Bundesgrenschutzeinzeldienst

[SCHUPO]

Thanks Gordon, I am happy to help. One thing to notice is that the insignia was factory applied. The shoulder patches are not sewn through the sleeve lining and the cuff title is not only sewn together at the back of the cuff but is also sewn into the seam of the cuff. I have only seen this method of sewing a sleeveband a couple of times.

George

[Gordon Craig]

George,

Thanks for the comments on your uniform. The method of sewing the cuff band onto the uniform is indeed unusual for a West German tunic. I hadn't noticed this until your comment on it. They abandoned the past method of sewing the cuff band into the tunic sleeve and just sewed it together on the back of the sleeve. Goes to show you that no idea about how things were done on uniforms at a specific time in German history is never 100% correct.

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

Great pics! Yeah, I noticed it was sewn into the side of the cuff as well. Like Gordon I haven't seen this done before as it seems to be a useless bit of effort. Speaking as someone who has put on a couple of these before... they are not fun to sew on even the easier method!

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Time to add to this thread. Before the amalgamation of the two groups, the passport control people wore a civilian style suit and a gold badge with the Federal eagle in the centre plus the words DEUTSHCE PASS KONTROLLE on it. I did a thread on this uniform and badge elsewhere on the forum. I knew at the time that there was a second badge, virtually identical to the first one, except that it has BUNDESGRENSCHUTZ printed on it and was said to be worn after the two groups combined.
This brings up some questions;
1-The BGS took control of the Passport Control Office in 1953. Did the old Passport Control People continue to wear their uniforms but wear the second badge?
2-Did BGS personnel wear this badge on their BGS uniforms and if so where and how?
3-In what year was the single service cuff band authorized for wear. We have a comment on when it was worn earlier in this thread but it would be nice to know the actual date of authorization.
A picture of the two badge is shown below. They are both in my collection.

Regards,

Gordon

[Huntzman]

Gordon

Hopefully my memory serves me correctly and I can provide some further information on the badges. The Passkontrolle is from the 60's and was worn as a badge on the dark blue uniform. It was affixed to the left lapel.

Passkontrolle was the fore runner of the GSE. The original uniform directive "Dienstbekleidung der Beamten des Paßkontrolldienstes" called for a dark blue uniform that was very similar to a marine uniform. Double breasted jacket with dark blue hat. The hat badge was also different then the normal BGS hat badge.

The first uniform did not have the BGS eagle wappen on the sleeve nor the bundes cockade on the hat. These were added later.

Andrew

[Gordon Craig]

Andrew,

Thanks for your addition to this thread. Subsequent to starting this thread I was able to acquire pictures of the Passcontrole uniform in wear as well as the hat. They are posted in the other thread I referenced above. Still hunting for a Passcontrole uniform and hat though.

Regards,

Gordon