File:Organisationsbuc00nati orig 0563 ORGANISATIONSBUCH DER NSDAP 1936 Tafel 64 Reichsarbeitsdienst RAD Fahnen Abteilungsfahne Lager- u. Hausfahne No known copyright restrictions cropped.jpg

English: Illustration from the official Nazi Party handbook 1936, showing flags, emblems, signs, badges, ranks, insignia, uniforms, etc.:

• Flags of the Reich Labour Service
  • RAD Unit/Section Flag (Abteilungsfahne). A square red flag with a centered black white-bordered swastika with legs almost reaching the edge of the flag. At the center a white wreath surrounding a white disc with black Reichsarbeitsdienst insignia (a vertical spade pointed up set between the angle made by two stylized ears of wheat). In upper fly the unit name in white. Surrounded by a silver fringe (except at hoist).
  • House flag with RAD symbol (male section) 1935–1945 (Lagerfahne der RAD/M., Reichsarbeitsdienst Männer). The official symbol of the corps for the men’s camps and section was popularly known as die Kaffeebohne ("The coffee bean").
    

The Reich Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany to reduce unemployment, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ideology. It was the official state labour service, divided into separate sections for men (RAD/M) and women (RAD/wJ). From June 1935 onward, men aged between 18 and 25 may have served six months before their military service. During World War II, compulsory service also included young women and the RAD supported the Wehrmacht armed forces.

A paramilitary RAD uniform was implemented in 1934; beside the swastika brassard, the RAD symbol, an arm badge in the shape of an upward pointing shovel blade, was displayed on the upper left shoulder of all uniforms and great-coats worn by all personnel. The women’s symbol also had wheat sheaths, but with a swastika instead of a spade.

Cropped page from Organisationsbuch der NSDAP issued by the Nazi Party's national organizational leader (Reichsorganisationsleiter) Robert Ley for the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei, Reichsorganisationsamt; published in 1936 by Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachf., München; circa 550 pages, 71 pages of plates; German language; letters in Fraktur style typefaces.

The National Socialist German Workers' Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP) was a far-right, nationalist, antisemitic and anti-Marxist political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. The Nazi Party command structure was divided into the general membership (Parteimitglieder), the political leadership corps (Politische Leiter), the upper command levels encompassed by the Gauleiter and Reichsleiter, and the position of Führer held by Adolf Hitler as supreme leader. Ranks of the Nazi Party were paramilitary titles. All political leaders wore official uniforms, while regular party members wore civilian clothing with a standard party badge. The uniforms, ranks and insignia of the Nazi party and its sub-organizations – Sturmabteilung (SA), SS, Gestapo, Hitler Youth, etc. – underwent several changes.