German Police, Judicial Branch, Prison Guard Tunic from Hannover

[martinsuper]

I picked up this tunic at a show this last weekend. Being a police collector I knew what it was. What I don't know is that I'm going to do with it! Part of me wants to hang on to it. Part of me wonders if someone is missing a Prison Tunic! Take a look at the pics. There is some light mothing on the sleeve, on the front bottom lip, and on the back. But still, you really don't see these tunics. The quality is also very high.

[klinger]

sorry man for saying this but to me it looks like a modet east german tunic and no wwii time, i may be wron but this is my oppinion, as the maker label and how its done looks odd to me and the rest like east german, hope im wrong for you

[martinsuper]

sorry man for saying this but to me it looks like a modet east german tunic and no wwii time, i may be wron but this is my oppinion, as the maker label and how its done looks odd to me and the rest like east german, hope im wrong for you

Maybe I need to apologize if my pictures are bad. But this is most definitely correct. Furthermore, I have owned several East German tunics as I cut them up for material background in my police displays. It is not East German.

I uploaded the little illustration to show what the tunic looked like with a full uniform. People are often mistaken on these tunics because they look more like the pre-war tunic designs.

I would gladly invite Ade or one of the other experts to weigh in on it.

-Martin

[SteveR]

Looks just like the illustration to me.
SteveR

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Martin, you are correct, it is a prison officers tunic. A fairly rare beast. I agree, super pre war quality.

Cheers, Ade.

[Horst]

Martin - nice Period officials tunic and as Ade states not often seen. Have had a few of these in the past but found that there are not alot of collectors into these, possibly because the uniforms are somewhat bland or that not much is known about them.Great find -
Horst

[HPL2008]

Allow me to remark that this is actually not a uniform for a correctional officer of the Strafvollzugsdienst (prison service), but for an official of the Justizwachtmeisterdienst, i.e. a court security officer or bailiff (in the U.S. sense of the term) ranked Justizwachtmeister.

Insignia are of the 1942 pattern. At this time, correctional officers had light-green collar patches, while court security officers wore collar patches reflecting the color of the robes worn by the judges of their respective court, in this case the black worn on the regional or state level courts (Amtsgericht/Landgericht/Oberlandesgericht).
Officials serving with the Reichsgericht had dark-red collar patches and those with the Volksgerichtshof light-red ones.

Please see here for a very useful insignia table:
Strafanstaltsbeamte und Justizwachtmeister

[martinsuper]

Well I'm glad everyone likes it and it started some discussion. I am still unsure as to what my plans are for it, but at the time I figured I could always Ebay it because there are no "restricted symbols".

-Martin

[stonemint]

I agree, original TR Justice Official's tunic. Underappreciated branch of service. One of the few TR tunics that did not display the Swastika. The visors are equally hard to find.