Third Reich Hamburg Group Stahlhem Plaque – Item 87041

Large 39cm in diameter beaten brass Stahlhelm barracks/officers mess wall plaque. Centre with German helmet with gothic lettering above and below. Comes complete with its attachment hook to reverse. Good overall condition.

Note:   The Stahlhelm was founded in 1918 by war veteran Franz Seldte, his brothers and some other soldiers from his unit. The association was originally meant as both a mutual aid society for World War I veterans and as a political combat group like many other that sprung up during the 1920s. In 1926, it numbered half a million members, by far the largest at the time. Around this time the Stahlhelm entered politics, although unlike similar groups, it didn’t endorse a single party preferring instead to present itself simply as Conservative. It must be said that most of those who became deputies did so as members of the Monarchist Party (DNVP) or Liberal-Nationalist Party (DVP). As volkish elements entered the Stahlhelm, it continued to slide into a more radical and authoritarian mindset that culminated in the more moderate DVP severing ties with them. The Stahlhelm eventually joined the DNVP/NSDAP coalition that brought Hitler to power. After 1933, the Stahlhelm was first put under the command of the SA’s leader and in 1935 it was dissolved with its members being absorbed into the Nazi’s Organisation, either in the SA or in the veterans association. Interestingly, the later kept using a steel helmet (though undefaced) as one of its symbols.