1932 Nazi German NSDAP Political Medal; Manufactured by L. CHR. LAUER NÜRNBERG; Reverse reads: NSDAP Reichstags Wahl 1932, Kampf Schatz Spende, Kapitulieren Niemals!

 

Political tokens served a variety of purposes such as propaganda in your pocket and reminders to vote, and they also served to legitimize campaign donations at political rallies. The turmoil of post World War I Germany brought on by the economic crises and multiple failed governments contributed to the rise of increasingly radical and agressive political parties of which the NSDAP was only one. One law meant to lower the level of conflict forbid parties from collecting donations at political rallies on the theory that restricting the flow of donations would help weaken the influence of the parties. They responded with a variety of ways to continue the cash flow, typically relying on the sale of items such as postcards, pamphlets, etc. Sales of things were legal. The NSDAP sold donation tokens and the tokens shown in the previous posts could well have been donation tokens as well. A series of tokens specifically identify themselves as being donation tokens, some with specific values.

An unusual brass token that was once gilt bronze.  It commemorates the act of voting in the 1932 Reichstag election. The obverse features a swasstika buried in a sea of raised hands perhaps indicating it was issued after the July election when the NSDAP scored its largest vote. The artist's stylized signature reads GHM or GMH  or GHW or CHW depending on the order in which the letters are meant to be read. The reverse reads "1932 Reichstag Election, Campaign Donation, Never Capitulate."7