*Dedicated to the beautiful and compassionate Inga Ley, who gave herself to the wounded soldiers of light in the eternal battle against darkness.

[Above: Painting of the leader of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), Dr. Robert Ley, by Wilhelm Damian, 1944.]

  • These are 1937-1939 membership regulation books of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labor Front). They say 'Bestimmungen über die Zugehörigkeit zur Deutschen Arbeitsfront' (Regulations concerning membership in the German Labor Front). The DAF wasn't the only organization whom the extremely capable Robert Ley was in charge of, although it was the largest, with 25 million members, making it the biggest organization in the Third Reich. Ley was also in charge of the revolutionary 'Strength through Joy' program and in charge of organizing the monumental National Socialist Nuremberg Party Rallies. Before the DAF Dr. Ley was a chemist and a fighter pilot in WWI. Click to see inside each book.

  • This book is called 'Das Britische Weltreich' (The British Empire), released by 'The German Labor Front - Central Office for Service and Business Support - Writings for the development of German retail trade'. It is interesting the importance they placed on friendly relations with other nations. Below is the foreword in English:

    Foreword

    Germany desires a vibrant exchange of goods with all nations. We need foreign trade to purchase from abroad those raw materials that German soil does not provide or that cannot be produced in Germany.

    The Four-Year Plan, which calls upon us to achieve the highest level of performance in strengthening our domestic supply of raw materials, assigns special tasks to foreign trade. However, fulfilling these tasks is impossible without foreign trade merchants trained in all matters of foreign trade and who also understand the broad outlines of National Socialist trade policy

    Herein lies the task of the Reich Specialist Group "German Wholesale and Foreign Trade" of the DAF. Through its regularly held foreign trade training weeks, it aims to assist the German economy and provide German foreign trade merchants with a unified orientation on all matters of National Socialist economic and trade policy. The lectures given by leading figures of the Party, the State, and industry at the foreign trade training weeks have been compiled in a series of publications for the promotion of German foreign trade, in order to meet the wishes of the training participants to receive what they heard at the training weeks in printed form. The series of publications will be an effective aid to every foreign trade merchant in their efforts to increase the market share of German goods on the world market.'

  • Below are twenty-two DAF workbooks from a variety of dates and regions. The books get less and less pages as the war years go on to reduce paper usage. I did not scan blank duplicate pages within each book. There are many regional differences in the books, despite enemy propaganda, National Socialist Germany allowed many personal variations, they were not the staunch authoritarian madmen who demanded everything be exact, quite the opposite. The Waffen-SS were even allowed to go against orders on the battlefield if they saw a better strategy in the moment.

    Here is a quote from DAF leader Dr. Robert Ley, that is found in the beginning of every DAF workbook:

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    The first row, from left to right, was issued in Gross-Berlin (1935-1945), the second was issued in Zerbst, Saxony-Anhalt, east-central Germany (1935-1944) and the last one was issued in Madgeburg-Saxony-Anhalt (1935-1942).

    The second row, from left to right, was issued in Sachsen, east-central Germany (1935-1945), the second was issued in [unknown] (1935-1944) and the last one was issued in Hamburg (1935-1941).

    The third row, from left to right, was issued in Sachsen, east-central Germany (1936-1944), the second was issued in Bavaria (1936-1939) and the last one was issued in Coburg (1936-1944).

    The fourth row, from left to right, was issued in in Westphalia-South (1937-1937), the second was issued in Tyrol, Western Austria (1937-1944) and the last one was issued in Saar (1938-1940).

    The fifth row, from left to right, was issued in Hessen-Nassau,Prussia (1938-1942), the second was issued in Niederdonau, lower Austria (1938-1944) and the last one was issued in Vienna, northeastern Austria (1938-1943).

    The fifth row, from left to right, was issued in Sudetenland (1938-1945), the second was issued in Württemberg-Hohenzollern (1939-1940) and the last one was issued in Hamburg (1940-1944).

    The sixth row, from left to right, was issued in Weissenburg, Middle Franconia, Bavaria (1943-1944), the second was issued in Berlin (1943-1944) and the last one was issued in Mainfranken-Bavaria (1944-1945).

    The seventh row and final book was issued in Vienna (1944-1945).

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