German insignia and belt buckle identification.

Can anyone help me identify this mans badges and what they mean. Also identify his belt buckle and lastly what does the platted cord refer to. Thanks for any help.

 

I have sent the picture to a friend of mine.
May I ask: How did you get hold of this picture?

 

My parents ran a nursing home when I was a child and the gentleman in the picture was a resident and a friend. The picture would of been from an ID pass. I'd just like to find out more about him.

 

Now, that is interesting. If you send me a PM with his full name and whatever else you have , I could even try to find his family.

 

He lost the magority of his family in the war and the two who were left died without children.

 

He is a junior NCO in a "Werkschutz"-unit - meaning that as a member of a "factoty guard" he protected an industrial plant/factory. The collar patches seem to indicate which factory it was - they seemed to have differed and to have displayed various abbreviations or company symbols. The same apparently goes for the belt buckle. On his arm is a patch that gives him away as "Werkschutz" - and the one stripe below is his rank insignia.

Note: the swastika is covered - it is illegal to display the symbol in Germany

cap badge for Werkschutz

belt buckle with a company symbol

 

The cord probably served as a lanyard for a whistle - it makes sense to have one as a guard ... in the old days even regular policemen had whistles. Do they still?

 

Hello, Thank you that's really interesting. I thought he worked for the Luftwaffe as a Military policeman. When I was a child he used to buy me airfix models of the German aircraft as he was very proud of them. When someone dies you are left with lots of questions and it's hard to find the answers. Thank you for this information. Do you know I don't know if policemen still have whistles.

 

Hello PeteFree - do you know where he lived during the war? That might help to find out which factory he guarded...

 

No I don't. He was captured and worked on a farm as a POW. Then after the war he found his home would of been in east Germany so he came back to the UK and continued working at the same farm.

 

The buckle looks familiar to me also but I can't find anything similar anywhere.

 

The buckle looks familiar to me to but I can't find another one anywhere.