecting tastes.
The NSF pins can be categorized in four basic groups, one of which is not directly NSF: 

1. NSF Membership Pins, (a) Standard, and (b) for members of the “Women’s Order of the Red Swastika”  (c) for young women in the National Sozialistische Jung-Mädchenschaft (girls below the qualifying age for entry in the NSF): 

 (a) The standard pin came in two sizes:   medium and small. It had a triangular shape, with a very slight arch (like a shield). The triangle had a very narrow silver border edge, and a silver colored bar across the top with red letters reading: “N.S. Frauenschaft” (in Fraktur – gothic – font). The rest of the triangle was filled with glossy black enamel around a “sunwheel” swastika and beneath this an eolh” rune  (the runic letter “X”) rendered in silver. 

(b) The Women’s Order of the Red Swastika was a triangular metal pin, slightly arched, showing a white enamel cross on a glossy black enamel background, with a red swastika at the center of the cross and nickel silver letters “G”, “H”, “L” on the cross arms and foot (in gothic font). A white band runs across the top with the words “NAT. SOZ. FRAUENSCHAFT” in silver, Roman font. This type of pin has various markings on the back ranging from “Ges. Gesch.” (Patented), to an RZM mark and maker code or a maker’s name. The large version of this pin is in fact the largest pin of any type used by any sub-agency of the NSF. The pin also came in a medium-size and a small-size version. See all three sizes side-by-side. 

(c) National Sozialistische Mädchenschaft:  This pin is exactly the same size and image format as the small-sized Frauenschaft pin described above, but with the words and initials “N.S. Mädchenschaft” across the top, instead of “Frauenschaft”.  A very seldom-encountered pin worn by senior young women still less than 21 years of age (the qualifying age for entry into the Frauenschaft). 

2. NSF area member, worker and leader pins:

These are all triangular pins – as indeed are all women’s pins – slightly arched (like a shield) with an outer edge border in the color of the wearer’s political administration level (yellow for REICH, red for GAU, white for KREIS and light blue for ORT). The inner design followed the same format as already described above for Item 1 (b), with the white cross and red swastika, and the “NAT. SOZ. FRAUENSCHAFT” in silver Roman font. An additional outer border in nickel silver indicated a member working at a higher level.
Another pin for members of Senior Level Staffs had the same outer border in the appropriate administrative color, but no silver band across the top; instead, the words “Nat. Soz. Frauenschaft” in silver Fraktur (gothic) font appear directly within the glossy black enamel; below this there is a straight winged eagle above an “eolh” rune - all rendered in nickel silver on the glossy black enameled background. Women working as Junior Members of the Senior Staff were classified as  “Extended Staff” (Erweiteter Stab) members and wore this as their pin; those serving at higher levels were classified as “Select Staff” (Engerer Stab) members and had the basic pin with an additional, wide, nickel silver outer border band.
For top-level Staff Leaders, the nickel silver outer border was black – but filled with beautifully rendered nickel silver plated (or washed) oak leaves.

3. DAF Women’s Pins

These triangular pins follow the same grading pattern as described in #2. An outer border in the administrative level color, with the interior being a glossy black enamel background with a nickel silver cogwheel and swastika. Basic workers were identified using the political style administrative level (e.g. Ort) with the letters “BG” (“Orts-BG”), then the job title, thus “DAF Orts-BG Frauensachbearbeiterin”. Higher level workers had an additional outer nickel silver colored border added to the pin, and the wearer used the administrative level in her title: “DAF Ortssachbearbeiterin”. 

4. Membership Pins for the Frauenwerk (Women’s Welfare Organization)

The triangular pins for this subsidiary of the NSF were made of the usual glossy black enamel, with a thin silver border and a nickel silver band across the top with the letters “N.S. Frauenwerk” In the body of the pin is a “sun wheel” swastika above a large “eohl” rune, both insignia rendered in silver. Late-war versions, to conserve time and materials, were manufactured entirely of cheap zinc with the colors simply painted onto the obverse (no enamel). The Frauenwerk pin was essentially the same as the membership pin for the NSF described earlier, with only the title at the top being any different. It appears to have come only in one (Medium) size. 

And now, the offerings!

NFS FRAUENSCHAFT and DAF (Women’s Bureau) PINS

ORT Level Pins:

KREIS Level Pins

none available at this time...

FRAUENWERK Pins

none available at this time...

TINNIES

RUPTURED DUCK NOTE:  “Tinnies” are a unique form of Third Reich historica that is very often overlooked. Though they gain their name from the fact that many are simple constructions stamped from thin sheets of metal, in actuality the Germans used quite a variety of materials (including pressed paper) and the incredible diversity of designs runs the gamut from extremely basic, stylized patterns, to highly complex images.
Tinnies were very symbolic items to the Germans, and were used by the people of the times to display the fact that he or she had attended / taken part in an event (or drive, or organization) depicted by the Tinnie’s image: Patriotic – e.g., “The Saar is Free!”; Political – e.g. Reichs-Parteitag, Gautag, Kreistag Tinnies, etc.; Athletic Events; Organizational: SA meetings, HJ Summer Camps and Sport Championships; Military: Day of the Wehrmacht; and more.

Tinnies could also indicate membership in the group depicted by its image, and so on.
Major events that produced Tinnies were often recurring – that is, they were held on a yearly basis - and drew many visitors or competitors. As a result, a different Tinnie (either a different design, or in a different metal) was usually issued as a memento / souvenir for each year’s event, and at each level (Regional, National, etc.). The result of all this was an extraordinary variety of Tinnies – yet, prices for this form of Third Reich collectible remain very reasonable. The diversity also means that there is usually something of interest to everyone - especially to new collectors who do not want to start with the more expensive items. Everything is within reach! You can start a Tinnie collection from almost any angle – collect all the Hitler Jugend-associated Tinnies, for example, or select from the vast array of Reichs, Kreis and Gau Level “Party Day” pins for each year. Or, pick and choose among all categories! In many cases, we may have more than one of the Tinnies. Rest assured the example you receive will be as good as, if not better, than the one pictured on the site.

The Tinnies will be broken down into categories as follows: 

Hitler Jugend and Deutsches Jungvolk Tinnies          City Tinnies          SA Tinnies          Reichs Level Tinnies          Gau Level Tinnies          Kreis Level Tinnies          General Political Tinnies          NSKOV/Stahlhelm Tinnies          Agricultural and Hunting Association Tinnies          Labor and Political Related Organizations          Sporting Events (not associated with Hitler Youth; e.g. Gymnastic Championships)          WHW          Tag der Wehrmacht and Other Military Tinnies

Hitler Jugend and Deutsches Jungvolk Tinnies

SA Tinnies

Ruptured Duck Historical Information Note:  S.A. and Political/Patriotic Tinnies sometimes refer to a fellow named “Schlageter” - so it is a good idea to know who this guy actually was and why his name served as an important motivational factor in the early “struggles” of the NSDAP / S.A.:  With the year 1923 came the severe inflation that crippled Germany’s economy (and forced it to cut back on war reparation payments – in fact, these payments were partly to blame for the inflation problems in the first place, due to the massive amounts of money they required). Albert Leo Schlageter was a former WWI German Army Officer who had eventually joined the Nazi Party as a radical patriot. His claim to fame in Party circles also came about in 1923, when he led a civilian group of saboteurs in action against the French and Belgian Troops who, on January 11, 1923 – just one day after the last U.S. Troops had left – immediately marched into Germany’s Ruhr industrial area and occupied it. The French apparently felt the Germans were not making sufficient effort to pay their war reparations, and felt occupying the most industrial region of the country would help force them to do so. This action - not surprisingly - was not at all well-received by the Germans. Schlageter and others took action against the French. His career as a saboteur was short-lived, however: arrested by French authorities in the occupied German city of Essen on 7 April, he was executed one month later on 7 May 1923. A Nazi memorial rally on 10 July 1923 declared him a martyr to the cause, and his name thenceforth became a rallying cry. 

Kreis Level Tinnies

GAU Level Tinnies  (Gau-Tag, Gau Treffen etc. )

REICHS Level Tinnies

Ruptured Duck Note: The Reichsparteitag (National Party Day) Tinnies are more often than not coin-shaped, with an approximately 1.5” diameter (unless noted otherwise).

General Political (Other Than Party Day Events, Organizations)

City Tinnies

NSKOV / Stahlhelm Tinnies

The NSKOV tinnies nearly always include the organizations motif of raised sword surrounded by a wreath (to indicate war victims), and often more local images as well: city coat of arms shields, images of crosses, and so on; sometimes there are even complex scenic depictions that are quite detailed. In general the NSKOV pieces are among the most interesting tinnies. The related Stahlhelm tinnies have Veteran imagery helmets and weapons sometimes associated with fallen Veterans through images of crosses.

Labor and Political Related Organizations

DAF and KdF (Kraft durch Freude):