Germany - Weimar Republic and Republic: DRA Sports Badge in Bronze, circa 1920-1933, bearing makers marks for H. Wernstein of Jena-Lodstedt.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
The German Sports Badge, also known as the German National Sports Badge was first created in the year 1913 and is one of the oldest awards of Germany still in active circulation. Between 1914 and 1933, the German Sports Badge was issued for the completion of various physical tests by the young male population. As a military award, during the inter-war years of the 1920s and prior to 1933, the German National Sports Badge was one of the few military awards bestowed to the peacetime Reichswehr, being the initials ‘DRA’ on the front for Deutscher Reichs-Ausschuss (German National Committee for Physical Training). From 1933 onwards it bore the initials ‘DRL’ for Deutscher Reichsbund fur Leibesubungen. The Bronze Grade was awarded to Men & Women between 18-32 years of age who passed 5 parts of the national fitness tests within a 12 month period.
Between 1933 and 1939, the German Sports Badge was overshadowed by an almost identical decoration, the SA Sports Badge which was a sports badge issued by the Nazi Party. Even so, the German Sports Badge was still regarded as an important qualification badge, and both the SA Sports Badge and German Sports Badge could both be earned and displayed simultaneously.
