WW2 & Occupation zone Sachsen Polizei - DDR

Morlar

I have posted up a few WW2 era photo albums before :

Ice Cold in Alexandrowskoje, Fall of France 1940, Reserve Polizei Battalion 102 Kampfgruppe Jeckeln, Leningrad. Not to mention the extremely successful : ) collaborative research one.

(Also a few on the militaria forum)

This time I thought it would be interesting to show one from the WW2 era that goes through to the communist occupation & later DDR.

Occupation zone Sachsen Polizei - DDR
http://www.militaria-archive.com/AlbumsIII/polizei-DDR/index.html

Occupation zone Sachsen Polizei - DDR

The WW2 era pictures include bomb damaged Dessau, a decorated (wounded) Luftwaffe veteran in field camouflage & Schutzpolizei & Schupo motor cycle rider, assorted Panzer, Luftwaffe & Heer troops. Pictures showing Heer soldiers in Bulgaria posing for formal group portraits with Bulgarian national army troops at the Black Sea (Varna). The pictures continue through to the the immediate post-war period of Soviet Occupation in Dessau (1946). These communist occupation era pictures show rare early East German Occupation Zone Sachsen Polizei uniforms (pre Volkspolizei), including formal portraits, group picture with hounds & communist badge wearing NSU motorcycle rider. Occupation zone Sachsen Polizei were from June 1946 under the German Administration of Interior (DVdI) through October 1949 when the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) was established along with the DVdI being renamed to the Ministry of Interior (MdI). Also shown is a 1955 Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) cultural/propaganda event believed to be in Dessau. This event is captured in a series of candid photographs, visible in the background are communist & Lenin portraits on the walls. It includes a propaganda parade which contained several floats, one depicting concentration camp inmates behind barbed wire being taunted by a SS uniformed guard. Also shown is the leisure boat ‘Maxim Gorky’ & the East Berlin Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery memorial. Other locations include Herrlicher Waldweg, Stendal (in Saxony-Anhalt) & Sommerfreude.


There hasn't really been much research into this one compared to some of the others (aside from preliminary uniform information) so if you can add any information let me know.

I thought the re-use of Wehrmacht uniforms (including Luftschutz beltbuckes) was interesting in the later Occupation /DDR/Volkspolizei part interesting I had read about this before but seeing the similarities really brings home how bizzare those times must have been to have former Wehrmacht men suddenly in similar uniforms this time with communist badges and insignia. Also interesting I thought are the pictures of Heer and Bulgarian army & also the 1955 DDR propaganda parade.

Heer/Wehrmacht era wartime

Schupo motor cycle rider


Panzermann with lanyard

Morlar

LW ground unit field cammo (decorated/wounded)




Heer with Bulgarian National army at Varna (1941)

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Bomb Damaged Dessau



Volkspolizei & earlier East German Occupation Zone Sachsen Polizei uniforms (1946-1949)

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Volkspolizei & earlier East German Occupation Zone Sachsen Polizei uniforms (1946-1949)

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Communist party badges/symbols & propaganda parade

Morlar

Communist party badges/symbols & propaganda parade








East Berlin Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery memorial