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Collar patch terminology
I thought it would be a fun little project (and hopefully an informative one, too) to do a little thread on German collar patch terminology. Bear in mind, though, that this is just a very brief overview.
I decided to place this thread in the Wehrmacht uniforms sub-forum as it will probably reach the most readers here, but the specimens I used to illustrate the terms are from the Third Reich as well as the GDR and the FRG, and most of the terms universally apply to insignia worn from the Imperial era right to the present day. Moderators may of course feel free to move this thread elsewhere or link to it from other sub-forums.
Right, here we go. First, here are the most common general designs found on German military and police collar patches. One term that we will encounter repeatedly is Litze, which, depending on context, can mean braid, lace or even piping. I have left it mostly in the original German; where I translated it, I went for "braid".
The angular, widening elements on both ends of Litzen are known as Kapellen [chapels]; thus, Litzen with this feature are known as Kapellenlitzen [chapel braid]. A twin Litze is a doppelte Kapellenlitze [double chapel braid]; a single Litze is an einfache Kapellenlitze [single chapel braid].
(Photo: A collar patch and a sleeve patch of the GDR Volkspolizei [People's Police].)
The style of Litzen with "teeth" is called Kolbenstickerei [cob embroidery or spadix embroidery].
During the Third Reich era, collar patches with Kolbenstickerei were worn by general staff officers and military officials of the high-grade career and police officers serving with central command agencies; today, they are still worn by general staff officers of the Bundeswehr.
(Photo: A collar patch for a Bundeswehr general staff officer.)
A Litze without Kapellen and one pointed end is known as an altpreußische Litze [Old Prussian braid].
During the Third Reich era, such collar patches were worn by army Sonderführer and Beamte auf Kriegsdauer as well as by some non-military organisatins, such as the Werkfeuerwehren.
(Photo: A collar patch for a WW2-era Beamter auf Kriegsdauer [official for the duration of the war].)
The elaborate pattern worn by general officers is called Larischstickerei (Larisch embroidery), named after the Prussian Infantry Regiment no. 26 "Alt-Larisch".
The Larischstickerei was implemented for all German general officers by Emperor Wilhelm II in 1900 and was carried over throughout the Weimar- and Third Reich era and the post-war years (in both the FRG and GDR) right to the present.
(Photo: A collar patch for a Bundeswehr general officer.)
Last edited by HPL2008; 08-18-2018 at 01:39 PM.
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08-18-2018 12:50 PM
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Thank you for pulling all that together and presenting it so well. This isn't my field of collecting but I read every word which probably says something about your presentational standards.
...just as long as we can still call them "collar patches" though.....:-)
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Very good presentation Andreas! Also, it is helpful to both TR era and post war collectors. Thank you for putting this together!
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My utmost appreciation to HPL2008 for his informative lesson.
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It looks like the debate about the use of German terminology has finally won through
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Yep...the only reason I read the first one was that I understood what it was about from the heading....but let's not start that debate / argument again.
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