Photos from Protektorat

[arez]

Hello, this is a photo which my grandfather gave me when I was a child, which was taken in a city where I come from - Zlin, Czech Republic, of course occupied by Germans during WW2.



Is anyone able to identify the unit, uniforms, anything?

Thanks.

A.

[HPL2008]

They are members of the Sturmabteilung (SA).

[CARL]

Nice image. Zlin, in the south eastern corner of Moravia, is known as the Bat'a town, due to its development on the back of wealth gained from the success of the famous shoe company. It also used to have the largest cinema in the world, and obviously due to its location, fell under German control during the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia.

Regards,

Carl


p.s. Thanks for sharing this image Arez, it is a fine photograph.

[arez]

Thanks.

I thought that they might be SA, however it made no sense to me why would SA be in Zlin.

If I remember it correctly (it has been 16 years since he died and I was just 11 at that time), grandfather told me that the numbers below some of the guys were used as identification of war criminals, however who knows whether that's true.

[Woolgar]

Nice picture Did your Grandfather take it ?

Nick

[arez]

Thanks, I have always been mesmerized by this picture for some reason.

No, I don't think so, he was just a small boy during WW2 (born 1933). He just obtained this photo somewhere.

I also have some photos of him and "his" tank when he was serving as a conscript in the communist army during the fifties - he served as a panzerman and they used Cromwells from WW2 which were given to us by the British. He also took a british machette from one of the tanks, which I still have. I will post these photos during the weekend in the appropriate thread.