DDR An early DDR Postal Uniform

[Gordon Craig]

Gents,

Some postal items that I brought back with me this summer. I'll start with a woman's hat. The earliest DDR Post reference book I have is Dienstanweisung der Deutschen Post DA 9.22, Uniformordnung Uniform-Trageordnung, dated 1966. The women's hats in this book appear to be similar to that worn by the NVA of this time period but the uniform pictures shown are drawings and not actual photos of uniforms. Because of the Emhage makers label I beleive this hat probably dates from th leat 50s to the early 60s and there fore predates my Postal Regulations book. The hat is made of blue wool and the piping is orange which is correct for this period.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited September 5, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

A side view of the cap.

[Gordon Craig]

The interior showing the Emhage makers lable. The sweat band is made of leather. There is a small stiffener behind the embroidered horn on the front.

[Gordon Craig]

A tunic from the 1966 regulations. It is for a Hauptasistent in Ranggruppe 2. The stars are silver metal and the two side shapes are of embroidered silver thread.

[Gordon Craig]

A close-up of the collar tabs.

[Gordon Craig]

The buttons.

[Paul R]

You have been getting some very rare stuff lately! Postal is one area where I do not have any pieces! Great find there!

[TS Allen]

Fascinating!!!!

Where did the German postal service get the bugle from? It looks similar to the old US infantry bugle.

~TS

[Gordon Craig]

TS,

The "Post Horn" has been the symbol of the post in Europe for a long time. It probably dates back to the days when the mail arrived by coach and someone on the coach blew a horn to alert the people at the next stop that the coach was approaching. The use of the lightning bolts with the horn indicates that the post office, as was the case in a lot of European countries, also took care of the telegraph services. The items I posted were part of a larger group of DDR post items some of which I was not the successful bidder on plus one piece which was too haevy to bring back with me.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited September 6, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Here is another item I won from the same auction as the above pictured items. It is a heavy wool three quarter length coat. The collar rank is the same as for the previous tunic. It still has the tailors tag on the left sleeve. One of the interesting things about this coat is the hand warmer pockets on each side of the chest. The openings of these pockets are clearly visible in the photos.

Edited September 6, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

Here is an early M43 style cap with the post horn cap emblem and the orange piping. I did not win this item and the auction did not include a picture of the interior of the cap so unfortunately I do not know who the maker was.

[Gordon Craig]

This next jacket is a light weight one. Either for summer wear or for use only within the post office. I suspect it was for summer wear as men and women in the postal service had smocks to wear indoors. This is a good example of the higher rank groups with gold insignia. This coat belonged to an Insprktor from Ranggruppe 3. I didn't bid on this piece.

Edited September 6, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

This next tunic has collar tabs which only show a post horn. I have no reference for this particular collar tab.

[Gordon Craig]

Some further notes on the rank insignia of the DDR postal service. Up to, and including the 1966 dress regulations, rank insignia was not worn on the tunic sleeves. There was a separate service rank system (Dienstrangabzeichen) worn on the sleeves of shirts (?rmelabzeichen) as collar tabs were not worn.

Regards,

Gordon