armband

[ironfist]

Hi guys can you halp me with this leaders OT band havent had one before and not too sure,looks nice though your views please.Best regards Pete
ot.jpg (206.9 KB)
ot2.jpg (239.8 KB)

[Br. James]

Hi Pete,

Like you, I have no experience with OT brassards, but the OT band on this piece looks odd to me. The most famous OT member was Albert Speer, so I looked at some pix of him wearing his OT brassard, and indeed his was different from this piece. His OT band simply had the words "Org. Todt" displayed on it, not "OT" flanking the DAF logo. Photos of other OT members show the inscription in the same way.

Did the OT have anything to do with the DAF? Apparently the OT used RAD personnel to execute roadbuilding projects throughout Germany in the early years of the TR, but from 1938 onward the OT became adjunct to the military and worked on defense projects...using slave labor.

Hopefully others with more knowledge of the OT will add some elucidation to this question, but now, as I see it, this piece is at least questionable in terms of authenticity.

Br. James

[mrec27777]

page 202 of the book by jr angolia and david littlejohn "labor organizations of the third reich "shows a cufftitle exactly the same pattern as the one sewn on the armband you are questioning...if original ,this armband would be quite rare ,...EC

[wilhelm Saris]

"Schwert und Spaten" from August 1940, page 108:"

"Partly different from other OT front-labor workers are those men from the Schutzkommando (the SK, earlier known as the Stosstrupp der Werkschar OT, were DAF-members, assigned to the OT-organization), equipped with boots, breeches, the tunic for OT laborers and field-cap. They were armed to take care for protection of the workers. Such a person is wearing a blue cuffband with the DAF cogwheel in between the letters OT in matt silver. The cuffband is worn at the left lower arm. Such a person also does were the regular party brassard".

So, why not a combination as shown here? Note however nothing is said about the both stripes along the edges (I know one photograph from the SK where a member wears a cuffband with stripes along the edges). It is possible one should take silver with a pinch of salt and for these DAF-members, practically always lower ranked, white was sufficient. The SK was different from the regular OT!

Angolia mentions the cogwheel and OT letters to be silver-grey. Page 203 shows a guy from the SK wearing such a cuffband (lower left arm), along seperately with the swastika brassard (upper left arm).

[mrec27777]

i believe we need a period photo ...HELP!!!..EC

[papapanzer]

OT armband

WOW!I have this same identical armband,and have been curious as to what it
represented.I acquired it along with an HJ armband at a gun/militaria show in
Raleigh N.C. about 8 years ago. The HJ armband is a good one,but was not sure of the OT armband only because I have never seen another one . The construction,weight of material,smell [ old musty smell ],and uniqueness of the piece always made me feel it is original .I would appreciate any more info. on the armband.
My armband is still packed away from our move three years ago,but if i can locate it ,I will add pictires.
Thanks,
Peter