Reservistentuecher - Reservist Scarfs - Show Yours!

[torstenbel]

btw, these types of scarfs were not just given out by the army...they were also given to participants at pretty much everyone of the larger Jungpioniere and FDJ meetings...I got them at several National FDJ Festivals...I think these are quite a nice niche to get into in terms of DDR collecting...below is an example from the FDJ festival for the Bezirk Dresden in Zittau in 1981. Cheers, Torsten.

[torstenbel]

ok. this not a reservist scarf, but rather than start a new thread, I thought that I might as well include it here .... this is a commemorative cloth to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of WW2. It was specifically issued by the Wachkommando Missionsschutz Berlin and I suspect that it was meant to be given to visitors and friends, etc. during meetings and parties to mark the occassion. Cheers, Torsten.

[Mike G.]

Torsten,

Can you elaborate more on the tradition of the "Service" scarfs, particularly the military versions? I am wondering how this practice came to be in the NVA? Do you know where, when and how the tradition and practice of doing this came to be?

Is this something that was practiced for example, also by the armies of other Cold War era Eastern Bloc countries?
Or was this a cary-over from Germanic military tradition from the Prussian Army?

I find this practice of awarding a departing soldier a unique military scarf to be signed by all the members of his unit fascinating. But I've always wondered at the source of the tradition?

[torstenbel]

Originally Posted by Michael D. Gallagher

Torsten,

Can you elaborate more on the tradition of the "Service" scarfs, particularly the military versions? I am wondering how this practice came to be in the NVA? Do you know where, when and how the tradition and practice of doing this came to be?

Is this something that was practiced for example, also by the armies of other Cold War era Eastern Bloc countries?
Or was this a cary-over from Germanic military tradition from the Prussian Army?

I find this practice of awarding a departing soldier a unique military scarf to be signed by all the members of his unit fascinating. But I've always wondered at the source of the tradition?

Michael, I am afraid that I do not know all of the answers to your questions and I can really on speculate at the answers for some of them, but here is what I understand or guess: there is a long tradition of German army conscripts being given souvenirs, keepsakes at the end of their army service, like the Reservistenkruege (Steins), pipes, water flasks, etc...that you may be aware of from Imperial and Reichswehr days. I am not aware of any scarfs or anything similar as being a tradition within the German army, although, I do know that some German tradesmen were given scarfs at the end of their apprenticeships. I do have a couple of examples of such scrafs given to carpenters in the 1920s and earlier...these are from my grand-dad, who was a carpenter and they are now with my brother in Germany, who is a carpenter ... . Cheers, Torsten.

[Mike G.]

Thanks Torsten,

The scarfs you mention that in years prior to the forming of the DDR were given to tradesman - were these signed by other tradesman when the person, such as your grandfather, who was a Carpenter retired? If so, perhaps that is where this tradition in the military of the DDR originated.

[torstenbel]

Originally Posted by Michael D. Gallagher

Thanks Torsten,

The scarfs you mention that in years prior to the forming of the DDR were given to tradesman - were these signed by other tradesman when the person, such as your grandfather, who was a Carpenter retired? If so, perhaps that is where this tradition in the military of the DDR originated.

the tradesmen scarfs that my brother has have not been signed, but I could well imagine that this was also done. After certain types of tradesmen finished their apprenticeships in Germany they then would have gone travelling throughout the land for some years to serve with different master tradesmen and to perfect their skills and learn new ones and I could imagine that maybe they had their scarfs signed by other guys that they met along the way?? .... I am only guessing at this. Cheers, Torsten.

[Mike G.]

Thanks Torsten,

It pretty much appears that this awarding of a scarf that is then signed by members of the soldier's unit upon his leaving, as a keepsake token of his service is more or less unique to the DDR. I find that very interesting.

[torstenbel]

looks like that to me

[torstenbel]

not an army related scarf, but again something along the same lines. this scarf was given to a member of the Magdeburg delegation to the FDJ national youth festival in Berlin in 1984. It has signatures and addresses of other delegates on it. I was at the 1984 youth festival as a delegate from Magdeburg, but I do not recall having been given this special Magdeburg scarf...the one I had was the general, national scarf for the youth festival and I think that it is still in my parent's house somewhere...anyhow, that week in berlin was the best time of my life until then...these festivals really were brilliant... Cheers, Torsten.

[torstenbel]

Originally Posted by torstenbel

not an army related scarf, but again something along the same lines. this scarf was given to member of the Magdeburg delegation to the FDJ national youth festival in Berlin in 1984. It has signatures and addresses of other delegates on it. I was at the 1984 youth festival as a delegate from Magdeburg, but I do not recall having been given this special Magdeburg scarf...the one I had was the general, national scarf for the youth festival and I think that it is still in my parent's somewhere...anyhow, that week in berlin was the best time of my life until then...these festivals really were brilliant... Cheers, Torsten.

a close up

[Ralph P]

Torsten - It appears the scarf in post 24 is large. What size is the scarf? Thanks.

[torstenbel]

Originally Posted by Ralph Pickard

Torsten - It appears the scarf in post 24 is large. What size is the scarf? Thanks.

Hi Ralph, it's about 28" square, which makes it slightly bigger than the army eservist scarves. Cheers, Torsten.

[Ralph P]

Torsten - Thanks much...

[torstenbel]

btw, this is a pic of one of the Reservistentuecher being worn...

[Ralph P]

Hello Torsten - Thanks for the post. Which book did the picture come from?

Thanks...