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Polish Forced Laborer Badge Made into a Collar Tab(?) Recovered At/Near Flossenburg, May 1945

Article about: I'm trying to properly identify/characterize an artifact my late father recovered at the end of the war. It appears to be a standard Polish Forced Laborer patch, but wrapped around a rectang

  1. #1

    Default Polish Forced Laborer Badge Made into a Collar Tab(?) Recovered At/Near Flossenburg, May 1945

    I'm trying to properly identify/characterize an artifact my late father recovered at the end of the war. It appears to be a standard Polish Forced Laborer patch, but wrapped around a rectangular buckram (?) backing and hand-stitched to form what looks in size and shape to be a sort of collar tab. I've looked online quite a bit and haven't found anything similar, and would greatly appreciate it if anyone has seen another one for Polsh or any other nationality.

    It was probably recovered at the SS Bekleidungslager (clothing depot) at Grafenreuth, a Flossenburg subcamp, probably just after VE-Day. My father, 90th Infantry Division, was present at the surrender of elements of the the 11th Panzer Division at Bad Kötzting south of Cham 4-5 May. His company then marched north, going through the village of Floss and then on to Flossenburg Concentration Camp, entering it approximately two weeks after it had been liberated by the 90th Infantry. Grafenreuth would have been on the most direct route from the south, and at 12 miles away from Flossenburg would have been an easy days march and a logical bivouac spot.

    It was with a group of 15 cuffbands of various SS units, about thee dozen collar tabs of various SS units (or generic SS affiliation), an M42 SS tankers cap, an M43 SS fez (maroon) and a handful of various other patches, all in unissued condition. Dad said that he went through a workshop and took an item or two from each bin, which matches the overall collection. [I understand that there was a massive clothing depot at Dachau, but my father said he got these at Flossenburg, and recovering these on the way into - or perhaps out of - the camp seems most likely. I'm wondering if anyone else has heard of anything similar recovered at Flossenburg or the the Grafenreuth sub-camp.]

    Approximately a quarter of the prisoners who went through Flossenburg were Polish. Something like 80% of the prisoners in the Flossenburg camp system were in subcamps, often used for labor at enterprises outside of the camps - so I don't know if they may have used something other than the usual concentration camp uniform with the inverted red triangle wtih a P on it? I can't imagine where my father would have gotten something like this if not the same place as the SS uniform insignia.

    I'm particularly interested in trying to best identify that as I want to donate this and other item's to his division's museum, which has a Flossenburg exhibit, and this i the only item which specifically memorializes the victims.

    Third pic has a blank collar tab next to it for size comparison.


    Polish Forced Laborer Badge Made into a Collar Tab(?) Recovered At/Near Flossenburg, May 1945Polish Forced Laborer Badge Made into a Collar Tab(?) Recovered At/Near Flossenburg, May 1945Polish Forced Laborer Badge Made into a Collar Tab(?) Recovered At/Near Flossenburg, May 1945

  2. #2

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    Moved to the Polish section of the forum.
    Ralph.
    Searching for anything relating to, Anton Boos, 934 Stamm. Kp. Pz. Erz. Abt. 7, 3 Kompanie, Panzer-Regiment 2, 16th Panzer-Division (My father)

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