Th�ringen, it had to be next, after the above posts, no?
Here you can already see a pretty heart-shape pin for Th�ringen. The green symbol returns for Th�ringen a lot, and I couldn't find anything about what the symbol means. Well then it struck me, very simpel, Th�ringen, is the center of Germany! And the
nature is very very beautiful, so, its Germany's green heart! Ha ha! Silly I really was looking for green heart symbols. Here another pin, that shows the green heart. Made from, maybe porcelain, or plastic, or pressed paper. Ti�ste calls it Pre�masse, that means molding compound. Its quite big, almost 4.5 centimeters/1.8 inches in diametre. No marks on the back, only writing, I think a price, somewhere over the years?
KdF Gauwart was
Alfred Rosenburg. He was a NSDAP-extremist. He was Reichsleiter der NSDAP, and from 1934 also leader of several NS-Verb�nde and did foreign affairs for NSDAP. Some of what he did is explained in the book "
K�mpferische Wissenschaft",
(Studien zur Universit�t Jena im Nationalsocialismus). Jena, is one of the 26 Kreiser in Th�ringen
(Altenburg-Stadt, Altenburg-Land, Arnstadt, Eichsfeld, Eisenach, Erfurt-Land/Wei�ensee, Erfurt-Stadt, Gera, Gotha-Land, Gotha-Stadt, Greiz, Hildburghausen, Jena, Langensalza, Meiningen-Nord, Meiningen-S�d, M�hlhausen, Nordhausen-S�dharz, Rudolstadt, Saalfeld, Schleiz, Schmalkalden-Suhl-Schleusingen, Sondershausen, Sonneberg, Stadtroda and Weimar).
KdF did very well in Th�ringen, and the theaters did many very big KdF-theater-plays and concerts. The shows could be so big and glamourous, cause in Th�ringen they started first with using forced labour and slave labour. Th�ringen is the Gau of the first (1933) concentration camp called
Nohra, it was formed by "Verordnung zum Schutz von Volk und Staat". So yes, not only the KdF-Gauwart was an extremist but also the NSDAP Gauleiter in Th�ringen;
Fritz Sauckel. He was Gauleiter from 1927 to 1945. Even late into the war, KdF together with
Gustloff-Werke and
Fritz Sauckel-Werk organised plays and concerts in Weimar right next to concentrationcamp Buchenwald, on a large "suitable" terrain. The view on the camp was common knowledge to local people. Really quite bizar, no? Th�ringen also was the Gau where the Gestapo was formed in 1934. It was the Gau of the
Kirchenkampf, Gau of the the first jewish company that got stolen by NSDAP, and where all the horrifying actions by National Socialism against semitics and other "threatening" people began. Sauckel really was the ideal Gauleiter from Hitlers point of view. Remnants of housing for forced labour that wasnt put in concentrationcamps can still be found but they
disappear fast.
Like all other German states, in January 1934 Th�ringen lost the independance, cause of the first
Gesetz �ber den Neuaufbau des Reichs, this made all states equal, and no longer independant, but all is one bigger country as a whole. You can already guess that the second Gesetz, put all states under rule of Hitler, when he placed important NSDAP-people in key places in every state. But Th�ringen has a lot more of NSDAP-hitory, just browse
this for exemple, search for "Th�ringen".
Also, the NSDAP had big underground complexes, like
REIMAHG Me 262. Also, the V1 and V2 rockets were built in Th�ringen, by
Mittelwerk, using slave-laborours from Buchenwald concentrationcamp, and also from Dora concentrationcamp (
Dora-Mittelbau). If you start to look into Th�ringen and the NSDAP-history of it, it gets more and more! And suddenly, a thing like
this KdF-Stahlhelm, dont't look so unexpectedly weird anymore! Also, for some real nice Th�ringen-pins and other stuff, look
here or
here. I can only add this maybe not special but real nice KdF-Abzeichen. You'd surely NEVER suspect any such stories behind this pin with the lovely green heart ...
Enjoy,
KR
