Original German WWII HJ Fire Protection Police Helper Feuerwehrschar M43 Feldmütze Field Cap Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a great looking German WWII HJ National Youth Organization M43 Feldmütze (Field Cap), as issued to Feuerwehrschar (Fire Fighters) attached to the Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police) as auxiliaries / helpers. It is constructed of very dark blue worsted wool gabardine cloth, with fold-down panels with rounded scallops to the front and forward sides, covering the entire neck on the sides and rear when in use. When not in use, the panels are raised with their ends resting upon the visor, being joined together two pebbled aluminum buttons. The visor is reinforced with cardboard, and covered in matching gabardine cloth. The top of the cap has (karminrot) color piping around the circumference, the Protection Police Truppenfarbe (troop color) for the Fire branch.

Sewn in place in the front of the cap is a BeVo embroidered rhomboid HJ fire fighter emblem, which features a carmine red (karminrot) civic police eagle superimposed over a black and white HJ Diamond. Above the eagle are red flames, indicating fire service. This patch is original to the cap and is machine sewn only to the outer fabric. The patch is in very clean crisp condition with no damage, just a bit of age toning.

The interior of the cap is lined with navy blue rayon, which has very minor sweat staining around the contact areas but is in very good condition overall. There are a few small holes in the lining, but nothing out of line with wear from service. We were not able to find any markings on the inside, and given the color, if there were any stamped in black ink, they would be illegible. The visor is still quite well shaped, with just a bit of bending to the stiffener, and no real cracks. The brown oilcloth sweatband on the interior is in excellent condition, still supple and showing very little use or age.

Condition overall is very good, with the main issue being moth damage to the exterior. Most of this is just in the fuzzy “nap” of the fabric, but there are a few areas on the crown and visor where the underlying material is visible. There are also a few stains on the top of the crown.

Overall, this is a great looking wartime used HJ M43 Fire Fighter field cap!

Adolf H believed German youth to be the future of his 3rd Reich. The HJ National Youth Organization was formed officially in 1935, and with the exception of NSDAP ideology indoctrination was very similar to the Boy Scouts. Beginning at about the age of ten years, both boys (jugend) and girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel) were enlisted in the Party-run organization.

More on the Fire Protection Police:

On June 17TH 1936, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed to the newly created position of Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), effectively giving him full control of all police agencies within Germany including the Feuerschutzpolizei, (Fire Protection Police). As a result of this appointment and the restructuring of all the separate German state police into a single national police force new regulations were instituted on June 25TH 1936 to bring about uniformity in dress for all police through-out the country. The Police were divided into eight assorted branches of service with each branch being assigned a specific identifying, Truppenfarbe, (branch of service color), with the Feuerschutzpolizei being allocated carmine truppenfarbe. The Feuerschutzpolizei were further distinguished from the other police branches of service with blue uniforms and headgear instead of the typical police green uniforms.