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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 717680, member: 2844&quot;]Tricia, thank you for your father&#039;s service.</p><p><br /></p><p>The pin is a Nazi-era badge given to those who donated to &#039;Winterhilfswerk&#039;, a centralized charity which helped poor people survive the winter.</p><p>Winterhilfswerk was a way to get rid of the usual charities, notably church ones, and register the poor. Remember, this was a totalitarian state, which wanted power over everything, and wanted to eliminate interference from churches or independent organisations. They would have preferred to rid themselves of churches altogether, and had even begun to conceive their own religion to replace Christianity.</p><p>People gave readily to the charity, not just to help the poor, but it was frowned upon if you didn&#039;t have such a badge.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yours is from Niederdonau, the word at the bottom. Niederdonau was the Nazi name for parts of Austria, Czechia, and Hungary, all German occupied.</p><p>The girl on the badge is wearing a costume from the border region of Bohemia (in Czechia) and Austria.</p><p>Your father could have picked it up in Germany, but Austria would have been more likely. Czechia and Hungary were Russian occupied after WWII, so he wouldn&#039;t have been there. Do you know if he was in Austria as well as Germany?</p><p><br /></p><p>Even though many badges were issued, different ones for different years, collection rallies, and regions, these are now collectible, though not very valuable.</p><p>The value to you is much more, of course.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/smile.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":)" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here is something on the charity:</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterhilfswerk" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterhilfswerk" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterhilfswerk</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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