German Reichslandbund RLB Member Stickpin

The stickpinis in brass and green enamel. Nicely gilt and measures 16mm tall. Unmarked. Excellent condition.

The Landbund was founded in 1919 as Deutschösterreichische Bauernpartei (“Party of German-Austrian Farmers”) and represented liberal and Protestant farmers in Styria, Carinthia and Upper Austria. It endorsed a union of Austria with Germany and opposed Marxism, Austrofascism and the Heimwehr. In the 1920 parliamentary elections it was part of a German National coalition alongside the Greater German People’s Party, and won seven seats.

It took part in coalition governments between 1927 and 1933 when the Vice Chancellor and the Minister of the Interior came from its ranks. From 1930 onwards, it allied with the Greater German People’s Party (Großdeutsche Volkspartei) to create a common list for elections under the name Nationaler Wirtschaftsblock (National Economic Block), which was dissolved in 1934.