Original German WWII Set of Four Identification & Document Books - ID Card, Workbooks, and DAF Membership Book

Original Item: One-of-a-kind Set. Here we have a very nice set of four Identification books from NSDAP ruled WWII Germany. During the period many new types of identification were required, both for civilians and military personnel, both as a method of control and to help protect vital parts of the German war machine. These books often recorded quite a bit about the owners life, much more than just their basic information. The military issued books in particulars also served as records of their service as well as pay books, so they were definitely important to keep safe.

This lovely set consists of the following Identification books:

- One German WWII Deutsches Reich Arbeitsbuch (German National Workbook), named to what looks to be Adolf Holzgräfe. As indicated on page 5 the book was issued -2. 6. 36., and it is the early 1935 pattern book, with the old Weimar style national eagle design, though there are still swasses in the corners. These books grew out of a 1935 law requiring registration of work, and documentation of work history for German citizens-and only German citizens. Foreigners who worked in Germany carried an Arbeitsbuch für Ausländer which had a picture of the owner.

- One German WWII Deutsches Reich Arbeitsbuch (German National Workbook), named to what looks like Eugen Schmid. As indicated on page 5 the book was issued 24. März 1937, and it is the 1935 pattern book, with the new Reichsadler Design. These books grew out of a 1935 law requiring registration of work, and documentation of work history for German citizens-and only German citizens. Foreigners who worked in Germany carried an Arbeitsbuch für Ausländer which had a picture of the owner.

- One German WWII DAF Labor Front - Deutsche Arbeitsfront Mitgliedsbuch (membership book), which looks to be named to Wilhelm Rodermund, and the book looks have been issued 1. September 1934. Later pages in the book show the meetings they attended, along with stamps for when they were present.

- One German WWII Deutſches Reich Kennkarte (German National ID Card), named to Helene FEDAN, geb. Merok, which has a green stripe on the front and back, which usually indicates that the person is a foreigner. Inside the ID card indicates both her married name and her maiden name, but does not have an official issue date noted inside. The front cover has a red stamped vorläufige (provitional) marking, and we can see inside that it is stamped Vorgemerkt für die Anmeldung zur Einbürgerung ("Registered for naturalization application"). Without a date we cannot tell from when during the NSDAP period this is from, but we assume that it is probably from the Pre-War period, as we doubt they would have been accepting immigrants after the war broke out.

A great set of German WWII Era Identification material, full of great translation and research possibilities!

Of note: some of the writing in this book is in Kurrentschrift, an older form of Germanic script writing, which is why the all the "u" letters are written as "ŭ". In this script the lowercase "n" and "u" are identical, so the latter gets the arc shaped mark over it. This is not indicative of an umlaut or other diacritical marking.