Could some help me date this Pickelhaube. From many family members and after research it seems to be a fireman's helmet, potentially an officers, with the shield of the state that I believe is Württemberg-Baden. The inside has a silk lining and I can send more photos, if needed
It had 3/4 scales on each side but unfortunately the leather gave out. Where on the helmet do you think the hook wouldve have been. In the previous helmets youve seen do you think there could be a place I can look for a name.
| History of the City Fire Brigade Association and Historical Research in the Fire Brigade History Working Group |
| The Stuttgart fire brigades at the end of the 19th century Before the professional fire brigade was founded in 1891, there was the Stuttgart Volunteer Fire Brigade in the city area and in the suburbs of Karlsvorstadt Heslach, Vorstadt Berg and Vorort Gablenberg there were independent volunteer fire brigades with their own dispatch districts. On November 2, 1891, the 30-man professional fire department began operations under the leadership of fire chief Bruno Jacoby. Its services were so effective that the volunteer fire department, consisting of around 1,000 men and divided into two battalions, only had to be called in for very few major fires. After the volunteer fire department was not prepared to "reorganize," i.e. streamline and reduce its size, it disbanded on its own initiative in 1897. As a result, the city had to set up a paid reserve fire department of 125 men, which was placed under the command of fire director Jacoby. 
Bruno Jacoby founder of the association The founding of the association in 1901 In order to create a basis for discussion with the leaders of the still independent volunteer fire departments in the suburbs, Jacoby suggested the founding of an association. He found a supporter of his idea in the commander of the then largest and most important Stuttgart volunteer fire department, Friedrich Bihl. 
Commander Baurat Friedrich Bihl Chairman of the Association from 1901 to 1917 In § 1, the purpose of the association is formulated as follows: "The purpose of the association of fire brigades of the city district is to promote the interests of the service through the exchange of mutual experiences, holding firefighting lectures and demonstrations of models, etc., holding individual and joint exercises and fostering the spirit of camaraderie." The name was “Association of Fire Brigades of the Stuttgart City District”. However, in its more than 100-year history, the name of the association has been changed several times. The association began its work immediately after its foundation. The focus was initially on joint exercises and lectures, and later on on the standardization of rank insignia, the abolition of brass helmets and the introduction of leather helmets and uniform uniforms. In 1904, the Berg Volunteer Fire Department joined the association and subsequently all fire departments in the newly incorporated suburbs became members of the association. In 1909, the professional and reserve fire departments left the association. Officially , Jacoby justified the withdrawal with possible conflicts of interest with his work as fire director. After his death in 1918, the reserve fire department rejoined the association, but not the professional fire department. In 1927, a “factory fire brigade” was admitted to the association for the first time. Dissolution of the association by National Socialist legislation With the law on the reorganization of the fire service in Württemberg of September 18, 1936, Prussian fire service law was now also applied in Stuttgart, which meant that the association received a completely new statute based on the Führer principle, which came into force on November 1, 1937. Its name was now the Stuttgart District Fire Service Association and it was a corporation under public law. However, this innovation was only short-lived. The (Reich) Law on Firefighting of November 23, 1938 converted the professional fire service into a technical police force (fire protection police) and the volunteer fire services into a technical auxiliary police force. With the third implementing regulation to this law of October 24, 1939, the district, provincial and state fire service associations were dissolved. This also meant the temporary end of the Stuttgart association. New beginning in 1951 After the majority of the volunteer fire departments had been reorganized and consolidated, the department commanders met on March 29, 1951 for a constitutive association meeting. The re-establishment initially took place as the "City Association of Volunteer Fire Departments in Stuttgart," which, according to the statutes, the Stuttgart factory fire departments could also join. In 1952, the association became a member of the State Association of Fire Departments of Württemberg-Hohenzollern. In 1971, the Association of Fire Brigade Associations in Baden-Württemberg held the 2nd Baden-Württemberg State Fire Brigade Day in Stuttgart, combined with a joint association meeting of the Baden Fire Brigade Association and the Association of Fire Brigades in Württemberg-Hohenzollern. Due to the founding of the Baden-Württemberg Fire Brigade Association on December 2, 1972 and the associated dissolution of the State Association of Fire Brigades of Württemberg-Hohenzollern, a change to the association's statutes was necessary. The new statutes were approved at the association's meeting on March 31, 1973. The professional fire brigade is now part of the association again. The name is now "Stuttgart City Fire Brigade Association". After several minor changes to the statutes, a fundamentally revised statute was adopted in 1999 and the previously unincorporated association was entered in the association register. It now bears the name “Stadtfeuerwehrverband Stuttgart eV”. |
| The chairmen of the association |
| Friedrich Bihl Volunteer Fire Department Karlsvorstadt Heslach 1901 – 1917 Eugen Hartter Volunteer Fire Department Berg 1917 – 1920 Wilhelm Weber Volunteer Fire Department Untertürkheim 1920 – 1936 August Bender Professional Fire Department Stuttgart 1936 – 1939 Robert Brüstle Volunteer Fire Department Untertürkheim 1951 – 1954 Hermann Weber Volunteer Fire Department Untertürkheim 1954 – 1967 Werner Kurrle Volunteer Fire Department Rotenberg 1967 – 1987 Manfred Adis Volunteer Fire Department Degerloch-Hoffeld 1987 – 2004 Klaus Dalferth Volunteer Fire Department Wangen 2004 – 2019 Thomas Häfele Volunteer Fire Department Birkach since 2019 |
| Fire Department History Working Group |
| Historical Research in the Fire Brigade History Working Group in the Stuttgart City Fire Brigade Association e. V. In order to further research the history of the Stuttgart fire service and to maintain the fire service history collection of the Stuttgart Fire Service, the Fire Service History Working Group was formed in the spring of 2005. In addition, the working group is currently also looking into the history of the Stuttgart bell foundry and fire equipment company Heinrich Kurtz, which was one of the most important Stuttgart companies of the 19th century and which has since been completely forgotten. Johann Heinrich Kurtz, who came from the bell foundry and fire engine manufacturer that had been in existence in Reutlingen since 1690, founded the Stuttgart company in 1803. It was one of the most renowned fire engine manufacturers in the German-speaking world. It delivered fire engines of the highest quality far beyond the borders of Württemberg throughout Europe and the world. Many of these devices are still preserved today and are lovingly maintained by museums and fire departments. You can also find a large collection of fire engines by Heinrich Kurtz in the Stuttgart Fire Department Museum. Did you know that Gottlieb Daimler's first engine was built in the Kurtz workshop on Heusteigstrasse in Stuttgart and that the first motor fire engine was the joint work of Kurtz and Daimler? If you would like to learn more about the current state of research on fire engine manufacturers in Reutlingen and Stuttgart, we recommend the article “A Swabian bell-founding family has been building fire engines for over 200 years – fire engines from the Kurtz family in Reutlingen and Stuttgart” by the chairman of the working group, Joachim Haase, published in the FIRE BRIGADE CHRONICLE, which is edited by Bernd Klaedke and Michael Thissen. |
