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There was always a large bureaucracy of educated office workers in Germany to support government agencies, industry and the military, but never so large as it was in Third Reich Germany. With the vast expansion of the government and the military in Hitler's Germany, the need for male and female secretaries, short-hand writers and typists was enormous and many schools expanded and courses were offered to try to fill the need.

The Deutsche Stenografenschaft or German Stenographic Society was the umbrella organization in the Third Reich Germany of Adolf Hitler for those who were employed professionally by taking shorthand or doing machine typing. Office workers, secretaries and even court reporters were members.

The very well-made 4-½ x 6-¼ inch blue and gold hardcover booklet we offer here is a hard-to-find example of the identity document and membership book for a member of the Deutsche Stenografenschaft. The Kurzschreiberpaß or shorthand ID inside the front cover shows the owner was Lieselotte Töpfer of Gera. She became a member on 6 September 1932 and this membership ID was issued on 20 March 1934, after she had completed several qualification tests.

This lot also includes an additional Reichs-Kurzschrift-Verein Gabelsberger eV membership card and three additional Urkunde (diplomas or certificates), one a Third Prize result on 28 March 1933 (60 syllables per minute)and two for First Prize results (80 syllables per minute on 6 May 1933, and 100 syllables per minute in July 1933).

The interesting insigne of the Deutsche Stenografenschaft is a flying pencil entwined in a swastika and it is repeated many times on and in these identity and performance documents.

A rare and interesting lot of original 85+ year old Third Reich Deutsche Stenografenschaft documents. Very good condition with some punch holes.

The Deutsche Stenografenschaft membership card number 255 (first page) in this booklet is also made out to Lieselotte Töpfer. She became a member on 6 September 1933 and received her membership card on 1 October 1933. The 35 mm round stamp shows she was a member of the Deutsche Stenografenschaft of Ortsgruppe Gera.

The booklet pages contains five more heavy cardstock pages showing Lieselotte Töpfer participated in several shorthand tests in March, May and November 1934 and passed all of them in fine shape (120 and 140 syllables per minute). The May 1934 test was organized by the Leadership of Kreisgebiet Osterland and held in Langenberg (Thuringia) and the May 1934 competition took place in Kulmbach in Bavaria.