Deutsche Reich Alldeutscher Verband Mitgliedsabzeichen

In an excellent condition a Pan-German Association membership badge

The Association existed from 1891 until 1939 when it was forbidden by the Chef der Sicherheitspolizei SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heidrich, because with the integration of Austria (Ostmark) and the Sudetenland the mission of the association was fulfilled and had no purpose of existence anymore.

Primarily dedicated to the German Question of the time, it held positions on German imperialism, antisemitism, the Polish Question, and support for German minorities in other countries.


After World War I, the Alldeutscher Verband supported General Erich Ludendorff in his accusation against democrats and socialists that they had betrayed Germany and made the Germans lose the war. According to Ludendorff and the Verband, the army should not have been held responsible for the German defeat. Ludendorff, however, had declared that the war was lost in October 1918, before the German November Revolution. That fanciful allegation was known the "Stab-in-the-back myth" (Dolchstosslegende).

Membership in the league was overwhelmingly composed of middle- and upper-class males. Most members' occupations reflected the League's emphasis on education, property ownership and service to the state.

The League was clearly close ideologically to the Nazis and anticipated many of their basic ideas, such as the demand that the individual Germans should unconditionally submit to the national whole, represented by the state and the authorities, or the idea of expansion to the east in order to gain "Living Space" (Lebensraum). Still, the League's concrete relations with the Nazis were not always smooth. Especially, in 1932, there was moment when the Pan-German League accused the Nazis of betraying the national idea and called on their supporters to support the rival German National People's Party (DNVP). The Nazis, who came to power on the next year, did not forget that incident.

Code: 53888