German Hunting Society 1934-1945 (Third Reich, Germany)

Reichsbund Deutsche Jägerschaft

Last modified: 2012-09-05 by pete loeser
Keywords: third reich | german hunting society | reichsbund deutsche jägerschaft | deutsche jägerschaft | rdj | dj | swastika | cross: swastika (black) |
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3:5 Image by Santiago Dotor

• Description: German Hunting Society - Deutsche Jägerschaft
• German Hunting Society Flag - Deutsche Jägerschaft after 1945

• Third Reich 1933-1945
• Index of all German Pages

Description: German Hunting Society
German Jägerschaft

The AHF Bookstore webpage shows the flag of the Deutsche Jägerschaft, the Third Reich's "German Hunting Society". It is a rather striking flag, with a massive stylized stag head, a sunburst with swastika and the letters "D. J.".
S. Smith, 17 January 2001

The Deutsche Jägerschaft was led by a Reichsjägermeister (Reich hunting master), a position held by Hermann Göring. I believe that the current equivalent organisation is the Deutsche Jagdschutzverband (DJV).
Santiago Dotor, 11 April 2002

I checked on this in Heering and Hüsken, Handbuch der Abzeichen deutscher Organisationen 1871-1945 which I picked up somewhere in western Germany (in Bonn, I think) in 1985. They show a Reichsbund Deutsche Jägerschaft (RDJ) which has the indicated symbol. In addition it shows a Deutscher Jägerbund (DJB) with an insignia similar to that of the RDJ except having a cross instead of the swastika and sunburst and with an imperial crown between the antlers. One of the three pins illustrated in Heering and Hüsken has the date 1934. I suspect that the DJB is older than the RDJ and if things went the way it usually did in the Third Reich, I would expect that the DJB would have merged into the RDJ sometime in the mid 1930s (but I have no independent confirmation).
Norman Martin, 11 April 2002

During the Nazi era, the civilian flag of the German Hunting Society (1934-1945) had a swastika in its design. During this period the society was led by the Reichsjägermeister Hermann Göring. After the fall of the Third Reiech in 1945, this sanitized version of the flag was used where the swastika was replaced with a cross.
Pete Loeser, 22 August 2011

I'd say rather that during the Nazi era, the flag of the Deutsche Jägerschaft had the image of the heart of Saint Hubert, but with the cross replaced with a swastika. After the fall of the Third Reich, the traditional image was restored by replacing the swastika with a cross.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 5 April 2012