The Golden Party Badge (German: Goldenes Parteiabzeichen, officially the Goldenes Ehrenzeichen der NSDAP) was a special badge of the Nazi Party. The first 100,000 members who had joined and had uninterrupted service in the Party were given the right to wear it (these were denoted by the party members' number stamped on the reverse). Other Golden Party Badges (with the initials 'A.H.' stamped on the reverse) were awarded at the discretion of Adolf Hitler to certain members of the party who merited special attention. An identical badge was awarded each year on 30 January to persons who had shown outstanding service to the Party or State.
The Golden Party Badge was the basic Nazi Party Badge with the addition of a gold wreath completely encircling the badge. The badge was awarded in two sizes: 30.5 mm for uniforms and 24 mm for civilian jackets.
The badge was associated with the Alte Kämpfer and those favored by the Führer, the Nazi Party elite. The Alte Kämpfer (Old Fighters) were those who joined the NSDAP before 1930. Those who joined the Nazi Party after the party's electoral breakthrough in the September 1930 Reichstag elections were referred to with contempt as Septemberlinge by the Alte Kämpfer. After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, there were a rush of applications from Germans to join the NSDAP. The "Golden Pheasants" regarded these new members with contempt, seeing their applications as more opportunism than idealism. The basic Nazi Party badge that these newer members wore were sarcastically referred to as "Die Angstbrosche" (The Badge of Fear) by the Old Guard.
Adolf Hitler's Golden Party Badge had the number '1'. He awarded it to Magda Goebbels on 27 April 1945, less than 48 hours before he committed suicide in his Führerbunker. She called it, "The greatest honour any German could receive". It was awarded to her for being "The Greatest Mother in the Reich". The '1' badge was stolen from a display in Russia in 2005. The guards thought that a cat had set off the alarms and this allowed the burglar to escape.
The only makers of the Golden Party Badge were the firms Joseph Fuess and Deschler & Sohn, both located in Munich.
Read more about Golden Party Badge: Notable Recipients
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