Entwicklung des Kopfschutzes fuer den Feuerwehrmann

von französischem Muster.
Man sollte betonen, dass sich die Mehrheit der Exemplare in einem guten Zustand befinden, aber auch
einige die man restaurieren sollte.
Fire brigade helmets in Varaždin, Croatia
Summary
The archives of numerous old volunteer fire brigades in Croatia contain thoroughly described fire brigade
uniforms, while the information on headdresses (hats, helmets, caps …) is rather scarce. Lack of
previous research is felt and also the mentioned documents are not kept in one place, which makes the
exhibited objects difficult to process. This is one of the reasons why the research in the given subject
was made on the example of the oldest volunteer fire brigade in Croatia, the First Volunteer Fire Brigade
in Varaždin.
At the beginning firemen of Varaždin wore black felt hats which they called “kašket”. Hats were decorated
with red braid bands ending with two hanging acorns of the same colour. Instead of the plume they
had a black rolled horsetail. The deputy fire chief had a white and black rolled horsetail with a golden
braid band, officers had silver braid bands with acorns, non-commissioned officers had red horsetails
and members of the fire brigade band had white horsetails. Despite good relations with European fire
brigades -Austrian, Hungarian, German and Czech in particular – the firemen of Varaždin acquired the
helmets after several years of their existence and after numerous discussions during the fire brigade sessions.
Beside providing better protection for the firemen, helmets were also far more convenient than
the awkward hats.
At that time the fire brigades in Croatia acquired the fire fighting equipment from different suppliers,
of which catalogues, fliers, bills and other documents give evidence. The suppliers were mainly foreign
companies, domestic producers were scarce. This was the reason for the diversity of uniforms. In the
year 1876 firemen of Varaždin purchased 21 helmets from Adolf Müller in Vienna. In 1879 they purchased
caps designed after military model to be worn for formal occasions. Later the climber’s helmet
got a long rounded part made of calfskin which served to protect the neck from flames but also from a
jet of water. A considerable change occurred in 1880 when new helmets for officers were purchased.
Since 1876, with the establishing of “The Croatian and Slavonian Fire Fighting Association” in Zagreb,
the standardizing of shape and quality of fireman´ s uniforms began. It was regulated in 1889 when the
Association designed the bill of “Gastnik” (fire fighting law) for the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia.
A fire fighting symbol was introduced, a helmet and crossed hammer and axe. According to the changes,
in 1909 the firemen of Varaždin purchased new clothing from the company Kirschner-Beleznaj and caps
from the producer Sesvečanec from Zagreb.
“The Fire Brigade Law” passed by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that was unfavourable for Croatian
fire fighting, apart from numerous changes also brought a regulation of fireman’s uniforms according
to which all members of brigades had to wear work and dress uniforms. The work uniform included
a helmet as a headdress and the dress uniform included a cap. As early as 1936, the Assembly of Fire
Brigade Association of Savska Banovina required using Croatian language for all terms and commands
as well as returning of the Croatian coat of arms and other insignia onto the uniforms. The situation in
fire fighting culminated in the happenings in the year 1937, when the 60 th anniversary of the Association
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