Unknown stick

[Robert Noss]

What is that stick ?

Could it be a stick for "Reservisten" - soldiers who have finished their time of duty and are about to leave the army ?

Note that he is not wearing any insignia !

Any ideas ?

Robert

[Tony]

Hello Robert,

That's what it looks like to me too.

Tony

[Daniel Murphy]

That is exactly what it is. The shaft of these was normally made of paper disks cut from post cards and letters the soldier received during his two (or three ) years of service . Yup thats what they did. Since he is wearing a Bluse, this man most likely served before the war and got it then and was called up from the reserves in 1914. This cane is not something that would be carried in the field, so I would say that with the lack of insignia he has been discharged in 1918-19 and is back home. Odd that there is no rank or decorations though, but it is possible.

Dan Murphy

[Guest Rick Research]

What is oddest is that he IS carrying such a fancy-schmancy souvenir item...

because he is a Red...

or a sympathizer, anyway--

note the Imperial (but not state) cockade has been removed from his cap, "squashed" in classic 1919 period form, and his shoulder straps are gone:

Classic "Soldatenrat" period wear for those with Left inclinations. Political fashion.

Boy soldiers, 1919--

Disloyal

[attachmentid=24730]

Loyal

[attachmentid=24731]

[Les]

What is oddest is that he IS carrying such a fancy-schmancy souvenir item...

because he is a Red...

or a sympathizer, anyway--

note the Imperial (but not state) cockade has been removed from his cap, "squashed" in classic 1919 period form, and his shoulder straps are gone:

Classic "Soldatenrat" period wear for those with Left inclinations. Political fashion.

Rick,

For a very brief period of time, Bavaria was a "Red" state with Eisner as head of state. The cockade the fellow is wearing in the photo above is Bavarian, and the lack of a -national- cockade is within the then prevailing political climate of Bavaria, which did not particularly consider itself bound by past conventions with the rest of Germany.

The "boy soldier' might not have been making a political statement so much as Bavaria was a socialist state for a brief moment before the likes of von Epp's reactionary forces booted Eisner's solcialist/communist republic out of power during the summer of 1919. Eisner who took control of the Bavarian government following the Wittelsbach abdication in early Novermber 1918, was voted out of office (although not his followers and fellow travelers who were litterally shot out of office) in January 1919, and assassinated while he was about to hand in his resignation as head of state when the results of the election were announced.

Les

Edited January 27, 2006 by Les

[Ralph A]

Funny, what one notices about a photograph...