Reichsbanner Visor

[stonemint]

Wim, the photo is captioned thus:

"The Leader of the German Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold Karl Hoeltermann (m.) and his deputy Hofmann. February 17th 1933."

[stonemint]

Here is another photo of the light-banded RB visors in wear:

[Wilhelm Saris]

Maybe all is correct and the uniform changed when the Reichsbanner
in December 1931 was renamed into the "Eiserne Front", when they
went along with some other organizations. From that I do not have
regulations.
The photo from post 41 must have been wrongly titled and should be
Eiserne Front.

[MAP]

Silly question (admit I know zero about these which is why I posted it) but given that it has R-B on the cap band, would that not indicate it was Reichsbanner and not Iron Fist, especially when coupled with Stonemints photo in post 41?

[Wilhelm Saris]

Silly question (admit I know zero about these which is why I posted it) but given that it has R-B on the cap band, would that not indicate it was Reichsbanner and not Iron Fist, especially when coupled with Stonemints photo in post 41?

At the moment of the photo, which is dated in February 1933 it was not Reichsbanner anymore.
The question is, does the photo have the correct point of date? I mentioned the renaming to be already
in December 1931 into Eiserne Front (which is not Iron Fist). The Reichsbanner was the
originator. They were in contra to communists (Thälmann), the nazis (Hitler) and monarchy (Papen).
This is what I know.

What happened with the uniforms I do not know. It is quite difficult to find information about
this. And remind please, I do not know all. Just a bit! Maybe they kept them wearing, but changed
the symbol: three arrows.



Good luck to the new owner of the RB-cap! It looks to be a nice cap when it has positioned the
right cockade (Bundeskokarde) or a shield (Fahnenschild). Only one was authorized at the time!

[HPL2008]

They're still around, by the way:

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, Bund aktiver Demokraten e.V. - Reichsbanner Heute

(Although the present-day nationwide membership numbers are merely in the low four-digit range and the organisation has no more para-military elements.)

[MAP]

Thanks Andrea and Win and Stonemint. Very educational thread.

[HPL2008]

As for the matter of Reichsbanner service dress, a bit of information from the Historisches Lexikon Bayerns website is of interest here:

"The increase in violent confrontations with the National Socialists and the Reichstag elections on 14th September 1940, which yielded 107 mandates for the National Socialists, caused the leadership of the Reichsbanner to undertake an organizational reform. "Stammformationen*", the so-called Stafos, comprised those members who were working on the political level. "Schutzformationen**", the so-called Schufos, were made up of younger men able to take up physical confrontation with the political opponent. Their uniform consisted of a blue cap, green shirt, cross-strap and black breeches with leather gaiters. Alert- and organisational plans could direct the units to any location at the shortest notice. Route marches and military exercises prepared the Schufos for civil war."

*) roughly translated "basic formations" or "regular formations"
**) roghly translated "guard formations" or "protection formations"

[Translation by me, source of the orignal text: Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, 1924-1933 – Historisches Lexikon Bayerns ]

Otherwise, the Reichsbanner's uniforms are not mentioned in this article, but I would take this to mean that the dark caps were for the Schufos specifically, so as to visully distinguish this fully active, para-military arm of the movement from the rest of the membership.

As for the Eiserne Front: As I understand it, it was primarily formed as a reaction to the establishment of the right-wing Harzburger Front, which consisted of the NSDAP, DNVP, Reichslandbund, ADV and Stahlhelmbund. The left-wing Eiserne Front was made up of the Reichsbanner, SDP, ADBG, AfA and the workers' sports leagues. I have no specific data on the EF's regalia, but surely the old uniforms of the RB weren't abolished altogether, as the establishment of this new league did not mean the individual organizations had ceased to exist.

A (German-language) article on the EF from the same site, including a photo of Schufo men with dark caps:

Eiserne Front, 1931-1933 – Historisches Lexikon Bayerns

Of course, when it comes to the Weimar-era political organisations - be they right-wing radical, left-wing radical or conservative - we must never forget that none of them ever attained true uniformity in their appearance. They all underwent many changes in their attire and much was always non-standardized and improvised (not least due to the fact that money was always a factor and members usually had to pay for their uniforms out of their own pocket; this in an era that was for the most part plagued by mass unemployment and other economic problems).

[Wilhelm Saris]

This difference between the Stammformation and Schutzformation will have
been visible by the different caps. And so it was with the nazis: SA, SS and
political leaders.
And as noted, when the Eiserne Font came into being, they may have worn
the old uniforms. I cannot find anywhere regulations, nor is anywhere the
lighter cap stated. But it all is possible.

What do we know in fact? Nothing or not much! Maybe one day a solution
pops up and we know about "what and how"......

Thanks HPL2008 for your clarification!

[stonemint]

Portrait of Hoeltermann wearing a different type of visor--it does not appear to have "RB" woven into the band, and has an embroidered RB flag in a circle.
(He is also wearing an Eiserne Front pin on his tie):