Uniforms and Insignia of the National Socialist German Workers Party; NSGWP

Rochester, NY: Lenard L. Babin, c1960. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Wraps. Good. 71 plates. Black and white illustrations with German text and English caption. Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party were paramilitary titles used by the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) between approximately 1928 and the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945. Such ranks were held within the political leadership corps of the Nazi Party, charged with the overseeing the regular Nazi Party members. The first purpose of the Nazi Party political ranks was to provide election district leadership positions during the years where the Nazis were attempting to come to power in Germany. After 1933, when the Third Reich had been established, Nazi Party ranks played a much more important role existing as a political chain of command operating side by side with the German government. Nazi ranks and titles were only used by a small minority within the Party, this being the political leadership corps. Regular Nazi Party members often wore no uniforms at all except for a standard Nazi Party Badge issued to all members. The history of Nazi Party ranks and insignia can be divided into the ranks used during several different time periods as well as the positions held by senior Nazis who were the supreme leaders of the Party. The final pattern of Nazi Party ranks was designed in 1938 by Robert Ley, who personally oversaw the development of Nazi Party insignia through his position as Reichs Organization Leader of the NSDAP, and put into effect in mid-1939. The new insignia pattern was a vast overhaul of previous designs beginning with a standardized set of twenty eight Nazi Party ranks that were to be uniform across all levels of the Party. To denote membership in a particular "level" of the Nazi Party collar tabs would display a particular color on which the actual rank insignia would then be displayed.