SS mannequin on display (CWM)

[Robert T.]

Hello,

Jean-loup would like to have some opinions on the SS mannequin on display at the Canadian war museum ;http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=197633&page=3

Thank you,
__________
Robert

[Robert T.]

This is the only photo that I have .

[Fred S]

Hard to tell from those pics but runes look weird and the camo looks really recent...
Can't state for the M44 uniform.

[Doug Kenwright]

What is really a shame, is that this museum used to have the worlds finest captured tunic collection..through a series of curators,and employees who had their own self interest at heart,this is no longer the case..they backdoored most of the good stuff in the 60's and 70's..some of the nicest SS tunics you will ever see,all gone..racks of them folks..a lot of Canadian collectors have ex CWM tunics, helmets, pants camo, awards..all because the Canadian people and its govts were asleep with no care or control placed on invalueable items..mostly because of the anti-military climate so prevelant here, even today..

Alot of the tunics people attribute to European collections, actually originated from this museum,and i have seen them pointed out to me on various dealer sites over the years...

As an example,they no longer have Kurt Myers tunic..it is long gone, just "missing in action, in someones collection, and they probably have no idea whose it is..it was just another old tunic back then..some of the best 12th SS items ..all gone..all back doored..it's a shame..

[Arran]

A friend of mine here on the Westcoast ended up with Kurt Meyer's jackboots, I believe from this source...where the rest of the uniform is? Who knows...

[bodes]

I for one wouldn't get overly excited from the photo.....The runes on the helmet certainly do look suspect......And the rest of the helmet, for that matter....The y-straps may be reproduction, as well as the shoulder boards.....But hey, it's a museum.....They must believe that most looking, won't know (or even care) the difference.....Bodes

[Josef Hahne]

Kameraden,
I'll have to go back and re read Grenadiers (its been quiet a few years) but I'm under the impression Meyer was captured wearing a Heer uniform. I know for certain he remained undetected in the prisoner camp while wearing a Heer uniform and even had the camp commander fooled that he was helping to root out the high ranking SS Officer hiding amongst the men in the camp. Unless Max (his son) or his family sold some of his uniforms after the war, how would the museam have gotten any of his SS uniforms?

Sepp

[Fred S]

I think you're (nearly) right Sepp.
In the POW camp he wore an oberst camo tunic, If can remember the book.

[Josef Hahne]

Fred,
I re read the chapter of Grenadiers where he talks about his capture. He was captured while wearing his Tarnjacke but that was stolen from him while he was being treated for his head wound. He had just gotten rid of his Soldbuch and that was the last piece of SS items he had with him. Before being moved to his first camp, he was given a uniform to wear to make him look more presentable. All along he had been told if he was SS or Falllschirmjaeger, he would be killed so he pretended to be a Heer Officer until he was turned in by a spy in the camp. Maybe the Canadian museam had his "adopted" uniform on display??

Sepp

[Arran]

Along with the boots that my friend has came a copy of the original inventory of his items from when he was captured...I'll see if I can get a look at it and report back as to what else was listed...

Cheers,
Arran.

[Josef Hahne]

Arran,
I'd be interested to see what else is listed. He was captured by Partisans and turned over to Americans. He suffered from a nasty head wound when his head was nearly crushed by the butt of a Ami rifle while as a prisoner. According to Meyer the head wound bled so great, it covered the windshield of the vehcile he was strapped to in a matter of minutes. At that rate I imagine everything he owned was blood soaked. He was in the hospital for two weeks before being returned to an Americam POW camp after getting a change of uniform, so I imagine everything he had worn when captured was now gone. There is a foto in Grenadiers of him being led away in handcuffs by the 4th Bn. Royal Winnipeg Rifles in 1945. He is dressed in what looks to be an light colored open collar bluse with a Heer adler applied to his left upper sleeve.

Sepp

[Robert T.]

What is really a shame, is that this museum used to have the worlds finest captured tunic collection..through a series of curators,and employees who had their own self interest at heart,this is no longer the case..they backdoored most of the good stuff in the 60's and 70's..some of the nicest SS tunics you will ever see,all gone..racks of them folks..a lot of Canadian collectors have ex CWM tunics, helmets, pants camo, awards..all because the Canadian people and its govts were asleep with no care or control placed on invalueable items..mostly because of the anti-military climate so prevelant here, even today...

And I believe that the same thing happened to the smaller museums here in Montreal.
The "FUSILIERS MONT-ROYAL " museum only have those few TR objects left on display . I was told by a local militaria dealer that all the good stuff also went out the back door years ago.

Thank you for your comments.
____________
Robert

[DonC]

Very interesting thread.

You all will be very interested in Peter von Lukac's update "preview" on his site today...

Don

[Fred S]

Thanks For all the updates, gonna read Grenadiere one more time...

A pity for those museums, we had the same in France: some owners kept for them the good stuff offered by citizens and show crap now...

Not a thread about MEyer but always wanted to know if his stolen RK surfaced one day????

[Doug Kenwright]

I have heard that Postwar, Meyers himself contributed personal belongings to the Canadian gov't, as it was basically through the actions of higher ranking Canadian officers that Meyers sentence was reduced from death to a prison term..he actually wrote a treatise for the Canadian army (on tactics or strategy..?) and was employed by a brewery that delivered beer to the Canadian army in Germany..


The Canadian war museum was given Meyers Wehrpass and other related items in the late 50's or 60's..from what is understood here, the Canadians captured quite a bit of material from the 12th SS , to include items from prominent figures in that organisation.