Deutsche Arbeitsfront swastika and cogwheel banner acquired by a US POW
Extent and Medium
a: Height: 52.000 inches (132.08 cm) | Width: 55.000 inches (139.7 cm)
b: Height: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm) | Width: 12.000 inches (30.48 cm) | Depth: 9.500 inches (24.13 cm)
Archival History
The flag was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Milton Richard Dowse.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Milton Richard Dowse
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Deutsche Arbeitsfront banner (German Labor Front / DAF) acquired by Major Milton Evans Dowse, United States Army, after his liberation from Oflag 64, a German prisoner-of-war camp in Szubin, Poland, in January 1945. The flag has a swastika encircled by a gear-wheel, and a patch identifying it as having been used in Rosmin (present-day Roscimin, Poland). DAF was the only authorized trade union in Germany. The Nazi regime abolished all other trade unions in 1933 in order to ensure political control over industry.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
a. Red cloth flag with a swastika encircled by a gear-wheel, with a patch identifying it as having been used in Rosmin (present day Roscimin, Poland).
Corporate Bodies
- Oflag 64 (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Soldiers--United States--Biography.
- Prisoners of war--Germany--Biography.
- World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German.
Genre
- Identifying Artifacts
- Object