This is the cap worn by HJ officers from the beginning in the mid-1930s, after the seizure of power in 1933 at any rate. The leaders, usually 18-year-olds and up, led the smaller boys, rather along the lines of the Boy Scouts in England. As with Baden-Powell, field craft and shooting skills were pre-eminent on the curriculum.
This brown cloth was typical Party fare (the origin of the name 'Brownshirts'), the cheapest available cloth in the 1930s being the surplus colonial material sitting in the tailors' shops, somewhat unloved since the Versailles Treaty of 1918 deprived Germany of all its colonies! The Reds wore the same material in their street battles with the Nazis.
The eagle is the last model, which is a tombak example with a nickel silver finish, now somewhat worn. The HJ diamond has lost some of its enamel on the bottom point. The tan calf leather sweat band is stamped on the underside: ELIM/SP (the last two letters are very faint, but appear to be letters rather than numbers), and is in excellent order. There is no RZM label anywhere, so clearly this is a private purchase cap of some sort.
If you want to comment on this item—re quality, age, etc—please email me.
[Militaria : Headdress : Third Reich : Hitler Youth]
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