DDR Reference Books

[uscob]

Hi Genossen!
Does it exists a book about uniforms of MdI? I mean like Keubke/Kuntz.
Thank You
grunstug

I know only the official MdI Regulation. Don't have it with me in the moment for a pic. After summer I'll make some reprints for sale.
Also from the MfS dress regulation.
Nico

[Gordon Craig]

Grunstug,

There is no reference book on MdI uniforms. There is a small book by Klaus Walther "Uniformeffekten der bewaffneten Organe der DDR" Spezialkatalog Band 1 Ministerium des Inneren 1949 - 1990 which covers MdI insignia and is a good book to have if you are interested in the DDR MdI. They come up for sale on ebay.de from time-to-time. They were produced in 1993 and are no longer availale from book dealers.

Regards,

Gordon

[Drugo]

Thanks to Matteo's advice , I recently bought this book, "Schützen, Kanoniere, Kommandanten", that most of you already know.

Today I received it, it is in excellent conditions, and when I turned the first pages I realized it was a library copy, due to a borrowing list attached inside and a stamp:

But what I found most interesting, is this 3-pages list of "new" books published for the 10 years anniversary of the NVA and 20 years of the SED (1966), with a brief summary for each of them:

THe strange thing is, this book was published in 1975, 9 years after the typing of this list... No idea how it ended in the book, but there it will remain.

Regards,
Drugo

[Mike G.]

Drugo,

Documents like the ones you found inside your book, are really neat vestiges of history. They make the instrument (in this case - a book) all the more real to the person holding it. It looks like the book was checked out and read by someone at least once, possibly twice.

[Drugo]

It looks like the book was checked out and read by someone at least once, possibly twice.

Thank you, Michael!

Yes, the book has been lended twice, in March 1981 and December 1986... pretty unused.

[Ralph P]

Drugo - Thanks for the post and showing the document that was in the book...interesting.

[torstenbel]

Hi Guys, if you are interested in the OHS (Officer College) of the Army in Zittau/Loebau, then this is the book to have. Good number of photos in it and details and history of each of the Sektionen within the OHS. The OHS Zittau is were Dirk (waf id AR-11) and I studied ... we were both Sektion 4/6th Battery.

Cheers, Torsten.

[Ralph P]

Thanks for the heads up Torsten. Very good to know.

[Drugo]

Today I acquired two copies of Soldaten des Volkes, the 1960s one and the more common 1980s.

When I arrived home I found that the older one has a nice dedication signed by, surprise surprise... Armeegeneral Heinz Hoffmann himself!!

Drugo

[torstenbel]

Hi Drugo, well done. Did the seller not realise what he had there??? Cheers, Torsten.

[ehrentitle]

Drugo, That's a great find! I bought a copy of the older book on ebay.de years ago and was excited because it has a typewritten dedication from a Major Tatternusch. This is even better.

[Drugo]

@torstenbel: I guess not, since he didn't mention it anyhow, plus the price I paid for both was very fair, even if it was just for the two books... so, I was lucky, I guess.

@ehrentitle: Yes, I know what you mean. Last year I bought a copy of the 1961 volume "Immer Gefechtsbereit", and it had a handwritten dedication very similar to this one, signed by an officer and all the comrades in arms of the guy who received it... a very nice one. Now I added this.

Btw, the 1980s copy has a dedication too, a pink piece of paper, typewritten, to a member of a collective and of the party, signed by the secretar. It's dated 29.12.1987. So basically, I have more dedicated books than not!

[torstenbel]

Having that dedication from Hoffmann is excellent and have a nice book to go with it is an added bonus Cheers, Torsten.

[Ralph P]

Great book to have added to your collection...nicely done.

[Gene T]

I am curious about the script Hoffmann's dedication is written in.

It's vaguely "Suetterlinesque" with its zigzag shapes but clearly isn't the old script, nor does it remotely resemble the Schulausgangsschrift that was later taught in schools. So what the heck is it? An invention of the DDR Kalligraphie Amt? Or something unique to people who learned to write during the transition period between Suetterlin and Schulausgangsschrift? Can our German members tell through hand-writing whether someone learned to write in BRD or DDR schools, the way that, for instance, Chinese from the mainland are known to write very differently from those who were taught to write Chinese in Taiwan?


Gene T