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De-nazified caps

Article about: Hi chaps and chapesses, the other day I watched a film called The Captive Heart with Michael Redgrave as a Czech POW, who assumes the identity of a British Officer to avoid the Gestapo, a gr

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    Default De-nazified caps

    Hi chaps and chapesses, the other day I watched a film called The Captive Heart with Michael Redgrave as a Czech POW, who assumes the identity of a British Officer to avoid the Gestapo, a great film made in 1946 in the British Sector of BAOR, it was interesting to see a lot of genuine helmets, uniforms and caps,but in one particular scene a Luftwaffe officer was questioning POWs for repatriation, he was wearing a very nice cap, but I noticed that the Adler was De-nazified minus the swastika, it struck me that this practice was either done for the film as it was a close up or had been done by the owner post war , it seems as this practise could have a double explanation, how many of these caps were displayed this way in very early post war war films where original items were used or done prior to the film companies obtaining them?????,any comments?

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    If you look at West German war films of the epoch 1947 until the early 1960s, these contain real material in variety and depth. Denazification was the policy of the epoch, and the removal of the Hoheistzeichen was the norm and not just an artifact of the film. There are wonderful films of this era, and they grow more impressive with time, especially when counterpoised to the schmaltzy and sometimes downright odd historical films of the recent past.

    Here is one my favorites from 1947, the story of persons in the III. Reich as told by an automobile (!?) that was the common property of such persons.

    1947 In jenen Tagen - YouTube

    The Yellow Rolls Royce was a send up of the same idea, but this film is better....much better.

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    I found many NS items in West Germany in the early 1970s either in theater house costume sales or militaria sales, and they were generally denazified, that is missing the cap eagle or the breast eagle. Such was the norm.
    Hence, my sense of wonder among the younger set especially in my native U.S. who assumes that this regalia must and can only endure in the same state in which it was produced in 1938 or 1941 or else it is akin to ebola.
    Anyone with experience of the FRG in this time can well recall that anything with the Hakenkreuz was the Pest.
    Last edited by Friedrich-Berthold; 12-10-2013 at 07:02 PM.

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    How many SS families have I known in Germany who destroyed the family regalia in 1945 in an effort to avoid arrest and disgrace in the occupation.
    One friend of mine as a girl burned the white SS officer's cap of her father, who was in the SS Reiterei as a doctor.....
    Young people alive today would explode in fright at the sight of such things, but this stuff was considered junk until quite recently.

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    My own father who was with the 94th in the Saar land mainly talked about all that "German Junk" they disposed of Helmets, K98's, bayonets MP40, 42 they would put on a road and have the tanks run over them. He said most hats and uniforms they poured diesel fuel on in the street and set fire to to "Warm UP" collectors today have no idea or a lot of them don't this stuff was not cherished by the GI's or even the German population both during the war and after as FB mentions. One movie that comes to mind is the film "A time to live and a time to Die" I watched it in the early 60's when it came out and still love to see it today there is a lot of original items in that movie. timothy

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    I know of a few German families that either buried or threw away anything military-related they could find in their house, such was the stigma attached to German Militaria at the time...My German grandfather simply gave his EKI away...not to mention that the entire subject of WWII was considered tabu in many German households as well...
    cheers, Glenn

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    Thanks for all the comments gents, its strange that had there been collectors with some foresight immediately after the war ,especially amongst GIs and Allied troops, rather than just souvenir and trophy hunters there would be an extraordinary amount of genuine articles in the market today

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    Quote by bigmacglenn1966 View Post
    I know of a few German families that either buried or threw away anything military-related they could find in their house, such was the stigma attached to German Militaria at the time...My German grandfather simply gave his EKI away...not to mention that the entire subject of WWII was considered tabu in many German households as well...
    cheers, Glenn
    We used to stay in an apartment near Tempelhof airport which was top floor of a family house, the owner told me that when they moved there in the mid 80s the garden was neglected, while digging out some bushes he found rotted German uniforms, medals and caps etc, much to my dismay he told me he threw it all in the garbage!...

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    A German woman I know told me that her mother buried all their uniforms and NS-related stuff in the garden, and that the cabbages were especially large the following year, lol...
    cheers, Glenn

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    Quote by bigmacglenn1966 View Post
    A German woman I know told me that her mother buried all their uniforms and NS-related stuff in the garden, and that the cabbages were especially large the following year, lol...
    cheers, Glenn
    Good fertiliser eh Glenn!....

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