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One of my Polish friends just bought a ruined old brick house in a village in Poland, which was supposedly reigned by Germany during the second world war (I didn't ask the name nor the location of the village). On the wall, he found an acronym with a symbol in the middle (see the photo).

A wall showing a four letter acronym. The first two letters are "L. D." There is a diamond in the center which has been defaced, followed by the letters "H. J. ". Font is some variation of fraktur type.

Can anyone decode the acronym and the symbol in the middle?

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    The symbol might be tricky since it appears to have been deliberately defaced.
    – Steve Bird
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 14:58
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    The Diamond shaped symbol was often used by the Hitler Jugend, which would explain the "H.J." on the right hand side. No idea what the "C.D." portion on the left stands for.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 15:10
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    Although the following may be obvious to some, it may help some others to research. This is a fraktur font, the letters appear to be C. D. ? H.. J.
    – MCW ♦
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 15:13
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    If the first letter is an L, the two letters on the left might be for Landdienst ("countryside service"?) The Landdienst seems to have been one of a number of special interest groups within the Hitler youth, but I am not sure if it was commonly abbreviated to LD.
    – Jan
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 15:28

1 Answer 1

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The symbol, though defaced, is probably the symbol of the Hitlerjugend. Click the link to see the actual image, I don't want to post it here, since it would be a legal grey area for me to do so for reasons also explained in the wikipedia page.

The L.D. and H.J. probably stand for "Landdienst" and "Hitlerjugend". Landdienst was a branch or troop of the HJ educating young boys over years to become farmers. So this likely was a farm house in use with them, probably in a part of Poland that was either Germany back in the day, or a part of Poland that Germany considered their core territory instead of "occupied".

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    Honestly, even without the legal gray area, I appreciate you deciding to not post the image here.
    – T.E.D. ♦
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 21:06
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    This is clearly for teaching purposes, so no legal greyness.
    – Stian
    Commented Aug 1, 2021 at 8:05
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    1) The wikipedia page says the law only applies to Germany; 2) There is no grey area. Posting the symbol in this context is perfectly legal; 3) @T.E.D. Could you elaborate on why you don't want it to be posted here? Nazism was a part of history. Whether you like it or not. Since this is History SE, imho banning these symbols is ridiculous.
    – Opifex
    Commented Aug 1, 2021 at 16:25
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    Well, since I am in Germany, that law applies to me. Are you a German lawyer that would take my case pro bono? Because otherwise, your opinion on what is and isn't legal in my juristiction is not really of any relevance to me. The symbol is not banned here. You can post it in your answers if you want. But I won't post it in mine. It's one link away, that should be good enough.
    – nvoigt
    Commented Aug 1, 2021 at 16:51
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    Also, for anyone who thinks that thanking someone for choosing to be considerate to others is somehow a bad thing, well I sincerely hope that I shall sorely disappoint you in the future as well.
    – T.E.D. ♦
    Commented Aug 1, 2021 at 20:24

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