My VDA collection
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:40 am
Another aspect of daily life in the Third Reich was charity collections. The WHW (Winterhilfswerk/winter charity work), was the largest, covering the Third Reich with both a national and regional collections.The VDA (Volksbund für das Deutschem im Ausland/Peoples Association for Germanness overseas) also had their own charity collections. The VDA was originally a means for Germans living abroad to keep in touch with culture back home. It started off as the DSV (Deutsche Schulverein/German School Association) on the 13.5.1880, operating out of Wien (Vienna), but by 1925 had become the VDA, operating out of Berlin. The VDA's donation badges usually centred on aspects of German culture and history, This particular collection was called Städtewappen auslandsdeutscher Städte (Town coats of arms of German expatriate towns), and were distributed between 1934-1939. They measure 30mm x 15mm, and there were 54 made of metal, 3 made of cardboard and only one town had a badge made of both metal and cardboard.
The T number after each piece is the Tieste number. For those who aren't familiar with that, Reinhard Tieste is the acknowledged world authority on the WHW and all the other varied charity organisations, as well as tinnies. He has classified over 20,000 items, and each one has a Tieste number. They are invaluable reference works for anyone interested in these aspects of the Third Reich. Here is the VDA book, it's title being Donation badges of the VDA. Compared to collecting badges and medals, WHW etc donation badges are a relatively inexpensive aspect of Third Reich collecting, and because of the HUGE number of different pieces, it is very unlikely that anyone will ever get the whole set of every different release of donation material. Thus you have literally a never ending hobby I have left a wiki link to the town where one exists. It is surprising how far-flung German settlements were in history, and the wiki articles give a good brief history of the German connection to the town.
The T number after each piece is the Tieste number. For those who aren't familiar with that, Reinhard Tieste is the acknowledged world authority on the WHW and all the other varied charity organisations, as well as tinnies. He has classified over 20,000 items, and each one has a Tieste number. They are invaluable reference works for anyone interested in these aspects of the Third Reich. Here is the VDA book, it's title being Donation badges of the VDA. Compared to collecting badges and medals, WHW etc donation badges are a relatively inexpensive aspect of Third Reich collecting, and because of the HUGE number of different pieces, it is very unlikely that anyone will ever get the whole set of every different release of donation material. Thus you have literally a never ending hobby I have left a wiki link to the town where one exists. It is surprising how far-flung German settlements were in history, and the wiki articles give a good brief history of the German connection to the town.