Austria-Hungary OSTA patch and badge

[allbull]

Hello all,

I was told these are a type of Austrian gymnastics association insignia. I have one cloth and three different metal pieces. I cannot find any information on them though. These are supposedly from a WWII veteran. Any help on ID, dates, etc would be great! And would these be considered more military or civilian? THANKS!

[speedytop]

Hi allbull,

please see here:

http://www.oesta.at/OESTA/oesta_abzeichen.html

Uwe

[Gordon Craig]

allbull,

I was just browsing through old threads looking for info on a different topic when I spotted this one. When I clicked on the link I noticed that it was broken. Did you try it earlier and did it answer your questions?

As far as th OSTA badges go, the Sports badges could be worn on Austrian uniforms. OSTA is still operating and their metal badges can still be worn on military uniforms. The one you posted a picture of with a large J ontop of the OSTA would not likely be worn on a military uniform. The J stands for Jugend. These badges came in Bronze, silver and gold and each class was awarded to a different age group. The bronze being for the youngest and the gold for the oldest. The same thing went for the adult badges. You could be awarded each grade more than once and the badges can be found with the numerals 5, 10 and 15 on the bottom. Cloth OST badges could be worn on military sports clothing. There were miniature metal badges for wear on civilian clothing.

Regards,

Gordon

[speedytop]

Let us try it again

There are some new regulations.

http://www.oesta.at/de/menu_main/oesta/das-abzeichen

http://www.oesta.at/de/

Uwe

[Gordon Craig]

allbull,

In going over your first post again, I'd like to make some additonal comments. First of all, OSTA badges would have been worn on Austrian military tunics but probably only up until the Anschluss in 1938. After that the Third Reich Sports Badges would have been worn as Austria was then a province of Germany and no longer a separate country.

I've been in contact with an advanced Austrian collector who lives just outside Vienna about OSTA badges worn during the First Republic (1920 to 1933) and in the Austrian Federal Republic (1933-1938) He beleives that the practice of wearing OSTA badges on military tunics only started about 1934 and that there were fewer badges than exist today. I would say from looking at the pictures that you posted, none of these badges would have been worn by a Wehrmacht veteran. Especially on a Wehrmacht uniform.

Regards,

Gordon

[allbull]

Hello,

Thank you for all your knowledge!! Attached are a few more items I have acquired. These all appear to be old and everything came from WWII dealer and personal friend of ours. Am I right in assuming that these are all post 1938 then? Thank you so much once again!!

[ÖSTA]

Thread resurrection - I recently came across this photograph showing a Wehrmacht  Officer wearing an ÖSTA Abzeichen. The photo doesn't appear to be re-touched.

Edited March 27, 2020 by ÖSTA

[Gordon Craig]

ÖSTA,

Very interesting photo.  Learn something new every day!  Thanks very much for posting the picture.

Regards,

Gordon

[norwest78]

Here's a LW colonel wearing one.

[speedytop]

Here is an example of the conversion of an ÖSTA sport badge to an DRL sport badge.

The first page, his personal data, one of the conditions to be fulfilled, the destroyed ÖSTA document (1935) and last the DRL document glued into the booklet (1940).

Uwe