History

The uniforms, headgear, and insignia of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) went through several design changes from 1933 until the end of the Second World War. Dr. Ley, originally the Gauleiter of Rheinland and later promoted to the position of chief of staff of Party Organization and Reich Organization Leader, was largely responsible for the NSDAP rank system and uniforms.

All NSDAP uniform garments, headgear, and insignia were manufactured by the National Material Control Office (RZM or Reichszeugmeisterei), which was located in Munich. The reverse of a collar tab may feature an RZM tag.

The NSDAP collar tabs worn by members of the judicial branch were introduced in 1936 and discontinued in 1939. They were worn at Reich (national), Gau (larger district), and Kreis (district) level. Unlike the regular NSDAP, the judicial branch had no Ort (local) or Ortsgruppe level. These collar tabs are very rarely encountered.

The base cloth for all three levels is in dark blue velvet, with golden-yellow piping for Reich level, red piping for Gau level, and black piping for Kreis level. Retired judicial members wore a black base cloth with blue piping. Gau and Kreis level members had silver-coloured insignia on their collar tabs, while Reich level members had gold-coloured insignia, except for Hilfsrichter and Kammervorsitzender, both of which wore silver-coloured insignia.

The Leiter der Geschäftsstelle (branch office leader) Gau Level Judicial Collar Tabs are made of dark blue velvet cloth with red piping and feature two stacked and L-shaped embroidered, silver-coloured Tresse (braid) segments with a swastika pattern.