Description
Physical description
Single-breasted jacket of field grey wool cloth, featuring a bottle green stand-and-fall collar with hook and eye closings, a front fastening of eight buttons, pleated breast pockets with scalloped button flaps, angled slash skirt pockets with scalloped button flaps, plain cuffs, two rear belt hooks and a rear vent. All buttons are field grey painted 'Der Stahlhelm' pattern, bearing the outline of a German 'Stahlhelm' helmet with the script 'Der Stahlhelm' inside.
To the left forearm is attached a circular-shaped badge of blue cloth, being the backing for metal specialist insignia, of which there is evidence of it previously being attached.
Some soiling to the lower front right skirt.
History note
Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten (Steel Helmet, League of Front Soldiers) was formed in December 1918 by Franz Seldte and fellow First World War veterans in response to the violent November Revolution that paralysed Germany following its crushing defeat in the First World War. Founded initially as an apolitical veterans organisation committed to maintaining law and order in a period of unrest, its ideology and membership gradually shifted to the right throughout the 1920's as it absorbed members of the Freikorps and other Kampfbund (combat league) paramilitary groups. By 1926, membership of Der Stahlhelm had reached 500,000, making it the largest paramilitary organisation in the Weimar Republic and a serious political force. After periods of affiliation with both the Deutsche Volkspartei (DVP) and the Deutschnationale Volkspartei (DNVP) in the late 1920's, as well as strong opposition to the Weimar government, Der Stahlhelm entered into a coalition with the DNVP and Hitler's Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) in 1933. As the Nazis grew in power, Der Stahlhelm was placed under the control of the SA, with Seldte joining the NSDAP and being appointed Reich Minister for Labour. The organisation was officially abolished by Hitler in 1935.