Original Item: Only One Available. This is a great locally posted poster which likely was meant to recruit German men & women into the RLB Air Raid Protection Service. The top translates to “The Fighter in the air has as much responsibility and as much honor as any soldier at the front!” There is information about the local Air Raid precinct, air shelter warden, and air shelter deputy warden. The poster is folded at the center and the top half is much dirtier than the bottom. The bottom of the poster describes proper behavior of members and during air raids.

The back of the poster strangely enough has a period mechanical drawing and may be dated 1942? A very odd addition but looks great! This would display best between two pieces of glass.

A great poster, ready for further research and display.

History of the RLB

Formed in late 1932 the Deutsches Luftschutzverband, (German Air Protection League), was a voluntary organization designed to provide civil air raid protection in large civilian centers. Shortly after AH ascension to power the Deutsches Luftschutzverband was restructured and placed under the supervision of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, (National Air Ministry), under the control of Hermann Göring. On April 29TH 1933 the Deutsches Luftschutzverband was renamed RLB, Reichs Luftschutz Bund, (National Air Raid Protection League), and all existing volunteer air raid precaution associations were forced to merge with RLB. The organization was given status as an official national organization tasked with all aspects of civil air raid defense. The RLB remained a voluntary organization with a small cadre of paid, full-time uniformed officials to oversee the organizations functions until June 1935 when obligatory service was introduced.

In 1939 the RLB became a Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization), while in 1944 it became an affiliated organization of the NSDAP Party. It was in charge of educating and training ordinary German men and women in civil defense procedures necessary for the basic level of local self-help of the civil population against air raids. The local level was formed around air raid wardens and operated in small first intervention squads. The training include fire fighting, protection against chemical weapons, communication procedures and preparation of houses and apartments against air raids.