History

District triangles were worn by all members of the HJ, positioned on the upper left sleeve, 10 cm above the elbow. They were introduced on January 1, 1933.

Members of the German Youngsters (Deutsches Jungvolk = DJ) weren't permitted to wear these prior to 1934. At an unknown time, wearing was discontinued again for them. DJ triangles were slightly smaller than HJ triangles.

Introduced on July 17, 1933, members of “Banne” (banns) that had been established before 1933 were allowed to wear a gold-coloured traditional “Litze” (bar) at the base of their triangle. This was also allowed for members from the Saar Gebiet, Ostmark (Austria), Sudetenland, and Memel District, if they had been members of an NSDAP organisation prior to the incorporation of their respective area into the German Reich.

The triangles are black with golden-yellow letters. They were used to show a member’s unit. In general, they first named the “Obergebiet” (higher district), then the Gebiet (district). Staff members of an Obergebiet just wore the name of their Obergebiet: Nord, Ost, Mitte, West, or Süd.
Obergebiete were discontinued in November 1936. After that, the area unit of Obergau replaced it.

Certain units were not classified by Obergebiet and Gebiet, but wore their unit name on the triangle, for example the different sub-units of the Reichsjugendführung (RJF).