Ewig bleibt der Toten Tatenruhm 25 Juli 1934-38 tinnie.
Translates to "The glory of the dead's deeds remains forever".
Excellent condition. Stamped sheet brass.
Diameter roughly 35 mm.
Hard to find!
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HISTORY:
The phrase (“Ewig bleibt der Toten Tatenruhm”) is a very well-known and a much recited translation from the Edda (Havamal – Gestaþáttr – Nr.77) “at aldri deyr: dómr um dauðan hvern”.
This same phrase was carved in the main beam of the Hans Mallon Haus, near Bergen the main village on the German Baltic island Rügen (Pommerania). A dramatic shot of this memorial for the HJ martyrs from the "Kampfzeit" was used in the opening shots of the propaganda film “Der Masch zum Führer” (recorded in 1938, released in 1940).
The date (25 July 1934) relates to the so called “Juliputsch”, when radical Nazis tried to overthrow the Austrian Government under Chancellor Dollfuss. Dollfuss was killed in the action (and nearly decreed “Holy” by his supporters afterwards), but it ended in a mess and the rebels were either shot, or died for other reasons (suicide). It is interesting to note, that obviously the majority of Austrians did not support the radical Nazis at that time.
After the Anschluss (13 March 1938), when Austria had voted for incorporation with Germany, and after which date the two became Grossdeutschland, one of the first actions of the NSDAP was to honor the Nazi veterans and victims of their struggle to get a foothold in Austria. Radical and political persons who strived to achieve this ideal needed to be rewarded, as were the Alter-Kämpfer in Germany.
On the 25th of July 1938 (four years after the Putsch) a memorial gathering was organized in Vienna, but Hitler was not present, instead he sent his official replacement, Rudolf Hess, as the performer and off course similarities were drawn with the ill-fated November Putsch in Munich (1923). The perished Austrian strivers for a Nazi state were incorporated in the “Hall of Fame” under equal nominations as all others from the Kampfzeit.
Thus, the tinny is a commemorative badge to (former) Austrians who were present at this meeting in Vienna.
