Grenzschutzgruppe 9 der Bundespolizei ( GSG 9 )

[Mark K]

I had been holding off on adding one of these helms to my collection forever in hopes that I could find just the right example showing a bit of wear and patina and finally had to break down and settle for this minty example to add to my shelf it will make a great shelf filler till the right one comes my way...The Grenzschutzgruppe 9 der Bundespolizei ( GSG 9 ) are a counter terrorism,hostage rescue and special operations police unit of the German Federal Police... There counterpart at the state level are the special deployment commandos...They were formed on April 17,1973 Helmet Steel Model GSG 9 and were specifically designed for use by this particular unit ( ref.; SW/GSG 9/8415-037 )

Regards Mark

[humble collector]

Reminiscent of a WW2 version 🤔

[Mark K]

Yes there is no denying were the design of the shell found its origins there was as well a post war variation of the war time Fallschirmjäger helmet that was trialled by West Germany, between 1955-1961 Bundeswehr Fallschirmjäger Versuchshelm

Regards Mark

[Mark K]

Just a bit of an update on this old thread as some new information has come to light in regards to the GSG9 helmet system through a private helmet collectors forum I am a member of and as this particular example is not painted for the lack of a better term in the standard moose green that we are accustomed to seeing used by the BGS I needed to do some more research and it has taken some time and doing.
With that said I do think I have found some answers in regards to these off colour GSG9 helmets that do show up on occasion and it gives me a bit of a chance to show off some new helmet accessories as well...
I was extremely fortunate to acquire a set of anti-gas goggles such as seen in use by the BGS in this period image from Bonn Germany in 1979..

And James was kind enough to send me a selection of camo covers which are near impossible to source hear in North America included in this was a Sturm private purchase 2nd pattern BGS Sumpfmuster cover for my GSG9 ..

( VDN ) Schwerte (Vereinigt Deutsch Nickel, Schwerdt) put out a detailed information packet in the 1970's explaining some of the helmets characteristics and options...


The German BGS and Polizei helmets at first were painted in a blue-green, usually smooth finish, later sometimes in a sanded finish.
This changed to a lively darker green paint during the 60s, the German Polizei ,BGS, SEK and MEK as well changed the colour that was used on there helmets during this time period...
This does not mean, though, that no other colours and or shades of green was used the Federal Republic of Germany consisted of 11 states, after 1990 and these are responsible for their police(s) and their equipment different shades of green and, for instance in Berlin, grey helmets were and are used..
Please note: olive green was kind of reserved for Bundeswehr use, German Polizei did not use olive green. But there are exceptions: if a Federal State Police force needed special helmets, they sometimes ordered them from producers "as is", which means that they came in a finish that the contractor just had ready.
Towards the end of the steel helmet era helmets for Polizei use could well have been olive green, because contractors like Schuberth or Römer used this shade - And a fellow collector in Germany has a Bavarian used SEK helmet in the olive green shade.
Now this is were it gets interesting a different collector out of Germany that chimed into the conversation had no less than nine GSG9 example's in his private collection in differing conditions and at least five of these were painted in colours that we would not associate with the BGS...two of which were painted in a sand coloured light tan paint... The example that was slightly more yellow had been marked on the inside It read: 2500 helmets were made in December 1979 for a parachute producing Company with this information we can only speculate they were intended to be sold private/purchase the chinstrap in this example was made from black leather like the chinstrap in German fire service helmets with a black chin-cup.......
The second helmet in light sand colour has the olive green leather chinstrap that we associate with the GSG9 helmet system... In 1984 Schuberth exported 3000 helmets to Abu Dhabi the chinstrap in these helmets had only the single prong fastener.
He as well had another GSG9 style helmet with single prong fastener and the survival buckle and lastly another example produced by Schuberth that has a factory installed chinstrap equal to the Bundeswehr airborne helmet so called Luftlandetruppen....
So one must draw the conclusion that with out period colour images to support whom may have used these off coloured helmets and or provenance there really is know way to be a 100% positive whom used them or were they may have seen service such as MEK, SEK, or one of the regional federal state police forces as they were not only sold privately and made to order they were as well exported abroad I think the only thing we can really conclude is that these off colour helmets were not used by the BGS in any official capacity...






Kind Regards Mark Kozowy