Who are they ? Some strange uniforms. Help

[Robert Noss]

Yep, another fleamarket find from today.

Couple of photos from the Weimar period.

Of course they look like german justice officials of some kind, but have a look.....

Not really a problem so far

...................

[Robert Noss]

....

now the first strange encounter:

Yes, the man in the middle:

Looks a bit austrian, BUT ......

[Robert Noss]

BUT ...

there are many more photos with these uniforms, and I don't believe they are austrian.

The Mercedes-Benz bus has a german license plate

........more......

[Robert Noss]

another one with machine-guns (not really typical for justice ? )

Some big ????

...........more

[Robert Noss]

back to the dark uniforms...

What armbadge is he wearing ??

..........

[Robert Noss]

Detail of the last one

They had handgrenade training as well

..........

[Robert Noss]

and they had a course for self-defense

and wore strange shirts...

well, not always

........

[Robert Noss]

Self-Defense even on skiers ?????

.......

[Robert Noss]

and to make things even more complicated ...

This photo was also in the lot

Another big ?

.....

[Robert Noss]

But when I compare the belt-buckles of the men in the last photo, they seem to wear the same buckles as the men with the austrian style cap.

Except ONE is wearing a Jungvolk buckle !!!!! Very strange !!!!

And the last photo was made in N?rtingen, which is W?rttemberg

Now - what are they ???

German license plate, german sport badges, german photographer - makes me believe they are german, hmm. ?

Any help is highly appreciated, as always.

Robert

Edited May 13, 2007 by Robert Noss

[Glenn J]

Robert,

not sure about the last couple of photos but the others show members of the W?rttemberg "Bereitschaftpolizei" from the twenties and early thirties. They had two distinct uniforms - the dark green service dress and a fieldgrey exercise and daily dress uniform with ski-cap.

Regards

Glenn

[Robert Noss]

Thank You, Glenn.

I didn't know that the W?rttemberger Bereitschaftspolizei had Ski-Caps in the 20ties. Interesting. Also the shoulder-boards and rank collar insignia is quite different.

Robert

[Glenn J]

Robert,

this photograph appeared in an article on the W?rttemberg Polizei in the March/April 1985 edition of the Zeitschrift f?r Heerekunde.

Regards

Glenn

[Guest Rick Research]

The only thing I could find out about those metal sleeve insignia is, from Ingo L?hken's "Polizei Uniformen der S?ddeutschen Staaten 1872-1932," that Stammpersonal of the POLICE SCHOOL wore this, from 30 March 1930:

4x6 cm oval nickel metal shield with initials "PS."

The "pajamas" are martial arts outfits. back then, it was probably ju-jitsu rather than karate being taught.

NOW, the guys in the RUSSIAN style "gimnastyorka" smocks in 9 and 10 must be some version of the German Communist Party... the "opposition."