Forget-Me-Not Badge

thingiverse

The forget-me-not has a very special meaning to freemasons in germany. In Nazi Germany freemasonary was strictly forbidden. And even wearing a sign of any kind of community other than a nazis organization was illegal. The „Winterhilfswerk des Deutschen Volkes“ was a public trust and collected money to relieve the distress caused by unemployment and poverty - lead by the nazi government. As you gave money, you received a pin, that you could wear at your revers as a proof. In the collection campaign in march 1938 they gave a forget-me-not among others. The brethren remembered a sign made out of porcelain, that was released as a badge for one of the last grand-lodge-meetings 1926 in Bremen, which showed a forget-me-not as well - in that case a single flower. As new pins of the „Winterhilfswerk des Deutschen Volkes“ were released for the next collection, some brethren decided to keep the forget-me-not as a secret, but frankly worn sign. This was possible, because it was an official pin and you could just say, that you are still wearing it because it was so beautiful. After Word War II the freemasons still remembered the forget-me-not. The fist badge, the one from 1926 was released in a new edition and is worn up till today to remember the brethren who suffered from the nazi tyranny - and as a distinctive mark. I liked the shape of the nazi-pin: Three is a meaningful number, so is the triangle. Thus this pin is - by mistake - even more masonic than the single flower from 1926! That´s why I used it as a basis for my design. On the first picture you see it casted in tin, about 18 mm wide. The model fpr the cast was printed in resin (0.025 layer). The second picture shows a 17 mm wide version (0.06 mm layer hight, 0.3 mm LW), casted and painted. Another one - original size - in the background. I drilled a small hole and added a pin with some epoxy so I can wear it at the collar - next picture. The following picture shows the raw print (0.075 mm layer hight), a colored print and the first casted version. I hope, you like it.