DRK Cloth Insignia

[HPL2008]

Today, I would like to show some examples of cloth insignia of the post-war Deutsches Rotes Kreuz [German Red Cross] in the FRG. I have a modest collection of DRK-related items from various periods as find the subject interesting, partially because I was a DRK member myself from 1990 to 2007.

I really don't know if this is of much interest to the community here, but if there are other collectors of DRK-related material, they are welcome to contribute to this thread.

I have kept the descriptions brief, but I will be happy to answer any questions about these items (provided I know the answer ).

[HPL2008]

Various basic DRK patches.

The machine-woven, washable specimens are for wear with a variety of shirts, blouses, EMS-, work- and field uniforms. The specimens in metallic thread are for service dress. The types with gold/yellow lettering are older models; the ones with black lettering later ones.

Seen in the last photo are obsolete patches of the Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz (BRK); these were replaced by the standard DRK pattern long ago.

[HPL2008]

Two unofficial patches of the BRK. On the left is a very widespread EMS patch, on the right a patch for a volunteer unit from Oberstdorf. There are many such unofficial and semi-official patches.

[HPL2008]

Some armbands for a physician [Arzt], on-scene manager [Einsatzleiter] and the mountain rescue service [Bergwacht].

[HPL2008]

Various cuff titles, worn on the lower right sleeve. Specimens in metallic thread are for the grey- and later dark blue service dress, specimens in white/yellow thread are for wear on the old-model grey Einsatzanzug [work-/field uniform].

[HPL2008]

There is a variety of Fachdienstabzeichen [trade badges] of which there are, in turn, different varieties. To illustrate these, here is the trade badge for the Sanitätsdienst [medical service].

First photo: The patches in the top row are embroidered in metallic thread on felt-like material and are for wear with service dress; the ones in the bottom row are embroidered in white thread on twill-like material for wear on the old-model Einsatzanzug. The unpiped patch is the actual qualification patch, the aluminum cord denotes unit-level leaders, the gold cord leaders on district level and above.

Second photo: On the left, a large-size (80 mm) velcro-backed patch for wear on the red jacket of the new-model Einsatzanzug, on the right one patch form the first photo (55 mm) for scale reference.

[HPL2008]

The various trade badges. I have only shown the basic badge in the service dress version of each one.

Top row: Sanitätsdienst [medical service], Pflegehilfsdienst [auxiliary nursing service], Fernmeldedienst/Information und Kommunikation [signals service/information and communication], Technischer Dienst/Technik und Sicherheit [technical service/engineering and safety].
Second row: Transportdienst [transport service] (obsolete), Verpflegungsdienst [provisioning service], Unterkunftsdienst [shelter service] (obsolete), Betreuungsdienst/Soziale Betreuung und Unterkunft [care service/social care and shelter].
Bottom: Strahlenschutzdienst/ABC-Dienst [radiation protection service/NBC service] (obsolete).

[HPL2008]

Collar patches for wear on the grey service dress.

On the left, a very old model with metal duty position insignia for a Gruppenführer; duty postion insignia were later moved to the sleeve.

Higher-level leaders had gold piping.

[HPL2008]

Collar patches and sleeve badge for a physician.

[HPL2008]

Woven collar patches for a long-obsolete model of work uniform, in finished and unfinished form.

[HPL2008]

Duty position insignia. The system of duty position designations and -insignia was completely revised in the mid-1990s and the base color of the badges changed from grey to black as the grey service dress was replaced by the dark blue one.

Again, I will provide just one level of these badge as an example for the different variants they came in.

Top row: Insignia for wear on the blue service shirt and on the grey field jacket and parka of the old-model Einsatzanzug. These are four sew-on variants in chronological order and a shoulder board slip-on. The first (oldest) model is woven, all others are embroidered.

Bottom row: Embroidered in metallic thread for wear with the grey (left) and dark blue (right) service dress.

(A single silver chevron within a silver rectangle originally designated a Truppführer and, after the revision, a unit-level Fachgruppenleiter or Jugendgruppenleiter.

[HPL2008]

A finished and an unfinished example of the shoulder board slip-ons:

[HPL2008]

And the last contribution for now, the full range of duty position insignia as worn until the mid-1990s (I won't bother you with the full list of designations):

[Proud Kraut]

"...modest..."? That's an excellent assortment of DRK insignia, thanks for sharing! I'll save this thread for further reference.

PK

[Gordon Craig]

HPL2008,

Excellent thread and great for reference purposes. Like PK I'll need to save this for future reference purposes.
A few weeks ago, Nico asked a question about DRK collar tabs with embroidered red crosses. No one had seen any until this thread of yours.

Regards,

Gordon