West German Feuerwehr

[Klaus1989]

I thought it would be great to start thread on the West German Feuerwehr (actually it was another member's idea). I will start by posting my Niedersächsische Feuerwehr Schirmmützen.

Enlisted man's Niedersachsen Feuerwehr Schirmmütze. Probably a later example than the officer version. Made of gabardine. Landeswappen is slightly less detailed. The FW insignia is different and visor appears to be plastic.



Inside of cap. Maker is Hans Christmann Feuerwehrbedarf in Aurich. No clue what size or year the cap is.

[Klaus1989]

Niedersachsen Feuerwehr Officer's Schirmmütze. Earlier manufacture than the EM version. Made of Filz with a leather visor. Insignia is higher quality and FW badge shows an old-fashioned Feuerwehrhelm instead of the more modern ones in use in the 1950s or '60s. Another interesting difference is EM one has black band and officer example has brown band.



Inside of cap. Both this and previous cap have leather sweat shields. Maker label is unfortunately smeared beyond comprehension by pommade or sweat (or both).

[Gordon Craig]

Klaus,

Thanks for starting this thread. Not much known about West German firemen's hats or uniforms. I can only find one pic to post at the moment but I will look for some more.

Regards,

Gordon

[Klaus1989]

1950s Plößberg Frw. Feuerwehr

I bought this Plößberg Freiwillige/Jugend-Feuerwehr tunic awhile ago and have not posted it yet. This tunic appears to have interesting past, starting out as close collared Frw. Feuerwehr tunic in 1950s or early 60s and being converted to open collar for reuse later in 1980s with Jugendfeuerwehr. Normal 1980s tunics were made open collar. Possibly son using his father's old tunic?

Tunic is made of thick, rough blue wool. Although it once buttoned to collar, top button was removed because it was in middle of lapel crease. Colourful orange patch on sleeve displays landmark village church and reads FREIWILLIGE FEUERWEHR PLÖSSBERG. Collar tabs are altsilber Kragenspiegel for all Bavarian Feuerwehr units. No markings or stamps in tunic at all. Appears rank patch is missing from lower left sleeve. I think it Jugendfeuerwehr because 2 of 3 badges are for them.

Awards include:
- Bayerische Feuerwehr-Leistungsabzeichen in Bronze (Bavarian Fire Service Proficiency Badge in Bronze) on left pocket. Unit award for performance on fire rescue exercises after competition.
- Bayerische Jugendleistungsspange (Bavarian Youth Proficiency Clasp) above left pocket. Individual badge issued to members of Youth Fire Service for how well they perform in service.
- Wissenstest '87 in Gold (Knowledge Test 1987 in Gold) on right pocket flap. Awarded for excellent performance on written exam. This one looks newer than other two.

[Gordon Craig]

Klaus,

Interesting tunic. I bid on one of these a few months ago but the auction house sent me an email that they had removed the tunic and it would be relisted at a later date. That has never happened. I was curious about the use of what appeared to cap badges on the lapels. I don't think the tunic I bid on had any indication on it that it was a Jugend one. Do the professional firefighters from Plossberg wear the same badges on their collars?

Regards,

Gordon

[Klaus1989]

All Bavarian Feuerwehr wear same badges on collar and they are same as cap. Different colours for ranks: ie altsilber for enlisted, silber for officers and gold for inspectors. I do not think Plößberg has Berufsfeuerwehr (only Frw. FW site for them). All Berufsfeuerwehr, Freiwillige Feuerwehr and Jugendfeuerwehr in Bayern wear them.

The only difference between Frw. FW and JFW is the JFW awards, although I guess the same man could wear them as adult...

regards
Klaus

[Gordon Craig]

Klaus,

Thanks for the interesting information. I've seen more caps for sale than tunics.

Cheers,

Gordon

[Capt. R]

Is this the Jr. Fireman tunic now being sold on US Ebay?
Looks identical.

[Klaus1989]

Is this the Jr. Fireman tunic now being sold on US Ebay?
Looks identical.

Yes. I make my collection smaller to focus on 1950s-60s BGS militaria. The scope of my collection grew too large.

regards
Klaus

[Gebirgsjaeger]

Feuerwehr Schirmmütze?

Hi,

Maybe this is a right thread for my question:
Does anybody knows what this hat is and to which period does it belongs?

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=rtokn4&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=j6ip04&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=250jev7&s=6

Thanks in advance!

GbJ

[Gene T]

There is a link to a lot of great period photos buried in this marathon thread that you may want to have a look at:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...erwehr&page=38

You can see that many pre-war uniforms continued to be worn after the war by the Feuerwehr, so it may be hard to pin down a narrow time frame in which a particular uniform article "belongs".

That said, the maker of your cap seems to have been in the habit of updating the sweat shield every year to mark the number of years it was in business; which should help us date its products. Here is one that was made a year after yours, which came paired with a post war Miner's uniform:

http://www.mehlis.eu/archiv/58-auktion/objekte/0001524

Still, if the Feuerwehr could recycle older dress uniform items by updating them with modern badges, so could the miners. The pairing above cannot be seen as direct (or even indirect) proof that your hat was made post-war.

For that, we need to know the year Kirchberg was founded. I am not able to determine this during my cursory search, but you can probably write to the Weißenfels museum and ask one of their curators. There is a convenient email address in the link below that you can try:

http://ww.museum-digital.de/san/pdf/...php?oges=11392

Good luck, and let us know what you are able to find out!


Gene T

[Gordon Craig]

Gebirgsjaeger,

Your hat has the shape of either a wartime or early post war Feuerwehr. The piping around the top of the cap is unusual. It appears to be of a different type than that above and below the cap band. It has a "twisted" look. I tried to read the makers address on the cap but was unable to do so. If you google the makers address it will tell you which zone it was in following the war. The diamond shape of the sweat shield also points to wartime or early post war manufacture.

Regards,

Gordon

[chiffonnier]

those stich holes in the sweat band,are they empty?
so,no thread through those holes?
I wonder because it is not clearly visible.
if they are without thread,it's been replaced and I think the brim as well.
so;mixed periods at least in that case.

kees

[Gebirgsjaeger]

Thanks a lot, guys!

The hat is unusual and good looking in my opinion, so I acquired it even I was not sure what it really is. Now, I have an interesting task to find it out.

> http://ww.museum-digital.de/san/pdf/...php?oges=11392

According to the museum link, Eduard Kirchberg - Mützen Fabrikation was founded on 1870 so "70 jahre" (from the foundation) as it is printed on the "diamond" inside the hat should date it to 1940 ...

I already wrote to a museum in Leipzig asking for an info, but there is still no answer... I will continue the search and let you know if I find out something.

Thanks once more & best regards!

GbJ

[Gebirgsjaeger]

those stich holes in the sweat band,are they empty?
so,no thread through those holes?
I wonder because it is not clearly visible.
if they are without thread,it's been replaced and I think the brim as well.
so;mixed periods at least in that case.

kees

@ chiffonnier

stich holes are not empty. the thread is lacking only in a part of sweatband of cca 5cm where it disappeared according to use of the hat.... I do not see any traces of repairs so I think that everything on the hat is original.... if more photographs are needed, I will make it.