I am looking for the origin of a badge which bears the following
terms: "reichsfinanzverwaltung zollgrenzschutz"
Please let me know what to do?

Dear robbywilsonjr,

The badge you described is, strictly speaking, not a military item,
but the badge of a customs officer. "Reichsfinanzverwaltung -
Zollgrenzschutz" translates as "National Finance Administration -
Customs Border Guards".


"Reichsfinanzverwaltung" means "National Finance Administration". This
was the term for the entirety of all national finance authorities,
with the Reichsfinanzministerium (National Ministry of Finance) at the
top. On the middle level, there were the Landesfinanzämter (State
Finance Offices), and the bottom level consisted of the ordinary tax
and revenue offices (Finanzämter).

The Reichsfinanzministerium as leading institution of the
Reichsfinanzverwaltung was in charge of all institutions and
organizations responsible for national financial issues. Thus, the
customs were also part of the Reichsfinanzverwaltung.


"Zollgrenzschutz" means "Customs Border Guards". In Germany, the
Zollgrenzschutz used to be a police-like armed force of customs
officers whose main task was patrolling the national borders to
prevent smuggling. Under the name Zollgrenzschutz, the force was
established in 1937 (but it already existed before: from 1919-1937 it
was named Zollgrenzdienst). The 1937 organization reform did not only
bring the Zollgrenzschutz its new name, but also military structures
and uniforms.

During the war years, the Zollgrenzschutz was enlarged in order to
control the borders of countries occupied by Germany. For those
services, combat units were formed because in many occupied areas
partisans were active. In 1944, the Zollgrenzschutz was taken from the
Reichsfinanzministerium's responsibility and made part of the SS. Now,
the Zollgrenzschutz units were used as regular combat forces.

On 2 May 1945, the Zollgrenzschutz came under the
Reichsfinanzministerium's responsibility again, 6 days before Germany
surrendered.


Sources:

Zollgrenzschutz: Geschichte und Organisation des Zollgrenzschutzes,
1919-1945 (History of the Zollgrenzschutz, in German)
http://www.zollgrenzschutz.de/

Bundesfinanzministerium: Die Geschichte des BMF - Die Zeit bis zur
einheitlichen Reichsfinanzverwaltung (Official History of the German
Ministry of Finances, in German)
http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/BMF-Wir-ueber-uns/Geschichte-des-BMF-.565.htm

The Collector's Guild: Border Customs Official's Sleeve Shield
http://www.germanmilitaria.com/WaffenSS/photos/S09150.html

Ewulf Militaria: Customs disk 'Reichsfinanzverwaltung Zollgrenzschutz'
http://www.epier.com/store/ewulf/viewitem.asp?ItemID=4622


Search terms used:
"reichsfinanzverwaltung zollgrenzschutz"
://www.google.de/search?q=%22reichsfinanzverwaltung+zollgrenzschutz%22&ie=UTF-8&hl=de&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=
reichsfinanzverwaltung reichsfinanzministerium
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=reichsfinanzverwaltung+reichsfinanzministerium&btnG=Suche&meta=
zollgrenzschutz
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=zollgrenzschutz&btnG=Suche&meta=
zollgrenzschutz zuständig
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=zollgrenzschutz+zust%C3%A4ndig&btnG=Suche&meta=


Hope this answers your question for the identity of that badge.
Best regards,
Scriptor

I am an avid military headgear collector with numerous resouces.  I
have been working on this for two days and only collect 1% of the
information provided to me today in one hour.  I am very impressed.
And I will use this service and this individual researcher again.