Quote:
Originally posted by ktsnake
Arnold's father did volunteer for the Nazi party SA and became an officer. It's hard to know what his intentions were with the climate in Austria after the German occupation began.
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Back in those days many people joined the NSDAP (
NazionalSozialistiche Deutscher ArbeiterPartei - 'National-Socialist German Workers Party' - it was rarely called by the abbreviation 'Nazi' within Germany) as 'card-carrying' members who rarely participated in party activities. So much so that the party issued two types of membership badges: those who joined before January 30, 1933 and who held party membership numbers less than 500,000 wore badges with a gold wreath around the basic NSDAP badge. (There were exceptions to this rule, though; Hitler did award the golden party badge to some high-ranking Nazi officials who joined the party after 1933.) The 'old fighters' (Alter Kaempfer) were also entitled to wear a chevron on the upper right sleeve of their SA/SS uniforms. The Old Fighters tended to look at the newer members with disdain, calling them 'March Violets'.
Patton caught a lot of flak* for comparing membership in the NSDAP to being a Democrat or Republican in the United States. Obviously the wrong analogy.
(*Another term originating from a German abbreviation:
FLiegerAbwehrKanone (anti-aircraft artillery).)
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