Der Stahlhelm Badge 1930.

[georgi]

Hello. Not sure if I've picked the right place for this thread? What do you think of this badge? There are not many examples shown in the forum, except in pictures I have not seen such badges. From the research I did, several questions arose. The marking on the reverse appears to have been done recently. The patina of the reverse does not cover the marking. I read somewhere that the marking on the reverse means the date of acceptance of a member of Stahlhelm, part and number of the member. By 1930 Stahlhelm had over 100,000 members and such a low member number in 1930. is not possible. Please give your opinion if this badge is correct at all!
Thanks Georgi.

[Saladin]

The date that is on the reverse is applicable to the member but the detail III.B.547 I would imagine is applicable to the group that the member belonged to.
Nice original badge.

[Saladin]

So just checking my records it appears that your badge was part of the Wehrkreis III which would be Berlin.

I have popped a couple of reverse shots of a couple of my old members badges showing Wehrkreis VI which was Munster.
These badges show that in 1923 the membership number was around 1480 members increasing up to the 1900 odd mark.



Hope this helps

All the best
Doug

[georgi]

Hello Saladin.
Thanks for the opinion.
After looking at various examples of this badge I noticed that in the early years of the organization 1918/1919 the badges were marked by name and date of joining, then the marking changed as in your examples and finally the "Но" was removed leaving only the date of joining, group and some number that I don't know what it means. After 1927, the members of this organization must have been over 10,000, but I don't see five-digit numbers on the badges after that year. In this case, two options remain. All badges after 1927 are fake or those numbers mean something else. I show two examples that create a contradiction in the statement that these numbers are the member's number.
Regards Georgi.

[Saladin]

Thanks for those additional pictures Georgi,
The subject of the Stalhelm is a long winded study and it's not one that I have really bothered with but here is the information which as I understand it is correct.
The Stahlhelm was formed after the allies had defeated Germany and the other axis forces and were limited to a standing army of 100,000 men.
The Stahlhelm group recruited former soldiers as their members. by 1930 I believe the membership was around 500,000 men and by the time 1933 arrives the figure is estimated to be 1,500,000 members.

The numbering of badges as I mention earlier would be on the right lines. So on my two old badges that I show above they both came from Wehrkreis VI located in and around Munster. If you note your badge which starts with the VI number there is in addition the lettering NS which I would understand as one of the sub groups of the main Munster group. So your badge would be Munster Group NS (I don't know here that would be) with a membership number 2273.
My two badges both relating to the same Munster group with consecutive dates show the number 1480 in 1923 and then 1922 in 1925.
So to conclude each major group would be subdivided in to smaller groups and the membership numbers issued to individuals in that group.

Below is a map of the Wehrkreis prior to WW2 and as you see they are all large land areas.



There is a research document about the formation and organisation of the Stahlhelm held by the National archives in the US where original documents recovered post WW2 were deposited.
These should be available on line for you to continue your research.

All the best

[georgi]

Hello Saladin.
Perhaps the structure of this organization was more complex than we realize. Thanks for the information and your time.
Regards Georgi.