The Hitler Youth, abbreviated HJ, was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung (the SA).

The HJ was originally Munich-based only. In 1923, the organization had a little over one thousand members. In 1925, when the Nazi Party had been refounded, the membership grew to over 5,000. Five years later, national HJ membership stood at 25,000. By the end of 1932 it was at 107,956. At the end of 1933, the HJ had 2,300,000 members. Much of these increases came from the more or less forcible merger of other youth organizations with the HJ.

This is a German Hitler Youth belt buckle. As manufactured during World War Two.

Of aluminum construction. The design of the buckle consisted of a large circle outlined by two ropes. One inside the other. The space created between each rope was adorned with a ribbed pattern. the center of the inner circle holds an HJ eagle cluthing the HJ diamond emblem. The head of the eagle is facing right.

The words "Blut Und Grue" are scrolled just above the eagle. The innermost circle is adorned with high definition pebbling. This is a very attractive design.

This belt buckle may currently be reproduced. It is becoming more difficult to be able to tell the fake ones from the real ones because the quality of the reproductions is improving. The collector must become familiarized with the construction style and materials employed in the manufacturing of this buckle. Attention to the details is critical in order to be able to determine the authenticity of the belt buckle.

If you have an interest is seeing other belt buckles of the Third Reich, you can do so by going to our WWII German Belt Buckles identification guide. Where we cover Heer (Army), Navy (Kriegsmarine), Air Force (Luftwaffe), political and civilian buckles.