Golden Party Badge

The Golden Party Badge (German: Goldenes Parteiabzeichen, officially the Goldenes Ehrenzeichen der NSDAP; Golden Medal of the National Socialist German Workers' Party) was a special badge of the Nazi Party. The first 100,000 members who had joined and had uninterrupted service in the Party were eligible for the badge (these were denoted by the party members' number stamped on the reverse). Other Golden Party Badges (with the initials 'A.H.' stamped on the reverse) were awarded at the discretion of Adolf Hitler to certain members of the party who merited special treatment. An identical badge was awarded each year on 30 January to persons who had shown outstanding service to the Nazi Party or State. Only 20,487 men and 1,795 women were actually approved for and awarded the badge (outside of the ones Hitler awarded at his discretion).

The Golden Party Badge was the basic Nazi Party Badge with the addition of a gold wreath completely encircling the badge. The badge was awarded in two sizes: 30.5 mm for wearing on uniforms and 24 mm for other use. Adolf Hitler's own Golden Party Badge had the number '1'. He awarded it to Magda Goebbels in late April 1945 and proclaimed her as the "First Mother of the Reich". The '1' badge was stolen from a display in Russia in 2005. The guards thought that a cat had set off the alarms and this allowed the burglar to escape.