The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
as an agency to help mitigate the effects of
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...
on the
German economy
The economy of Germany is a highly developed social market economy. It has the largest national economy in Europe, the fourth-largest by nominal GDP in the world, and fifth by GDP (PPP). In 2017, the country accounted for 28% of the euro ar ...
, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
ideology. It was the official state labour service, divided into separate sections for men and women.
From June 1935 onward, men aged between 18 and 25 may have served six months before their military service. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, compulsory service also included young women and the RAD developed to an
auxiliary
Auxiliary may refer to:
* A backup site or system
In language
* Auxiliary language (disambiguation)
* Auxiliary verb
In military and law enforcement
* Auxiliary police
* Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of ...
formation
Formation may refer to:
Linguistics
* Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes
* Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes
Mathematics and science
* Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...
which provided support for the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
armed forces.
Foundation
In the course of the
Great Depression, the German government of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...
under Chancellor
Heinrich Brüning
Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning (; 26 November 1885 – 30 March 1970) was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932.
A political scienti ...
by
emergency decree established the ''Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst'' ('Voluntary Labour Service', FAD), on 5 June 1931, two years before the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
(NSDAP) ascended to national power. The state sponsored employment organisation provided services to civic and
land improvement
Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as:
* Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing
* Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpos ...
projects, from 16 July 1932 it was headed by
Friedrich Syrup
Friedrich Heinrich Karl Syrup (9 October 1881 – 31 August 1945) was a German jurist and politician.
Life
Syrup was born in Lüchow, Dannenberg district, in the Prussian Province of Hanover. The postal official's son studied engineering ...
in the official rank of a ''
Reichskommissar
(, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany.
Ger ...
''. As the name stated, participating was voluntary as long as the Weimar Republic existed.
The concept was adopted by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, who upon the
Nazi seizure of power in 1933 appointed
Konstantin Hierl state secretary in the Reich Ministry of Labour, responsible for FAD matters. Hierl was already a high-ranking member of the NSDAP and head of the party's labour organisation, the ''Nationalsozialistischer Arbeitsdienst'' or NSAD. Hierl developed the concept of a state labour service organisation similar to the ''
Reichswehr
''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshape ...
'' army, with a view to implementing a compulsory service. Meant as an evasion of the regulations set by the 1919
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
, voluntariness initially was maintained after protests by the Geneva
World Disarmament Conference
The Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments, generally known as the Geneva Conference or World Disarmament Conference, was an international conference of states held in Geneva, Switzerland, between February 1932 and November 1934 ...
.
Hierl's rivalry with Labour Minister
Franz Seldte led to the affiliation of his office as a FAD ''Reichskommissar'' with the Interior Ministry under his party fellow
Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 – 16 October 1946) was a prominent German politician of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), who served as Reich Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler's cabinet from 1933 to 1943 and as the last governor of the Protectorate ...
. On 11 July 1934, the NSAD was renamed ''Reichsarbeitsdienst'' or RAD with Hierl as its director until the end of World War II. By law issued on 26 June 1935, the RAD was re-established as an amalgamation of the many prior labour organisations formed in Germany during the Weimar Republic,
with Hierl appointed as Reich Labour Leader (''Reichsarbeitsführer'') according to the ''
Führerprinzip
The (; German for 'leader principle') prescribed the fundamental basis of political authority in the Government of Nazi Germany. This principle can be most succinctly understood to mean that "the Führer's word is above all written law" and th ...
''. With massive financial support by the German government, RAD members were to provide service for civic and agricultural construction projects. Per Reich Labor Service Act of June 26, 1935:
# The Reich Labor Service is an honorary service to the German people.
# All young Germans of both sexes are obliged to serve their people in the Reich Labor Service.
# The Reich Labor Service is to educate the German youth in the spirit of National Socialism to the national community and to the true working attitude, above all to the due respect of manual labor.
# The Reich Labor Service is intended for the performance of charitable work.
..
Organisation
![RAD Weibliche Jugend](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/RAD_Weibliche_Jugend.svg)
The RAD was divided into two major sections, one for men (''Reichsarbeitsdienst Männer – RAD/M'') and the voluntary, from 1939 compulsory, section for young women (''Reichsarbeitsdienst der weiblichen Jugend – RAD/wJ'').
The RAD was composed of 33 districts each called an ''Arbeitsgau'' (lit. Work District) similar to the ''
Gaue
''Gau'' (German , nl, gouw , fy, gea or ''goa'' ) is a Germanic term for a region within a country, often a former or current province. It was used in the Middle Ages, when it can be seen as roughly corresponding to an English shire. The adm ...
'' subdivisions of the Nazi Party. Each of these districts was headed by an ''Arbeitsgauführer'' officer with headquarters staff and a ''Wachkompanie'' (Guard Company). Under each district were between six and eight ''Arbeitsgruppen'' (Work Groups), battalion-sized formations of 1200–1800 men. These groups were divided into six
company-sized RAD-Abteilung units.
Conscripted personnel had to move into labour barracks. Each rank and file RAD man was supplied with a spade and a
bicycle. A paramilitary 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. Men and women had to work up to 76 hours a week.
''Arbeits Dank'' ("Labor Thanks")
A health- and life-insurance program for NSAD members (from November 1933 to June 1935) and RAD workers (from June 1935 to 1945) in case they became ill or were injured or killed while on the job. The pre-war organization would also provide funding for education or training for poor members so they could learn a trade or get a University degree. Members had to carry a ''mitglieds-karte'' ("membership card") that gave personal information (name, birthdate, and birthplace) and identified which ''Arbeitsgau'' and ''mitgliedschaft'' ("membership group") they were assigned to, kind of like a soldier's ''Soldbuch'' ("military identification booklet").
Workers who benefited from the ''Arbeits Dank'' program were encouraged to pay back into it with donations. Donors received an enameled ''erinerungsnadel'' ("commemorative pin") that used the oval NSAD or RAD symbol with the text ''Arbeits / Dank'' added in the colored border. Officials and employees of the organization wore a larger version of the pin to indicate their status.
War
The RAD was classed as ''Wehrmachtgefolge'' (lit. Defence Force Followers). Auxiliary forces with this status, while not a part of the Armed Forces themselves, provided such vital support that they were given protection by the
Geneva Convention
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conve ...
. Some, including the RAD, were militarised.
Just prior to the outbreak of World War II, nearly all the RAD/M's extant RAD-Abteilung units were either incorporated into the
Heer's ''Bautruppen'' (Construction troops) as an expedient to rapidly increase their numbers or else in a few cases transferred to the
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
to form the basis of
new wartime construction units for that service. New units were quickly formed to replace them.
During the early war Norwegian and Western campaigns, hundreds of RAD units were engaged in supplying frontline troops with food and ammunition, repairing damaged roads and constructing and repairing airstrips. Throughout the course of the war, the RAD were involved in many projects. The RAD units constructed coastal fortifications (many RAD men worked on the
Atlantic Wall), laid minefields, manned fortifications, and even helped guard vital locations and prisoners.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H28335, RAD-Flak, Ausheben eines Schützengrabens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H28335%2C_RAD-Flak%2C_Ausheben_eines_Sch%C3%BCtzengrabens.jpg)
The role of the RAD was not limited to combat support functions. Hundreds of RAD units received training as anti-aircraft units and were deployed as RAD
Flak
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...
Batteries. Several RAD units also performed combat on the eastern front as infantry. As the German defences were devastated, more and more RAD men were committed to combat. During the final months of the war, RAD men formed 6 major frontline units, which were involved with serious fighting.
Operation Market Garden
During Operation Market-Garden in September 1944, RAD troops were used as reinforcements. Losses for these troops were in the hundreds. Some RAD troops were assigned to the
9th SS ''Pionier Abteilung'' ("Engineer Battalion") under SS-''Hauptsturmführer'' Hans Moeller as part of ''
Kampfgruppe'' Moeller. The understrength unit was made up of 90 Pioneers armed with flamethrowers and extra
machineguns, which Moeller divided into two assault companies. On 17 September, SS-''Kampfgruppe'' Moeller advanced from the
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
but were blocked just east of the Arnhem town square by the British 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions. They engaged in intense house to house fighting, which allowed their parent formation SS-''Kampfgruppe''
Spindler to dig in and form a defensive line. The
2nd Parachute Battalion
The Second Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 PARA), is a battalion-sized formation of the Parachute Regiment, part of the British Army, and subordinate unit within 16th Air Assault Brigade whose Commanding Officer for the period 2013-2016 was L ...
under
Col. John Frost snuck past and took the
Arnhem Bridge
John Frost Bridge (''John Frostbrug'' in Dutch) is the road bridge over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, in the Netherlands.
The bridge is named after Major-General John Dutton Frost (1912–1993), who commanded the British forces that reached and d ...
, but were then encircled by the German forces.
Moeller's Pioneers were then involved in the fighting on 18 September to reduce the British perimeter and retake the northern end of the Arnhem bridge. It was noted that the RAD troops had no combat experience. Captain Moeller's report concluded: "These men were rather skeptical and reluctant at the beginning, which was hardly surprising. But when they were put in the right place they helped us a lot; and in time they integrated completely, becoming good and reliable comrades."
[Moeller 'Die Schlacht um Arnheim-Oosterbeek. Der Einsatz des Pionier Battalion 9 Hohenstaufen vom 17. bis 26. September 1944.]
Ranks and insignia
Equipment
*
Luger pistol
The Pistole Parabellum—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just Luger or Luger P08 is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1898 ...
*
Gewehr 98
The Gewehr 98 (abbreviated G98, Gew 98, or M98) is a German bolt-action rifle made by Mauser, firing cartridges from a five-round internal clip-loaded magazine. It was the German service rifle from 1898 to 1935, when it was replaced by the Kar ...
*
Stielhandgranate
*
Model 39 grenade
The Model 39 "''Eihandgranate",'' M39 or ''Eierhandgranate 39'' ("egg hand grenade") was a German fragmentation hand grenade introduced in 1939 and produced until the end of World War II.
Description
The ''Eihandgranate'' were issued to the ' ...
*
Schiessbecher
The Schiessbecher (alternatively: ''Schießbecher'') - literally "shooting cup" - was a German grenade launcher of World War II.
A ''Gewehrgranatgerät'' ("rifle grenade device") based on rifle grenade launcher models designed during World War ...
*
Panzerfaust
The ''Panzerfaust'' (, "armour fist" or "tank fist", plural: ''Panzerfäuste'') was a development family of single-shot man-portable anti-tank systems developed by Nazi Germany during World War II. The weapons were the first single-use light an ...
*
Sturmpistole
*
Panzerbüchse 39
The ''Panzerbüchse'' 39, abbreviated PzB 39, (German: "tank hunting rifle model 39") was a Nazi Germany, German anti-tank rifle used in World War II. It was an improvement of the ''Panzerbüchse'' 38 (PzB 38) rifle.
Development PzB 38
German an ...
*
MP 3008
The 9×19mm MP 3008 (''Maschinenpistole 3008'' or "machine pistol 3008", also Volks-MP.3008 and Gerät Neumünster) was a German last ditch submachine gun manufactured towards the end of World War II in early 1945.
Also known as the ''Volksmas ...
*
Einstossflammenwerfer 46
*
MG 08
The ''Maschinengewehr'' 08, or MG 08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaptation of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 served during Wo ...
*
Schwarzlose machine gun
The Maschinengewehr (Schwarzlose) M. 7, also known as the Schwarzlose MG, is a medium machine-gun, used as a standard issue firearm in the Austro-Hungarian Army throughout World War I. It was utilized by the Dutch, Greek and Hungarian armies dur ...
*
Teller mine
The Teller mine (german: Tellermine) was a German-made antitank mine common in World War II. With explosives sealed inside a sheet metal casing and fitted with a pressure-actuated fuze, Teller mines had a built-in carrying handle on the side. As t ...
*
S-mine
The German S-mine (''Schrapnellmine'', ''Springmine'' or ''Splittermine'' in German), also known as the "Bouncing Betty" on the Western Front and "frog-mine" on the Eastern Front, is the best-known version of a class of mines known as bounding ...
*
Stock mine
The ''Stockmine'' ("stick mine"), also ''Betonmine'' ("concrete mine"), was a German anti-personnel stake mine used during the Second World War. It consisted of a cylindrical concrete main body on top of a short wooden stake. The concrete head c ...
*
Schu-mine 42
The Schü-mine 42 (''Schützenmine 42'', "rifleman's mine model of 1942"), was a German anti-personnel mine used during the Second World War. It consisted of a simple wooden box with a hinged lid containing a block of cast TNT and a ZZ-42 type det ...
*
Glasmine 43
The Glasmine 43 was an anti-personnel mine with a glass body used by the Nazi Germany during World War II.
This mine was an early form of minimum metal mine, designed with the minimum amount of metal to reduce the likelihood of detection by the P ...
*
Abwehrflammenwerfer 42
*
Topfmine
*
Riegel mine 43
*
2 cm Flak 30/38/Flakvierling
The Flak 30 (''Flugzeugabwehrkanone 30'') and improved Flak 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout World War II. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun but by far the most numerously prod ...
*
Volkswagen Kübelwagen
The Volkswagen Type 82 ''Kübelwagen'' (), or simply ''Kübel'', contractions of the original German word ''Kübelsitzwagen'' (translated: 'bucket-seat car' — but when the contractions are translated literally a back-formation of 'bucket' or ' ...
*
Opel Blitz
Opel Blitz (''Blitz'' being German for "lightning") was the name given to various light and middle-weight trucks built by the German Opel automobile manufacturer between 1930 and 1975. The original logo for this truck, two stripes arranged loo ...
*
Mercedes-Benz L3000
*
Krupp Protze
The Krupp ''Protze'' (officially ''L 2 H 43'' and ''L 2 H 143'') was a six-wheeled 6x4 Germany, German truck and artillery tractor produced between 1934 and 1941 and heavily used in World War II. It was powered by a 4-cylinder, 55 hp or, from ...
*
Sd.Kfz. 2
The (german: Sonderkraftfahrzeug 2) is a half-track motorcycle with a single front wheel, better known as the (), shortened to (pl. ). It was used by the military of Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
Design
The started its life as ...
*
M42 Truppenfahrrad
The M42 Truppenfahrrad was a military bicycle issued to the Heer and Waffen SS during World War II. Special equipment for military use was: the steering bar, the saddle, the toolbox (which could be fitted with two grenades) and the porter at ...
See also
*
Bevin Boys
*
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...
*
Deutscher Aufbaudienst
*
Organisation Todt
Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering pr ...
*
Forced labour under German rule during World War II
*
Labour Army
*
Labour battalion
Labour battalions have been a form of alternative service or unfree labour in various countries in lieu of or resembling regular military service. In some cases they were the result of some kind of discriminative segregation of the population, wh ...
*
Assault pioneer
*
Construction soldier (East Germany)
*
Work Order Act
Notes
References
* Kiran Klaus Patel:'' Soldaten der Arbeit. Arbeitsdienste in Deutschland und den USA, 1933–1945'', Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003. .
English edition: "Soldiers of Labor. Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America", 1933–1945, Cambridge University Press, New York 2005, .
*
External links
*
The German Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labor Service)
{{Authority control
Government of Nazi Germany
Labor history
1934 establishments in Germany
German words and phrases
Economy of Nazi Germany
Non-combatant military personnel
Paramilitary organisations based in Germany
Military engineering
Military logistics of World War II