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This is a German motorized gendarmerie crash helmet from the Nazi era (1933-1945). It is made from pressed fiber with a thick pad that wraps around the middle and a leather visor. The entire helmet is painted brown to match the brown in the gendarmerie uniform. Featured on the front is a large police eagle national emblem with wreath and swastika made from polished aluminum. This eagle is the same type worn on the police shako. A leather flap extends from the back to cover the wearer's ears and neck and forms a chinstrap to further stabilized the helmet on the head.
The interior lining is made from leather in several tongues that adjust to the wearer's head by a drawstring. It is similar to the Model 1931 liner worn in the German combat helmets of the period. The black tag stitched to the interior reveals the EREL (Robert Lubstein) company, a well-known producer of caps and fiber helmets, manufactured this crash helmet.
Crash helmets were designed for motorcycle crews of the Ordnungspolizei. The
color of the helmet corresponded to the colors assigned to the particular branch
of service: White with gold eagle for Traffic Police, brown for the Motorized
Gendarmerie unit and black for Schutzpolizei Motorcyle Detachments and both of
these will aluminum color eagles. There is also pictorial evidence that the
Schupo motocycle crash helmet was used by crews of the police armored
detachments.
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