Help please - shoulder board ID

[StuG III]

I take it that this is a post war item, but can someone please tell me who would have used it? Police?
Thank you.
Tom

[martinsuper]

Post war East German DDR police. I'm not sure exactly which branch, sometimes they used the same colors from WW2, sometimes not.

[StuG III]

Thank you.
Tom

[debbi082009]

Sorry guys, but this is definitely not East German DDR (not police, not military, not Stasi). According to the picture the background colour is something like lightbrown or khaki. This colour does not exist for DDR shoulder boards.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, these are DDR Firemans. Rank of Oberlösch-meister.

Please see here:

Dienstgradabzeichen der Berufsfeuerwehren der ehem. DDR

Cheers, Ade.

[StuG III]

Thanks Ade !
Tom

[debbi082009]

Dear Adrian. The problem are NOT the stars or the stripes. The problem is the colour. If you look at the fireman-pages their colour is darkred!!! But the picture here is sand or khaki !! So NO fireman.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Peter, I think the whole strap is just heavily faded.

Cheers, Ade.

[HPL2008]

I agree with Ade that it is East-German and heavily faded and discolored. I don't think it is necessarily a Fire Brigade shoulder board, though. The same configuration (= two "V"-flecked outer cords and one solid-color inner cord plus three rank pips, all on a solid-color underlay) was also used by other services. Please see here:

Overige

The Obermeister ranks of the regular as well as the para-military "barracked" units of the Volkspolizei (= People's Police), the Transportpolizei (= Transportation Police) and the Strafvollzug (= Prison Service) as well as the Oberlöschmeister rank of the Feuerwehr (= Firefighting Service) all wore this configuration, the difference being the colors used. Personally, I think Strafvollzug seems rather likely.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Thanks for the exra info. Got to be DDR. My knowledge on this subject is pretty limited.

Tom, could you pull back the edges to see what colour the piping actually is? Most interest is peaked!

Cheers, Ade.