German Reichsautobahn Worker and Employee Stickpin
$299.97
Very rare and well made stickpin of the Reichsautobahn awarded only to workers and employees of the Autobahn. Made in heavily matte gilt Tombac. The badge is 29mm tall and unmarked. Die-stamped in construction. Knurled pin is 42mm tall.
The Reichsautobahn system was the beginning of the German autobahns under Nazi Germany. There had been previous plans for controlled-access highways in Germany under the Weimar Republic, and two had been constructed, but work had yet to start on long-distance highways. After previously opposing plans for a highway network, the Nazis embraced them after coming to power and presented the project as Hitler’s own idea. They were termed “Adolf Hitler’s roads” (“German: Straßen Adolf Hitlers”) and presented as a major contribution to the reduction of unemployment. Other reasons for the project included enabling Germans to explore and appreciate their country, and there was a strong aesthetic element to the execution of the project under the Third Reich; military applications, although to a lesser extent than has often been thought; a permanent monument to the Third Reich, often compared to the pyramids; and general promotion of motoring as a modernization that in itself had military applications.
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