N29054 HJ MARKSMAN'S BADGE. (HJ Schützen-Abzeichen) 

BACKGROUND: In 1936, "Reichsjugendführer" Baldur von Schirach established a Hitler Youth Firearms School in Obermatzfeld, Thuringia, to stimulate expertise in firearm handling and to further the para-military training of the HJ. Shortly after the establishment of this School, von Schirach instituted a Marksman’s badge for HJ members who had proven their proficiency with firearms, which was followed in 1938 by the establishment of a Sharpshooter’s badge for the HJ and a new Marksman’s badge for the DJ, with each badge having different award criteria. The Hitler Youth Marksman’s badge, the first and lowest class badge, was awarded to qualifying members over the age of fourteen for proficiency in target shooting with small caliber rifles. To qualify, the accurate results of five shots fired from a unsupported prone position, five shots from a supported prone position, and five shots from an unsupported kneeling position were required. 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A 13/16" diameter, convex alloy badge, whose obverse features four concentric silver-washed rings against a black enamel background, to the center of which is affixed the Hitler Youth diamond and swastika, with crossed, silver-washed rifles behind it. The 1/2" tall diamond has a black enamel mobile swastika, bordered in silver, to its center, with white fields to its left and right, and translucent red enamel fields with pebbled underlays above and below. The edges of the diamond were also bordered in silver, but they, like the border to the swastika, the rifles and the concentric rings, retain only traces of their original wash. The red and white enamel to the diamond, however, is still bright and clean. A horizontal pin-back device is crimped to a circular plate soldered to its reverse. Above the plate is embossed an RZM, "Reichszeugmeisterei" (National-material-control-office), logo and "M1/63," the manufacturer’s code for Steinhauer & Lück of Lüdenscheid. The reverse has an overall patina of age darkening to it.

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