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DRL Sport Badge, silver grade with swastika, owned by German Jewish refugee

Object | Accession Number: 2011.259.5

DRL Sport Badge, silver grade, with swastika awarded to Carl Werner Lenneberg. DRL [Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen / German Imperial Commission for Physical Exercise] replaced the DRA [Deutscher Reichs-Ausschuss / German National Committee for Physical Training) in 1934. The silver grade badge was for those from 18-32 who passed the national fitness test for 8 years or those from 32-40 who passed the tests within a 12 month period. The 1913 Olympics and Germany's selection as the next host city generated widespread interest in physical fitness and led to the institution of a national sports badge. Earning a badge was a significant accomplishment. In January 1933, Hitler and the Nazi regime took power. Anti-Jewish policies put increasingly harsh restrictions on Jewish life. Werner and his brother Georg were arrested during Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, and sent to Dachau concentration camp. After their release, they left Germany on the ill-fated voyage of the MS St. Louis to Havana, Cuba, May 13-June 17, 1939. Upon the ship's forced return to Europe, Carl and George were in the group given asylum in Belgium. In April 1940, they sailed from Antwerp to New York. a

Date
manufacture:  approximately 1935-approximately 1937
Geography
manufacture: Jena (Germany)
Classification
Identifying Artifacts
Category
Badges
Object Type
Badges (lcsh)
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ron Lenneberg
 
Record last modified: 2023-08-31 10:43:58
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn44434