Pair of Luftschutz Gas Masks in Boxes

[Avitas]

Hello everyone,

I just finished taking some pics of my recently acquired pair of Luftschutz gas masks that belonged to a pair of brothers. One was named Wilhelm (Willi) Moller and his brother's is really hard to read, but maybe we can decipher it later on when I show the pic of his signature. On the front of the boxes they are both marked with large "VM" and then Willi's is marked for size "K" which I assume stands for kleine, or small, and the other is marked "M" I assume for medium, as it is larger than the one marked "K". I guess it will be easier to explain the details as I show the pics, so here it goes. First up is a pic of the complete set in their boxes.

Cheers,

Pat

[Avitas]

I will start in detail on the first mask, the one marked "K" and belonging to Willi Moller, the smaller and more used of the two. Here are the markings, kind of hard to see so I will transcribe it here:

RL1-39/86 (which I believe is the maker mark)

Vertrieb gemas & 8 (contains german symbols that I do not have on my keyboard)

Lufstschutzgesetz genehmigt

Any translation of these markings and any explanation on their meaning is very helpful.

Pat

[Avitas]

Here is a shot of the set of Willi Mollers gas mask. I would assume these brothers were in the Luftschutz, but possibly HJ as their signatures look a little juvenile (as you will see later). Any help on this question would be great. This one is in a slightly used condition with some of the markings rubbed almost completely off, but many remain. The second pic shows one of the stamps which has the Nazi eagle and "W?/A 750" or something like that written beside it. It is located on the inside along the edge. There are also markings of "A-W-D 14" and "15" in the inside and another Nazi eagle on the front side in an orange colour with the letters "WaA104" beside the eagle. If anyone can decipher or explain these markings please do.

Cheers,

Pat

[Avitas]

Next is a pic of the the front of the mask, and a pic with the respirator attached. Notice the matching RL1 39/86 marking on the front of the gas mask.

Edited November 12, 2006 by Avitas

[Avitas]

Next we have a pic of the respirator, with many visible markings. The goggles are marked 1941 on the glass so I assume that is when this was made, but maybe some of these markings can tell us exactly if anyone knows how to decipher them. Also we have a pic of Willi Moller's signature along the edge of the respirator, adds some stark reality to the item and I wonder if this gentleman and his yet unnamed brother can be researched? Their is a faint signature of "Wilhelm Moller" on the top left corner of the top of the box as well.

Cheers and thanks for any help on any of the above posts with deciphering the stamps and markings or any other info that you can add. I will return in a few minutes to post the rest of the set with the other gas mask.

Pat

[Avitas]

Alright, so here we go with the pics of the second ww2 Luftschutz Gas Masks, this one to "?RJ Semor" or something close to that. Here is a pic of the hand-scribbled name on the respirator of this mask to see if anyone else can figure out exactly what the second Moller brother name was. Here is a pic of the box as well.

Pat

[Avitas]

Here is a shot of the complete set, in its box of "RJ"?, "RO", (we'll just call him RJ until someone can decipher the name) Moller's. As you can see, it is slightly larger than the first gas mask shown. The pic of the inside is also for further reference, and the goggles are marked "byd1941 nennseite(?) Gussn.7/166 01" on the inside of the lens. Again, if any expert out there can let me know what all of these markings mean, it would be a great help.

Cheers and thanks for any help,

Pat

[Avitas]

...another pic of the inside of the goggles with the above-mentioned 1941 markings.

[Avitas]

View of front of gas mask and with the respirator attached. The maker of this mask is RL1-39/87, which is slightly different than his brother's earlier depicted mask, perhaps do to the size difference?

Pat

[Avitas]

Next up we have a close-up of the front markings on the box, under the "VM", and "M". It is almost identical to what Willi's says, but a different first number. Here is the transcrpition the best I can:

RL1-39/87 (also maker mark?)

Vertrieb gemas & 8 (contains german symbols that I do not have on my keyboard, again)

Lufstschutzgesetz genehmigt

The writing is much clearer on this pic, so it should be easier to see what German symbols I am talking about and hopefully translate the text.

Also here we have the respirator of the second Moller brother, "RJ", with all of its plainly visible markings and Eagle stamp. Please lend your expertise if you can put some meaning to all of the numbers, I am at a loss

Thanks for looking and for any help!

Pat

[Avitas]

...respirator..

[Avitas]

And lastly for this set of 2 Luftschutz Gas Masks from Willi and "RRJSemor?" Moller, we have a few markings on the 2nd gas mask to figure out. On the side of the front is a fairly prominent orange Wehrmacht eagle with the letters "WaA533" written beneath it (shown in pic below) and on the opposite side a large orange "G". I believe this is the official army stamp and what depot it is from, but any clarification is great. Also, in the very blurry pic, is the best shot I could get of the tiny black Nazi eagle and the numbers and letters "1007Z0" "W" and "M21R" all close to the eagle. There are a few more faded numbers around but hopefully those ones can shed some light.

Well thanks for having a look at these neat masks and if you can help out with any of the questions or maker marks it would be greatly appreciated as I would like to find out all I can on them, and the two brothers who owned them. I know I have typed quite a few cryptic codes here, but I am confident somone knows what they all mean. Again, I think they are Luftschutz, but please correct me if I am wrong and any extra info on these Gas masks is a great help as well.

Cheers

Pat

[Kev in Deva]

Pat

I think these are standard civil issue masks, and because the word Luftschutze is on the box, dosent mean the boys were actually in that organisation.

As such, the issue to German civilians of these items, would come under the Luftschutze organisation.

Much like the Civil Defence issue of Gas masks to civilians in the UK. etc..etc..

Kevin in Deva.

[joetauchretter]

Pat

I think these are standard civil issue masks, and because the word Luftschutze is on the box, dosent mean the boys were actually in that organisation.

As such, the issue to German civilians of these items, would come under the Luftschutze organisation.

Much like the Civil Defence issue of Gas masks to civilians in the UK. etc..etc..

Kevin in Deva.

Hello Pat,

This is a civilian gas mask worn by the German population during WWII . There were 2 types of this mask , the VM 37 and the VM 40 ( you have the VM 40 style ) . VM stands for Volks Gasmaske or the peoples gas mask . The VM 37 mask was introduced in 1937 and was a full hood type of mask and was made from natural rubber and starting in @1940 to save on rubber the VM 40 was introduced which just covered the face and was made from a synthetic rubber called BUNA ( you can see and feel the different texture to the BUNA from the smooth feel of the natural rubber ).

This mask came in 4 different sizes :

K = KINDER or child size

F = FRAUEN or wowen's size

M = M?nner or men's size

M-Ue = Men's extra large size .

The RL1 number is what is known as a KENN number :

RL1-39/86 stands for : VM 40 gas mask , packed in a carboard carton and made by AUERGESELLSCHAFT AG in Oranienburg .

RL1-39/87 stands for : VM 40 gas mask , packed in a cardboard carton and made by DR?GERWERK , L?BECK

The WaA stands for WaffenAmpt or arms dept , they inspected all weapons and other items such as these gas masks . the numbers 104 , 530 533 and 750 ink stamped on the item means what place inspected that particular item .

104 stands for Dr?ger

533 also stands for Dr?ger

320 stands for AUER

You may see maker codes like BYD and BWZ

BWZ stands for AUER

BYD stands for Dr?ger

The VERTRIEB GEMAS LUFTSCHUTZGESETZ GENEHMIGT stamp just means that this item conforms to the civil air protection resale code. This does not mean who owned this gas mask belonged to to the Luftschutz !

Unlike in England where gas masks were given to the population for free the German people had to pay for their gasmasks and all other luftschutz products ! Civil air protection was a very big industry in Germany and people took it very seriously , you could by black out cutains and lamps and gas protection suits and even heavy doors ans air filter systems to make a gas proof shelter ! You could by various books and magazines dedicated to the Luftschutz for as low as .50 pf to several RM . People had to buy their own gas masks and this was done on a sliding scale depending on your family income , I own several original receipts for VM gasmasks and the price varied between 1.50 RM to 5.50 RM .

I just started my own web site to to the Luftschutz gasmask , gas jacket and gas bed please check out

http://luftschutzmanner.tripod.com/

My web site is not yet complete as I still need to add a lot of text and more pictures , but I think my site may be of some help to you .

Joe

[Avitas]

Thanks for the help Joe and Kevin

I also checked out Joe's site and it answered my other questions as well, very informative site! I will definitely keep checking back to your site for reference I didn't realize German Air Defense was a boom business for profit either. These masks sure have a lot of markings, I guess there was a strict testing procedure. The dealer I got them from (the chap in Vernon) didn't want to break the Moller brothers set up and sell them individually (he works in the museum as well, a very commendable fellow who respects his history), so it was clear to both of us that I needed both of them. I guess my view that they were boys aged 7-12 is probably pretty accurate then. Can anybody figure out what the second Moller boy's name is?

Thanks again and all comments are very welcome,

Pat