Polizei A Darker Shade of Blue

[David H]

label

[David H]

Badge and metal cords

[Gordon Craig]

David,

Really interesting stuff. A hat like that would be a prize in anyones collection.

Regards,

Gordon

[Mikhealc]

Sehr Schön

David,

What a find. That is very nice. Mike

[Mike G.]

Hi David,

The Tunic is nothing short of remarkable. An absolutely brilliant early transition example. Thanks for sharing it with the forum.

I recall the Visor Hat well and the article appearing on this forum by the TR guys. What I didn't realize was that the hat was available. You were awake and I for sure was asleep.

Great find and I'm glad to see a collector of DDR memorabilia now has the hat. Again, thanks for sharing these two very rare, unique and wonderful items with the forum.

[SCHUPO]

David,

Two very interesting uniform pieces. I have seen some modified NS Zeit tunics but never a dark collar Heer tunic dyed blue. Again, the dyed shoulder boards are also new to me. Considering the transitional nature of the time period certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Were there any other modifications to the tunic such as sewing up the sleeve cuffs or buttons or changes to the interior?

I recall the cap and I like it very much as a transitional piece. I find it interesting that you think this material may well have been dyed prior to assembly. Can you tell what color the wool cloth might have been prior to dying? I wonder if it is simply postwar period wool that has lost its color due to poor quality dye or cloth?

George

[David H]

George,
Apart from the dying alterations to the jacket are at minimum. The collar has been stitched to the lapel top so it can only be worn open at the neck, I guess this would facilitate the use of a collar and tie, the top buttonhole has been sewn up and its corresponding button removed. Alot of the buttons are standard wehrmacht pattern that at some point have been fieldgrey, most of which has worn off, the others are a mixture of TR buttons.

As for the cap, the material could well be low quality just post war, my observations of the material was based on its similar feel and look to late war uniform material ie reasonably coarse with a high amount of shoddy resulting in a patchy dye take. Natural fading has not pronounced the uneven nature of the dying as it is the same on less exposed parts of the cap.

[SCHUPO]

David,

Thanks for the information. The little collar and buttonhole alterations make sense to me. From looking at immediate postwar photos it seems to me that the East Germans went through several phases of issue to their police forces. The same thing happened to a lesser extent in West Germany of course.

First, the police wore standard issue Polizei uniforms with the Polizei eagles and swastikas removed. Insignia evolved from whatever was available or de-Nazified to newly struck localized insignia. The brown collar and cuff tunics seemed to be disused within a year or two as they issued out old post-1942 style all green field style tunics and/or replaced the brown collar and cuff 1936 style tunic with green cuff material. This is where I think the short same color cuffs started on DDR Pol tunics.

Second, at some point (rather quickly) some new replacement uniforms were constructed in the then standard police green. Females received newly constructed green uniforms that were quite different than the NS Zeit ones. New green men's uniforms can also be seen. All this came to a halt with the new blue uniform style in 1948.

The blue 1948 uniforms would have gone through the same process of shortages in the beginning. Your tunic could very well have been one of the first ones that was made up out of existing uniforms or cloth that was dyed in order to conform to the new regulations.

Just my thoughts.

[Kievit]

What a nice tunic!!! This tunic tells a story!
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