SARGE Posted October 30, 2018 #1 Posted October 30, 2018 Gents, I thought I would start a thread about East German uniform boots. This is the earliest set of East German low boots that I have. They are probably from the immediate post-war time period and would have been worn by Volkspolizei (VP) prior to the establishment of the DDR Nationale Volksarmee (NVA). These laced low boots can be seen in photographs of VP wearing the modified wartime green police uniforms as well as police personnel wearing the blue VP uniform adopted in October of 1948, These boots are of black leather and have standard shoe strings. They are well worn with stacked leather heels and leather soles and may well have been manufactured prior to 1945. The soles have been repaired and a rubber heel has been nailed to the heel. The give-away that these boots are East German is found in the "VEB" designation on the rubber heels. This was the East German term for collective factories, so we know these boots are East German. Also notice the indications that these are in fact military boots. 1) The heels and soles are made of stacked leather for easy standardized repair when worn. 2) There are metal taps at the toes of the leather half-soles. 3) There are leather toe caps on the uppers. 4) There are small holes on the back of the stacked leather heels to secure spurs. Feel free to post East German boots if 'ya got 'em.
SARGE Posted November 1, 2018 Author #2 Posted November 1, 2018 Here are some photographs of boots in wear. Notice the policemen with dogs are still wearing tall boots and breeches as well as low boots and trousers with the modified WWII style police green uniform in the immediate postwar period. This continued, and new green uniforms were refurbished and newly manufactured, until circa 1948 when the new blue East German Police uniform was adopted. Also notice in the photographs that the East German tall boots worn with breeches were generally not as tall as the WWII period boots. A new green uniform was adopted for the Volkspolizei on 1 October 1954 and breeches and tall boots largely replaced the trousers and low boots. This trend continued into the 1960s and it seems the later boots (until circa 1990) returned to the taller style shafts. Officer boots in the VP and NVA were also often taller, and better quality, than the enlisted boots.
SARGE Posted November 7, 2018 Author #3 Posted November 7, 2018 Another way of wearing these low boots is to wear them with puttees. This was common practice during the time of the Weimar Republic and the NS Zeit, particularly so for Auxiliary Policemen (Hilfspolizei). Here are a couple of photos of these boots paired with a pre-war set of leather puttees that are Police marked and dated 1929. The leather puttees were worn with riding breeches. The other photo shows them worn with cloth puttees. These were worn with uniform pants that are gathered at the ankle. Often seen in late war and early post war photos.
SARGE Posted November 7, 2018 Author #4 Posted November 7, 2018 Here are another set of boots. These well used tall boots came out of Germany with a used Volkspolizei uniform as a set. Notice they have an adjustment strap at the top of the boot shaft. Also, notice the boots worn by the jumping VP on the obstacle course in the photos shown above. His rubber soled boots also appear to have a similar adjustment strap and buckle on the shaft of his boots. These tall boots shown below have stacked leather soles and heels like the VEB marked low boots shown above. Notice they also have steel taps at the leather heels and toes, similar to the low boots with rubber VEB marked heels.
SARGE Posted November 15, 2018 Author #5 Posted November 15, 2018 These are a set of early female Volkspolizei boots. These boots were worn with skirts in the same manner as those that were worn by female German Police officers during WWII. These boots are identifiable as East German because they have VEB marked rubber heels as well as interesting cleated rubber soles. Also notice the patch in the leather liner near the top of one boot. Nothing was wasted, including damaged leather hides, during the early years of the DDR.
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