Hitler Youth Uniforms: Trinagular Patch


Figure 1.--This DJ boy wears the triangular patch on his left sleeve. The image is not clear enough to see where he was from. The top line, however, does look like "Ost" meaning east. The most notable aspect of the image is a healthy set of ears. His blond hair probably brought him a good core on any racial examination. We wonder how those ears affected any racial assessment.

For the purpose of a command structure, Germany was divided up into a number of Hitler Youth Districts or HJ-Gebiete. Arm patches in the shape of a triangle were worn on the left upper arm of their shirts or tunics which showed the name of the wearer's HJ District. This was worn by both the HJ and DJ boys as well as the BDM girls. We notice this on most the uniforms of most DJ and HJ boys. Some of the younger boys somerimes do not have it. We are unsure if you had to earn this patch in some way or if the younger boys have not yet gotten their mothers to sew it on. We are not sure where the boy shown here was from, but he may have been from a town near Berlin.

Regional Organization

For the purpose of a command structure, the Hitler Youth organization divided the Reich into administrative units. We at first thought they used the NAZI Gaus, but this was not the case. I am unsure just why. A HBU contributor reports that the HJ divided the Reich into five areas (Oberbann) for all three units: DJ, HJ and BDM. I am not sure of the relationship between the NAZI Gaus and the HJ Oberbann. The Oberbann was a larger unit than any Gau. A HBU contributor tells us , "The HJ organization divided the Reich into five areas (Oberbann) for DJ, HJ and BDM administration and sub-divided into smaller districts (Bann). Each Oberbann had a destinctlively colored rune all on tan cloth. ... The bann were also grouped together into groups within the Oberbann. Groups of 10-30 Bann equaled one Gebiet and each Gebiet were indicated with a triangular patch worn high on the left shoulder with the name embroidered within the triangle e.g. Sud Wurttemberg, Nord Nordmark etc." [Muir] All HJ members (DJ, HJ, and BDM) children wore the trianular patches. "It was a complicated system and made even more so by the many changes pre war. There were many specialist groups also Naval and Air Force HJ, engineers, fire-fighters, medical, ski groups, etc and all wore badges and insignia for the section to which they belonged. The metal gordet was worn by the standard bearers for example." [Muir] The trianular arm patches were worn on the left upper arm of their shirts or tunics which showed the name of the wearer's HJ District. A HBC reader reports, "In the area of Hannover where I lived, it was "Gau Suedhannover-Braunschweig", "Gau" in the upper row, the rest in the lower. "Gau" is also a Germanic term meaning something like district (at least in Nazi Germany). The NAZI Party was divided into Gaus and it became an afministrative unit after the NAZIs seized power. "Gau Suedhannover-Braunschweig" was the area of southern Lower Saxony." [Wellershaus] While some of the pastches had Gau in the upper row, others chad regional designations like Nord, Ost, and Süd. The boy here, for example, has "Ost". We are not sure about these seeming inconsistencies in the triangular patches.

Prevalence

We notice this on most the uniforms of most DJ and HJ boys. Some of the younger boys somerimes do not have it. We are unsure if you had to earn this patch in some way or if the younger boys have not yet gotten their mothers to sew it on.

Image

We are not sure where the boy shown here was from (figure 1). We notice one word in large letters, "Ost" meaning East. The word underneath may be Mark Brandenburg (a region north of Berlin), but can not make it out to be sure. We note that Austrian HJ boys had a patch whicvh said Ostmark, but Ost alone appears to mean eastern Germany.

Script

The place names in the triangle patches were written in the Gothic script. This makes them a little difficult to read. In particular the S's look like F's. A reader writes, "My father was a World War flight surgeon and he retrieved a patch from Hitler's Eagle Nest. I thought it might be of interest to you. Do you know which region this patch would have been from? Your HBU site is very informative." [Chenik] Thank A good example is a patch which identifies a boy from "West Hessen-Nassau" which is a part of Southern Germany. Written in the Gothic scrift with charcters looking like F's it is diificult to maske out.

Reader Comment

A French reader writes, "This It is a beautifull young boy inside a diabolic system! Note the right part of his hair. This suggests that he came from an old, traditional German family. I stayed a few hours in Germany during a trip to Austria at the beginning of this month. The German people are really like us and we now feel at home in this country as fellow Europeans. Only the language is different."

Sources

Chenik, Mara Wise. E-mail message, September 16, 2004.

Muir, John. E-mail message, September 16, 2005

Wellershaus, Stefan. E-Mail message, August 21, 2002.






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Created: October 18, 2002
Last updated: 9:59 PM 9/16/2005