DDR East German Forestry Service Uniforms

[Gordon Craig]

Gents,

My comment above about a uniform "escaping" me was not quite correct. It had only escaped as far as the storage room in my garage. I have baought a pair of the light weight pansta couple of years ago but didn't see the tunic until I was in a friends store in Berlin last fall. I bought the uniform but when I got it to Budapest my wife banished it to the garage due to the lovely smell of old mouldy basment that came with it. I hung it up downstairs and haven't looked at it since! Now lets have a look at this uniform.

It is quite a departure from those uniforms worn in earlier times. I say that because of a lable in the pants I have which dates their manufacture as in the first quarter of 1989. There are no breast pockets only two pockets on the skirt. The buttons are of plastic and are hidden. There are two inner breast pockets and a larger pocket on the interior skirt on the left side. The collars are green wool as in earlier DDR Forestry Service uniforms. There does not appear to be any way to attach any rank symbols to the tunic and that baffles me. My contacts in Germany don't view this as a change in uniform style but I do. They are also at a loss to explain the lack of shouderboard attachments. I'll be in Berlin at the end of May and will be meeting ith at least one DDR Forestry collector. Perhaps we can come up with some sort of explanation about this uniform.

[Gordon Craig]

Now on to the hats I promised. The early hats I will post will remind one and all of the Third Reich caps and that is because they are the same. Even made by the same firms in some instances. The first one up is an M43 style cap made by Emhage. The cap has a dark green trim around the crown that doesn't show up very well against the colour of the cap and because of age. Note the early cockade. The two buttons on the front are made of plastic and uncovered. The reason for this comment will become apparent later on. I'll post a front, side and interior view.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

A side view.

[Gordon Craig]

Now a shot of the Emhage sweat shield.

[Gordon Craig]

Next comes the "Hut". It also is exactly the same as the forestry caps worn during the Third Reich. As an aside, the West German Forestry Service wore the Hut also. Only the cap devices varied. Evne though this is an early cap it has the post 1970 cap badge.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

A side view of the Hut.

[Gordon Craig]

Next up is the makers lable. If you have problems reading the small lable it gives the size and the wording "Betrieb Gruben DDR". A well known cap maker in Germany.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

Also, the makers has impressed their logo into the leather sweat band.

[Gordon Craig]

Next up is the Women's Forestry hat. I am not sure if this cap was called a "Hut" as well. They are so rare I have no information on them. It s construction is totally different from the man's Hut. The man's Hut is formed from one piece of felt. The woman's cap is made by sewing together nine pieces of felt. The brush is also on the opposite side from the men. It has a hat band of the same material trimmed with the same material as the brim. The man's hut does not.

[Gordon Craig]

A side view of the woman's cap.

[Grant Broadhurst]

Those are really nice hats , never seen those before .

What about the forestry medals are they super rare as well ?

[Gordon Craig]

Grant,

I don't even know if there are any specific medals for the DDR Forestry Service. Since it was a state organization they probably quailfied for the civil service type of long service awards but it is a question that has never come up before. I'll have to look into it. Since you almost never see pictures of DDR Forestry personnel in uniform I have no reference to look at. I'll see what I can find out.

Regards,

Gordon

[Grant Broadhurst]

Hello Gordon ,

found this :

Verdienstmedaille der Forstwirtschaft der DDR (Medal for Merit in Forestry - 1984)

on this site :

http://www.medals.lava.pl/de/ddr.htm

They have a earthy brown colour ribbon with green stripes , i,ve never seen a picture of one though !

Edited March 20, 2007 by Grant Broadhurst

[Gordon Craig]

Grant,

Yes I have that site bookmarked. Thanks for reminding me of that medal. There are a few others as well. I hope that I will be able to find some time tomorrow to post pictures of them.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Grant,

It must be old age and my focus on uniforms that made me "momentarily" forget about the Forstwirtschaft medals. I was certainly aware of them in the past. The problem with the human brain is that, at least mine does, it stores things like a FIFO shift register IE first in first out. The more information I take in the more I forget!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Here pictures and names of three specific awards for the DDR Forest Service. The photos are all taken from Deutsche Orden und Ehrenzeichen by Nummergut/Feder/von der Heyde. They prices listed are termed "actual market prices" but all books say that and the prices are rarely realistically what you would pay for an award. My rule of thumb is for a medal in mint condition I would take 60% of the listed value as the max I would pay. Probably less unless it were cased and then I fly by the seat of my pants. The years listed unde the awards indicate the year of introduction. Here we go with the awards.

Edited March 21, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

Next award

[Gordon Craig]

Third and last award.

[Grant Broadhurst]

Thanks for showing those Gordon , so i can assume off the prices these are pretty scarce ?

I know exactly what you mean about memory , as the famous thinker Homer Simpson said " Everytime i learn something new it pushes old stuff out of my brain " !!

Thanks again for sharing your collection and knowledge here with us !!!

[Gordon Craig]

Grant,

Prices could indicate rarity but I don't know that for sure. I haven't actively hunted for these medals. At least not until now! Your comment has spiked my interest and I should have these medals to complete my collection of DDR Forestry items. There are a couple of variations as well that may be more difficult to get. I'll get some info from Berlin and let you know if they really are that expensive and rare.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Here is a picture of the last DDR Forestry Servcie uniform I posted that did not seem to have any method for attaching rank. I was told by collectors in Germany that loops were added to the shoulders and shoulderboards worn. Here is a picture of a tunic that has been treated as such.

[Gordon Craig]

Another "coat" that I have added to this part of my collection is one that does not show up in any DDR regulations. Two things speak to it being part of DDR Forestry Service clothing;

1-It was made by the VEB Special Clothing Factory in Leipzig. A factory, that as far as I know, did not produce civilian clothing;

2-A jacket identical to this was part of the estate of the former DDR Landforstmeister of Berlin when it was sold by a dealer friend in Berlin.

This type of jacket is refered to as a "Freiseitjacke".

Regards,

Gordon

Edited March 27, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

The label from the Freizeitjacke.

[Coinguy89]

Gordon Craig, these items are amazing. I love the color on the forestry service uniforms. By chance, do you have any color photos of the men wearing these uniforms?

[Gordon Craig]

coinguy89,

I don't think I have any colour photos of these uniforms in wear. At least not on this computer. Most of my photo archives are stored on my hard drive in Canada. I'll have a look and see what I can find.

Regards,

Gordon

[Phil L]

Gentlemen

What did the DDR Forestry Service actually do apart from looking after the forests?  Surely they must have had a secondary role to warrant such a paramilitary set of uniforms!  Were they perhaps also involved in border duties or searching the forests for those attempting to escape to the West?

Regards

Phil L