History

Shoulder boards in the Hitler Youth identified the wearer’s rank and deployment. They were first standardised in 1933 and worn on both shoulders. Lower ranks wore shoulder straps, while leader ranks wore the stiffer shoulder boards. For the sake of simplicity, the term “shoulder boards” will be used to refer to both from here on.

The shoulder boards for the specialised HJ sub-groups will be shown in the 1938 pattern unless otherwise indicated. Early shoulder boards were generally in brown, while those worn after 1938 were black.

The 1936 pattern of Hitler Youth shoulder boards was introduced on November 6, 1936. The leader ranks shoulder boards of this pattern are all black. These new shoulder boards were narrower and shorter compared to the earlier pattern.
The button colour was dictated by the colour of the oak leaf cypher.

Ranks were as follows:
Stabsführer: three gold-coloured oak leaves and two acorns with two gold-coloured pips.
Obergebietsführer: three gold-coloured oak leaves and two acorns with one gold-coloured pip.
Gebietsführer: three gold-coloured oak leaves and two acorns.
Hauptbannführer: two silver-coloured oak leaves and acorns with one silver-coloured pip.
Oberbannführer: two silver-coloured oak leaves and acorns.
Bannführer: one silver-coloured oak leaf and one acorn.
Unterbannführer (upgraded to lowest leader rank): four silver-coloured pips, forming a square.

Administrative personnel wore a three-pointed rather than a four-pointed star-shaped rank pip as of June 4, 1936. On December 8 of that same year, the shoulder board colour was changed from green to black with green inner and silver-coloured outer twist cord piping.

Some shoulder boards featured embroidered letters in Oberbann/branch colour. Letters that can be encountered are the following:
B (Gothic letter): Bann (discontinued after 1936)
OB (Gothic letters): Oberbann (discontinued after 1936)
OG (Gothic letters): Obergebiet (discontinued after 1936)
A: Akademie (Reich Youth Leadership academy): silver
AHS: Adolf Hitler Schools: red for students, silver for leaders
NPEA: Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten (National Political Institutes of Education): white
RFS: Reichsführerschule (Reich Leader School): red
RJF: staff of the Reichsjugendführung (Reich Youth Leadership)
B: Blinde (blind members): initially black on brown, then red on black
G: Hörgeschädigte (deaf or hard-of-hearing members): initially black on brown, then red on black
BS: Binnenschifffahrt (inland waterways): yellow
S: Seeschifffahrt (sea-going units): yellow
L (Gothic letter): Landjahr (rural community service): green
L: Bann München (Munich)
J: Bann Nürnberg (Nuremberg)
RS: Rundfunk-Spielscharen (broadcasting units): red
W: Wachgefolgschaft (guard unit) “Baldur von Schirach”: carmine