RAD Cape Clasp
CATEGORY: Version
SKU: 80.GOR.03.02.10.001.000
Estimated market value:
Estimated market value:
A Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD) cape closure chain; in silvered aluminum; unmarked; each of the disks illustrating the RAD insignia surrounded by four wheat stalks; each disk measuring 36 mm in diameter; one of them affixed to a 100 mm long ten-link chain; the other with a U-shaped hook that loops around the end ling at the opposite end of the chain; one disk with three out of four pins, the other disk with one out of three pins; better than fine condition.
The RAD (Reichsarbeitsdienst = Reich Labour Service) was officially established on June 26, 1935 as the sole, and compulsory, labour service of Germany. Its purposes were to help the economy, curb unemployment, and indoctrinate its members with the NSDAP ideology, as well as play its part in militarising the German population.
The FAD (Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst = Voluntary Labour Service) was the precursor of the RAD in the early 1930s. Official uniform regulations were first introduced on October 1, 1933, with modifications made in July 1934. It is also known as NSAD (Nationalsozialistischer Arbeitsdienst = National Socialist Labour Service).
The earliest uniforms were a not entirely successful attempt at standardisation. They gave way to a second wave of FAD uniforms that, when the RAD was established, experienced no significant changes.
The Cape Clasp is presumed to have been used to close the Officer cloth cape on the upper chest. More research on its use and regulations referring to it is needed.
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