Landhelfer Brief – Certificate of Agricultural Worker – farm worker in Nazi Germany, belonging to Andrej Wenig born 1913, with his passport photo and personal details. Stamped in 1935. Rare.
The Landhelfer program in Nazi Germany was intended to fill the labor gap left by men conscripted into the military, but more than that, it was meant to serve the Nazi propaganda which upheld the ideal of the working man as crucial for the survival and strength of the German nation, and the ideal of work as one of the principles of Nazi rule. The program was generally intended for German women who were called upon to take on various tasks on farms, such as planting and harvesting crops, caring for livestock, and other agricultural duties that placed them in line with the conscripted as an integral part of the war effort.
On the title page of the participation card, there is an illustration hinting at cultivating the land, a sheaf of wheat, and a quote from Hitler’s book Mein Kampf: “Never forget that the most sacred right in this world is the right of the man who wants to cultivate the soil, and the most sacred sacrifice is the blood shed for this earth. Adolf Hitler: ‘Mein Kampf'”.
It is rare to find a certificate of a male participant in the Landhelfer program as the one before us, as the program was generally aimed at women. The men who participated in this program were those who for medical reasons, were unfit for recruitment into the German army or had volunteered after their military service.
Booklet folded in three, [6] p. Very good condition.