BACKGROUND: "Der Stahlhelmbund" (The Steel-helmet-league) was conceived as a national veterans’ organization by Franz Seldte in November of 1918, and was officially founded on Christmas day of that year. It was mostly comprised of WWI veterans trying to assimilate back into what was then a devastated society. The Stahlhelm became the largest of the post-war veterans’ groups, incorporating many of the smaller "Freikorps" groups into it. Most of its members were assimilated by the SA ("Sturmabteilung," or, Storm-troops) in 1933, and in late 1934 a sleeve diamond was introduced for SA uniforms denoting membership in the Stahlhelmbund. The league was disbanded in 1935, with its remaining members absorbed by the DRKB ("Deutscher Reichskriegerbund"), which, in turn, was absorbed by the NS-RKB ("Nationalsozialistische - Reichskriegerbund") in 1938.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A black rayon sleeve diamond, 52mm wide and 80mm tall, upon whose obverse is machine woven, in silver-grey threads, the outline of a profiled M16. Scarce.