Original German WWII Red Cross DRK EM/NCO Schirmmütze Visor Cap by Josef A. Heeb - Deutsches Rotes Kreuz

Original Item: Only One available. This is a very good condition WWII Era Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross) EM/NCO Schirmmütze (Visor Cap). This is a high quality German made cap, fabricated from charcoal grey worsted wool cloth, with a solid gray cap band, plus three rows of light gray color piping around the circumference. This is the standard color piping for DRK caps, and it can look blue or purple at times. As an EM/NCO cap, it has a black leather double buckled chinstrap, attached by black enamel buttons at the sides.

Cap is decorated with the correct insignia, including the DRK eagle insignia pin on the crown. On the cap band is a very nice silvered zinc alloy open-topped oak leaf wreath, with the classic plated metal Tri-color cockade inside, featuring a red felt insert. Both are in good shape, and the eagle still has a fully intact attachment clip, so it is attached firmly. The cockade and eagle do show some oxidation due to age, and the red felt insert is a bit faded. The vulcanfibre visor was originally made with a smooth black patent leather-look upper, however that finish has degraded over time, and has flaked away just a bit at the edges. It shows checking and crazing throughout, confirming the age. The underside is checkered tan, and the visor is still solidly attached to the cap body.

The cap has a very nice condition orange "service cloth" lining on the sides, while the lining is orange brown oil cloth, which shows wear and loss of the lacquer coating in areas. The celluloid sweat shield diamond is complete with intact stitching, and still has a clear maker marking underneath:-

Mützen-
Fabrik
Jos. A. Heeb
FRANKFURT A.M.
Bergerstr. 8

The sweatband is made from natural finished leather, which has matured to a nice brown color, and is still supple, with just a bit of tearing in areas. The underside of the sweatband shows the name O. Roth at the rear, and Roth Gg. on the left, which is a German surname. There is no size marked, but it looks to be about a 57cm.

A very nice German WWII Red Cross EM/NCO visor cap, ready to add to your collection!

History of the German Red Cross (DRK)
The DRK, "Deutsches Rotes Kreuz" (German Red Cross), a voluntary civil assistance organization originally instituted in 1864, was officially acknowledged by the Geneva Convention in 1929. In December 1937 it gained status as a legally recognized organization by the NSDAP. As with other essential services in Third Reich Germany, it came under control of the NSDAP in late 1938 under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior's Social Welfare Organization.

History of the "Red Cross" Symbol
It was important to clearly identify Medical personnel in the field. One of the early documents, such as the Amelioration of the Conditions of the Wounded in Armies in the Field signed August 22, 1864, by a number of Governments, already instructed that Flag and Arm Badges worn by Medical personnel would bear a Red Cross on a White Field. Both symbols when used on Hospitals, Ambulances, Evacuation and Aid Centers, were to be proof of their neutral status! These signs provided for neutrality of military and civilian protected personnel (it gave them non-belligerent status) exclusively engaged in removal, transportation, and treatment of wounded and sick, or the administration of sanitary formations and establishments, and entitled them to respect and protection from their enemies. The 1929 Geneva Convention which superseded the former agreement, was signed on July 27, 1929 by forty-seven countries (including the Axis countries, Germany, Italy, and Japan) and comprised numerous articles, among which Articles 9 and 21, recognizing that bearers of special identification cards and civilian protected personnel identified by armbands, and vehicles, and installations wearing Geneva Convention markings and markers, were all exclusively engaged in medical care activities, and consequently protected and respected by the Geneva Convention.