Descripción
General Armee Early Model
Note that the hat is marked “DDR” rather than “NVA” (Nationale Volksarmee). Hats marked “DDR” are believed to have been used by the Stasi.(Stasi generals wore the same uniform as Army generals.) Thus this hat would have been used by a Stasi general, probably in command of an administrative district or perhaps even at the Minister level.
The other markings are: “55” is the size, “1856” is the manufacturer code number, sort of the like an RB number.
The identity of “1856” is known: it is “VEB Perfekt.” VEB stands for “Volks Eigene Betrieb“, or “Peoples’ Owned Enterprise”. VEB Perfekt made cloth headgear for the East German military, police and uniformed civilian organizations.
The hat is dated 1965 and “NVA” marked (it is typical for generals’ headgear to be “NVA” marked). The hat itself is the same as an officer’s overseas hat (gabardine material, unpiped), but officers wore only an embroidered DDR Staatswappen cockade whereas generals wore an embroidered wreath with metal & enamel Staatswappen cockade. The wreath is embroidered in a golden/brown synthetic fabric onto the backing which is hand-stitched to the hat in this case.
Here is the style of overseas hat worn from about the mid-70’s onward. Note that the side flaps are stitched down, unlike the 1968 hat. This example is dated 1990, made prior to the use of the West German style bullseye cockade just before re-unification. The wreath pictured here is embroidered in synthetic fabric and is supposed to have been introduced in 1986.
There is supposed to be a stamped metal version of this wreath used on overseas hats from the mid 60’s (when they abandoned bullion embroidery) to 1985, but they have yet to be encountered. They are either exceedingly rare or the conventional wisdom is mistaken. (Interestingly, it is not very common to see overseas hats being worn in photos. In most cases they are wearing either the visor hat or the Ushanka.)
