- Coburg Badge
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The Coburg Badge is one of the highest ranked awards in the Nazi Party. It consists in the form of a simple looking badge in bronze with a little village (representing Coburg) on top of a wreath and a sword placed tip downward across the face of a swastika within the wreath. The wreath contains the words "MIT HITLER IN COBURG" (With Hitler in Coburg).[1]
History
On Saturday, October 14, 1922, Hitler was invited to "German Day" in Coburg and asked to bring a few friends. Hitler rented an entire train and filled it with 800 of his followers (virtually the whole Party) and even bought his own 42 piece band, planning to take the town by storm.
At this time - in 1922 - Hitler was a nobody on the German national scene; only his fanatical little band of followers thought anything would come of the "little man with the silly mustache. Most Germans had never even seen the swastika! According to a biographer, "amassed burghers and wide-eyed Jews almost fell out of the express trains which passed them." Hiring the train was a huge bluff, the Nazi party had no money. Every man who climbed on the train bought one or more tickets, often with his last marks.
In 1922, Coburg was a town which had long been dominated by Marxists. And the Marxists, of course, wanted no part of the Nazi "foreigners". When the Nazis arrived at Coburg, a uniformed policeman told them they could not march into the city with bands playing or flags flying. The words were music to the "opportunist" ears. Hitler pushed aside the policeman and they marched into the center of town, all flags flying, all instruments blaring. A crowd of thousands threatened to bar their way. No one was sure who these fanatics from Munich were. Suddenly some of the crowd (mostly Marxists), began to throw things and a furious fight ensued for perhaps 15 minutes. In time most of the crowd began to join the Nazis and before long they had won over the townspeople. Here, at last, they saw a savior" from the Communist repression. The town officials, of course, were not impressed or happy.
The next day as the Nazis triumphantly boarded the train, Hitler was told the "Reds" would not run the train back to Munich. Again, Hitler saw an opportunity. He told the officials that he and his group would run the train themselves, but they would first kidnap every Communist they could find and would take them back to Munich on the commandeered train. What would then happen to the Communists was left to everyone's active imaginations. The Communists capitulated, the train ran. Hitler had won.
Award and Status
Hitler ordered the Coburg Badge to be struck in 1932 to memorialize an event that took place ten years earlier, on Saturday, October 14, 1922, and to honor the participants. This was before Hitler came to power in January 1933.
In November 1936 Hitler gave new "orders" for the "Orders and Awards" of the Third Reich. According to ORDERS, EHRENZEICHEN UND TITEL, by Hanns Dombrowski, published in 1940, the NSDAP awards are listed in this order: 1. Coburg Badge; 2. Nurnberg Party Badge of 1929; 3. , SA Treffen at Brunswick; 4.Golden Party Badges; 5. The Blood Order; followed by the Gaubadges and the Golden HJ Badge.
On August 1, 1939, Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler decreed that any SS member (whether enlisted or officer) who wore the Coburg Badge was eligible to wear the Totenkopf ring. Note: Because the Coburg Badge was not normally recorded in an NCO record dossier, the order required enlisted personnel to provide proof of their being awarded the Coburg Badge.
References
- Ltc. John Angolia. FOR FUHRER AND FATHERLAND.. POLITICAL AND CIVIL AWARDS OF THE THIRD REICH.
German Military Collectables Blog German Militaria Blog: The Coburg Badge
- Craig Gottlieb. THE SS TOTENKOPF RING: An Illustrated history from Munich to Nuremberg. ISBN 978-0-7643-3094-0
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