Is this survivor's badge genuine?

[Zarski843]

First off, I apologize if this is in the wrong place. I had no clue where to put this, because it is a civilian issue item from 1965. It appears to be a survivor badge from one of those three concentration camps, commemorating 20 years after the liberation/end of the war. It seems and feels genuine, however, the pin on the back is not centered and it just seems off. I have seen other images online and while the pin was not perfectly centered, it wasn't way off to the side like this one. It does have sort of a faded spot in the middle, so maybe it came detached and someone reattached it off center?

Does anyone know if this is genuine or not?




Thank you so much!

[HPL2008]

It should be in the GDR section.

This is not a survivors' badge as such; it's a commemorative/anniversary badge.

There are quite a few different ones made for significant events/anniversaries of the memorial sites in the GDR, where they were sold to visitors/attendants.

The off-center pin is not a problem. It's surely genuine, as I don't think these are faked. It's worth about 7 to 10 Euros.

[CARL]

HPL is indeed quite correct - as he usually is!

These pins, which come in many various forms with even some camps having several different designs related to them alone, were issued during liberation anniversary commemorative events. Below is a similar piece, although much rarer than the Sachsenhausen/Buchenwald/Ravensbrück/Mittelbau-Dora example shown above, in that it relates to a former sub-camp of KZ-Floßenbürg located on occupied Czech soil. The camp was KZ-Außenlager Leitmeritz, established to hold thousands of slave labourers who were detailed within the secret arms manufacturing facilities near Litoměřice (Leitmeritz) that had the code name "Richard". The inscription on this Czech pin reads KT-RICHARD (Koncentrační Tábor Richard / Concentration Camp Richard). Note the use of a red triangle (indicating a political prisoner within the camp system) and striped background, resembling the familiar striped clothing issued to the inmates.

Carl

Note: I shall move this thread to the Konzentrationslagers forum.