Commemorative badge

Held by

Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

1933-1945 (indexed as 1933–1945)

Level

item

Extent

Commemorative badge : enameled, soldered ; Ht: 5,5 cm x W: 1,3 cm

Scope & content

The medal is a downward facing triangle. Top half is a black lighthouse on a white background. Bottom half is a downward facing red triangle in the middle of which is a circle, inside of which is a black swastika on a white background. The contours of the medal, the lighthouse, the swastika and the circle are medal-coloured, as well as the details of the lighthouse. The medal is soldered to a medal pin. Narrative: This stickpin was given to veterans from the First World War, to military, civilian and political individuals for their service to the Nation. In the case of military personel, a full size medal was awarded along with the stickpin. Originally the Kyffhäuserbund was a section of the Deutscher Kriegerbund (German Warrior League). Deutscher Kriegerbund (German Warrior League) was a War Veterans' and reservists' Association in Germany. It was established in April 1873 in Weißenfels. Its origins lie in a Warrior Association established in 1786 by fusiliers of Frederick II of Prussia's army in Wangerin/Pomerania. The original purpose of the War Veterans' Associations was to provide their members and former soldiers with proper burial arrangements, in order to preserve the dignity of their former comrades-in-arms and honor them even after their death. The Kyffhäuserbund was create in 1900 with the purpose of uniting all German war veterans' associations. It was initially named "Kyffhäuserbund der deutschen Landeskriegerverbände" (Kyffhäuser League of the German Countries' Warriors Associations). This name was later abbreviated to Kyffhäuserbund. The name and lighthouse symbol come from the Kyffhäuserdenkmal (Kyffhäuser Monument) (also known as Barbarossadenkmal (Barbarossa Monument) or Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal (the Kaiser Wilhelm Monument)), a memorial in honor of Kaiser Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Preußen) built on the summit of the Kyffhäuser Mountain near Bad Frankenhausen in the state of Thuringia in Germany. Before the First World War, the Kyffhäuserbund counted nearly 3 million war veterans as its members and was one of Germany's largest societies. After the First World War, the Kyffhäuserbund changed its name to Deutscher Reichskriegerbund Kyffhäuser e.V. (German Warriors Association Kyffhäuser). As the Nazi tookover the power in 1933, the Kyffhäuserbund was nazified. 5 years later, in 1938, it's name was changed to NS-Reichskriegerbund Kyffhäuser e.V (Nationalsocialist Reich Warriors Association Kyffhäuser) and it became the only organization representing the Veterans' interests in the Third Reich. The symbol, the lighthouse, who was formerly on top of a black, white and red flag, was now on top of a swastika. After the Second World war, on the 10th Oktober 1945, the Allies ordered the disbandment and liquidation of the Nazi organizations (Auflösung und Liquidierung der Naziorganisationen). Kyffhäuserbund reestablished itself in 1952. Nowadays it emphasizes its role as a shooting sports association.

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object

In the picture

FlagGovernmentMemorialMilitaryMonumentTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Harvested

2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗2010-7-27.jpg