Who wore those confounded, really bad looking cheesy “Paper” ribbon bars?
In 1956, the East German NVA made its appearance. Many officers and Senior NCOs transferred into the various military organs (Army, Air Force, Navy and later, Air Defense) of the newly formed NVA from the KVP and Polizei Organs of the DDR. With them, they brought their awards and decorations from these former para-military branches of DDR service.
However, the NVA was quick to create its own awards, and these continued to grow throughout its short lived 34 year history. Initially, the ribbon bars for medals and orders received, followed the composition for that inherent to the KVP and Polizei. They were cloth, coated in clear plastic, fixed to brass bars – 4 ribbons to a bar. Multiple bars were soldered or welded to one another.
However, as higher ranking officers began to accumulate more and more awards (and ribbons on their respective ribbon bars), a problem in weight was encountered, which began to announce itself in wear and tear, and discomfort, on the uniform Tunic.
In 1975, the NVA instituted and authorized for wear a new type of ribbon bar comprised of paper ribbons encased inside a hard plastic container that was then fixed to brass holders, similar to the type used for the cloth ribbons. The first problem with this new change was that it did not encompass paper ribbons awarded to service members by other Warsaw Pact Members, such as Russia for example. This led to NVA service members engaging in enterprising and creative methods pursuant to construction of ribbon bars. The result is that there are an innumerable number of ribbon bar variants out there.
The new paper ribbon type bar eventually suffered from the same problematic anomalies that initially lead to its inception – namely weight. With Generals such as KESSLER and HOFFMANN - who had no less than 52 ribbons, weight once again became an issue. A medal bar clip of 19 ribbons for example weighed approximately 65 grams.
This was at least satisfactorily resolved and dealt with in so far as General Officers were concerned, with the reintroduction of cloth ribbons, this time left “Ala-natural” (No plastic coating or encasing); and affixed to a cloth backing of branch color, instead of the brass ribbon bars. Now, a ribbon bar of 21 ribbons weighed only about 20 grams.
So, who wore those Paper Ribbon Bars?
Would you believe Gen. HOFFMANN?
Who’d-uh-thunk-it. Yes, even Gen. HOFFMANN, on at least one occasion, captured on film, wore the funky, cheesy paper ribbon bars. I suspect it was more a political gesture, done to encourage the transition from cloth to paper ribbon. He was meeting with Non-commissioned NVA Officers, and notably absent from his Tunic, are the two Ehrentitel "Held der DDR" medals always displayed, even when wearing a ribbon bar.
In 1956, the East German NVA made its appearance. Many officers and Senior NCOs transferred into the various military organs (Army, Air Force, Navy and later, Air Defense) of the newly formed NVA from the KVP and Polizei Organs of the DDR. With them, they brought their awards and decorations from these former para-military branches of DDR service.
However, the NVA was quick to create its own awards, and these continued to grow throughout its short lived 34 year history. Initially, the ribbon bars for medals and orders received, followed the composition for that inherent to the KVP and Polizei. They were cloth, coated in clear plastic, fixed to brass bars – 4 ribbons to a bar. Multiple bars were soldered or welded to one another.
However, as higher ranking officers began to accumulate more and more awards (and ribbons on their respective ribbon bars), a problem in weight was encountered, which began to announce itself in wear and tear, and discomfort, on the uniform Tunic.
In 1975, the NVA instituted and authorized for wear a new type of ribbon bar comprised of paper ribbons encased inside a hard plastic container that was then fixed to brass holders, similar to the type used for the cloth ribbons. The first problem with this new change was that it did not encompass paper ribbons awarded to service members by other Warsaw Pact Members, such as Russia for example. This led to NVA service members engaging in enterprising and creative methods pursuant to construction of ribbon bars. The result is that there are an innumerable number of ribbon bar variants out there.
The new paper ribbon type bar eventually suffered from the same problematic anomalies that initially lead to its inception – namely weight. With Generals such as KESSLER and HOFFMANN - who had no less than 52 ribbons, weight once again became an issue. A medal bar clip of 19 ribbons for example weighed approximately 65 grams.
This was at least satisfactorily resolved and dealt with in so far as General Officers were concerned, with the reintroduction of cloth ribbons, this time left “Ala-natural” (No plastic coating or encasing); and affixed to a cloth backing of branch color, instead of the brass ribbon bars. Now, a ribbon bar of 21 ribbons weighed only about 20 grams.
So, who wore those Paper Ribbon Bars?
Would you believe Gen. HOFFMANN?
Who’d-uh-thunk-it. Yes, even Gen. HOFFMANN, on at least one occasion, captured on film, wore the funky, cheesy paper ribbon bars. I suspect it was more a political gesture, done to encourage the transition from cloth to paper ribbon. He was meeting with Non-commissioned NVA Officers, and notably absent from his Tunic, are the two Ehrentitel "Held der DDR" medals always displayed, even when wearing a ribbon bar.
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