Nazi Lyra & Dresden Museum Visit May 2008

[Gordon Craig]

Our Visit to the Military Museum in Dresden-May 2008

Michael,

Since you asked, I am going to start this thread about our trip to the Military Museum in Dresden and let Johan add most of the pictures. I/we were not allowed to use our camera flash in the museum and it was dark inside. As a result, my camera lens stayed open a long time and the majority of my pictures were blurry. Johan seemed to have better luck than I with getting pictures inside so I will concentrate on a description of the museum, as it stands now, some pictures outside and my pictures that are usable of the inside.
Our first stop, before entering the museum grounds, was a statue on the left hand side of the road leading to the main gate. The statue was erected in 1945 as a memorial to the soldiers of the Soviet 5th Guards Army that had died in battle. We spent some time there as it is really worth a visit.

[Gordon Craig]

The plaque in front of the statue.

[Gordon Craig]

The main building used by the DDR for their military museum is still very much under construction and there is no entrance allowed to it. Once you enter the museum grounds through the gaurd house gate you will be directed to the right on the main building by this sign.

[Gordon Craig]

The sign leads you up a fenced path to the building behind the main building where the museum's collection is now on display. At the end of the path, on the right, is a small trailor containing the museum's shop. We only spent a few minutes in it as we wanted to concentrate our time on the museum and visit the store afterwards. Unfortunately, the store was closed when we left the museum shortly after 4:00 pm. The shop had mostly books, a few models and a STASI uniform that I haad barely time to look at.

[Gordon Craig]

When you enter the museum's main door it appears that you are only in a small room and at first we were very disappointed but as you advance into this room you can see a large doorway on the left that reveals the building is much larger than we first thought. This first room, and a small room off it, concentrate on German military history from the 1800s to to WWII. The larger area is devoted to the DDR and the BRD. Lots of uniforms, general historical items and some vehicles. Here are a few shots of medals and uniforms from the first room.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

#2

[Gordon Craig]

#3-part of the uniform and the medals of Oberleutnant Max Immelmann.

[Gordon Craig]

#4-his medals.

[Gordon Craig]

#5-German uniforms from the turn of the cenury (last one) until WWII.

[Gordon Craig]

#6-

[Gordon Craig]

#7-I'm going to quit here as I have just realized that instead of starting a new thread I have just added to Johan's. I'll ask Michael to move my posts to a new thread and let Johan continue.

Regards,

Gordon

[Capt. R]

Awesome thread. Thanks Johan and Gordon for bringing this tour to the forum!

Johan, A TR lyra with DTSB top! WOW! And what is that band leader mace with swastika on it in that pic??? Where did you find that?

[Dallasfan]

Hi Don


The band leader mace with the swastika is an drum-major's stick
from the Reichs Arbeits Dienst and is dated 1939 .
I bought that one on a flea market in Belgium about 25 years ago
for 135 dutch guilders ( thats about 60 euros ) .


Regards , Johan

[Guardian 5]

Johan, Gordon, & Michael - Any of the infamous BII helmets to be found?

Thanks - TJ

PS - Can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

No B II helmets on view. At least none that I saw. Lots of interesting BW stuff that you would have enjoyed. In particular he early uniforms. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, must of my pictures turned out to be too fuzzy to use. I'll post a few of the less objectionable ones later.

Regards,

Gordon