Article about: Before I start this thread I must make known the writing has been copied from another source, I will give due credit to that individual when the thread is complete, this will take several da
Before I start this thread I must make known the writing has been copied from another source, I will give due credit to that individual when the thread is complete, this will take several days to finish, the majority of pics are from my personal collection and others have been found on the internet. There of course will be some translation differences from the original German content to English but I have tried to make it as original as found.
The Reichsarbeitsdienst was created as early as 1926 from a voluntary labour service (FAD) to combat mass unemployment. Later, in 1931, this was again a measure of the cabinet under Heinrich Brüning, where about 100,000 volunteers did work. The National Socialists took over this institution, expanded it, reinterpreted it politically and ultimately abused it for their ideological purposes.
gen." That, in any case, was the original legal text. From 1938 also the service for military auxiliary service (construction of the Western Wall etc.) After the beginning of the war as a construction support force of the Wehrmacht and for the preparation of military training.
A labour department consisted of about 200-250 workers, or in the female labour service of work maidens.
I am confined to the men here. The department was under the authority of a field master (comparatively to the Wehrmacht a Captain's degree). The train drivers were field and oberfeld masters. These were also officer ranks (lieutenant or lieutenant) analogous to the Wehrmacht. In addition, there were lower batches, e.g. squad leaders, which corresponded roughly to the status of a non-commissioned officer in the Wehrmacht. Most of the trainers in the labour service were recruited from a wide range of tradesman occupations, or partly from former unemployed people, who then committed themselves for 12 years of service. But also well-deserved party members of the NSDAP found shelter here. The level of education of the trainers was not very impressive in my time. But it was probably enough for the goals demanded here.
Our accommodations consisted of quite massive wooden barracks. Each room was occupied by 8-10 men who formed a group. Each train had 4 groups. The barracks were arranged in a U-shaped area. It thus remained a free place on the open north side (an approach place). Every morning, the flag was raised here, a traditional ceremony that has been traditional since the young people and Hitler's youth, and which was marked with a day-to-day slogan. Here, patriotic quotations by great German poets, generals, or Nazi party figures were mostly declaimed. Subsequently, they were divided into daily work services or pre-military training. In the evening, the flag was again collected by the participation of all the workers on the entrance site. The labour service flag showed an emblem with a spade leaf in the middle, which was framed to the left and right by two slanted grains.
Our uniform had an earth-brown color. The cut similar to that, the army uniform. On the left sleeve was a swastika bandage, over which stood the RAD emblem (spades with barley stalks).
A special feature was the headgear in the nightout uniform. It was neither an umbrella hat nor a hat, but an intermediate thing between the two. In RAD jargon, they were called: ""Ass with handle".
The second special feature for the worker was the spade. He documented the manual work, but was also a kind of "replacement rifle" in view of the Wehrmacht. Similar to the "gewehr-handle-Clapping" at the Wehrmacht, there were the "spat-handles" at the RAD. At public rallies, party congresses - not only in Nuremberg - party marches, May celebrations, heroic commemorations, etc. were often shown by an honorary formation of the population, which then usually received great attention and applause.
There was the "presenting grip" and the "Hab-eight position". During the presentation, the spade was pulled down from the left shoulder, turned with the left hand, so that the spade blade pointed to the face. The right arm was raised at shoulder height, the inside of the right hand pointed to the ground. At the Hab-acht position, the spade was placed between the spread legs with the bare spade leaf. The spade then pointed forward with its back, the hands were crossed on the upper transverse handle. These spade handles had to be drilled beforehand to ensure an optical and acoustic (the impact of the spade blade on the ground) uniformity and perfection. Each employment department saw this as its special task. In all military or similar groups, the accuracy of the honorary formations was and is a reflection of their practiced discipline, as can be seen even today, for example, during state visits in many countries of the world.
The Arbeitsmann
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