Germany, Daf. An Officer’s Side Cap

(Deutsche Arbeitsfront Offiziersschiffchen). Constructed of thick  dark blue wool, with faux fold-down scalloped panels to the front and side. The peak of the crown as well as its panels decorated with light blue piping. The front of the cap with an eagle insignia sewn to it, constructed of silver aluminum bullion wire on a black wool backer. Below the eagle are two vertically oriented pebbled silver aluminum bullion buttons. The interior lined  with an olive green cotton liner, with an RZM tag stitched to the crown, stamped “404301” and “154” in black ink. It measures 284 mm (w) x 105 mm (h); in extremely fine condition.

Footnote: The Deutsche Arbeitsfront, (German Labour Front), originally founded in 1933 and became an official NSDAP organization in October 1934. Its stated purpose was to educate the workers in industry and commerce for smooth and efficient operation of all labour in the Third Reich. The structure of the DAF was basically the same as the NSDAP with different political levels of organization. Due to the diversification in labour, the DAF was divided into sub-sections for specific trades and/or professions and it also controlled the Kraft durch Freude (KdF = Strength through Joy) organization which provided recreation for workers. However, the DAF’s most important goal was to enforce the political stability of the large mass of the work force. One of the sub-sections of the DAF was the DAF-Werkscharen (DAF Work Groups). The Werkscharen were established in February 1935 and were to act as the NSDAP’s "watch-dog" in industrial factories.