NSDAP - NS Handel-, Handwerk- und Gewerbeorganisation Hago

Nickled bronze. High 21cm. Hard to find. VGC.

| historical background |

The Nationalsozialistische Handels-, Handwerks- und Gewerbeorganisation (National Socialist Trade, Crafts and Commerce Organization), commonly known by the acronym HAGO, was established in the early 1930s to organize and represent shopkeepers, craftsmen, retailers, and small business owners within the NSDAP framework. Intended to strengthen the party’s influence among Germany’s independent middle classes (Mittelstand), it played a role in the gradual integration of professional and economic groups into the National Socialist system.

Following the NSDAP’s rise to power in 1933, HAGO’s role evolved as part of the Reich’s broader economic reorganization. Its functions and structures were progressively incorporated into the regime’s professional organizations, particularly within the Deutsche Arbeitsfront, which centralized the supervision of various occupational sectors. HAGO nevertheless remains a representative example of the party’s efforts to organize and control independent economic activities.

Objects, insignia, documents, and effects related to HAGO rank among the less frequently encountered categories of German WWII political militaria. Closely associated with the economic organizations of the NSDAP, they illustrate the supervision of trade and craft sectors within the National Socialist system and hold a distinctive place in specialized collections dedicated to the party’s affiliated organizations.