German Army WWII Beer Stein

[wooley12]

My dad brought this back. He was at Buchenwald in April, 1945. Ingolstadt is 200 miles away. J.R. 63 is an old German infantry unit. That's all I know. Anybody? Anyone? Bueller?

[12thengr]

Nice stein. Personally I don't know jack about them but they are cool. I passed up a WWI stein awhile back at the W. Seattle antique mall, It was artillery and above $100 bucks.

[wooley12]

A lot of 15 sold for $350 ea. or so the internet says. Probably not that rare. Having an owners name makes it more interesting. Wonder if he made it?

[jguy1986]

"Erinnerung am meine Dienstzeit" means "In Remembrance of my Service" so probably a WWI vet's souvenir stein. The pre-WWI steins are heavily faked these days, so you have to be really careful, but this one looks a-ok.

[wooley12]

Thanks

[doyler]

THats a great service stein.

 

Im sure the helmet motif on the lid would appeal to a lot of collectors.

 

Many of the steins even post war ones for US units have the nude figure in the bottom and when tipped up to the light you can see it.I believe they reffer to it as a lithophane.

[wooley12]

It's the real deal. I Googled the makers mark. I put the word out to my sibs to recall anything that dad might have said about how he got it.

[hardheaded]

I'm guessing back then the 63rd was probably out of Ingolstadt. Ingolstadt is a small town in a heavily wooded area. I've had a few frothy liter mugs and meals there.

 

Nice stein!

[katieony]

An interesting stein for sure...thanks for posting!

Mike

[firefighter]

Thats cool. I don't collect these but neat. I've never seen a NAZI one, usually it's the WW1 style steins.

[Backtheattack]

The IR63 was at Ingolstadt, II/IR63 was at Ingolstadt, too, after formed from members of IR21. It was part of the 17. Division in 1935, then part of the 27. Division in 1936. From October 1940 it was now part of the 17. Tank Division. In April/May 1945 this unit was part of the Heeresgruppe Mitte at the eastern front.

[wooley12]

Than you very much for that history. I'll print a card with that information and tape it inside the stein.

[Mr.Jerry]

Nice stein, and even better with the family bring back connection.

WWII German steins are much harder to find than the WWI ones, without the damage (looks like a crack in yours)

these do go in the $200-400 range. Nice helmet final on that one too.

 

The regimental ones you see with nudes are typically post war (post ww2). The WW1 ones do sometimes have the lithopanes, but they are more tastefully done- a soldier and girlfriend, etc.

[wooley12]

Good stuff, thanks. My father was in a 474th medical detachment at Buchenwald week of 4/11/45. On 4/30 the Allies rolled through Ingolstadt. Ingolstadt had been heavily bombed in the weeks before so that the crack is surely the result of a B-24 Liberator raid Makes the mug even more valuable.

 

 

[Backtheattack]

Think the mug came from Ingolstadt because the 17. Armored was at the Eastern Front. Did you have any pics from your father while at the Buchenwald area? Did some search with the unusual name, but there is no family with this name current at Ingolstadt.

[wooley12]

Thanks. So this is a WWII Stein? No pictures from after he was in Italy. A report written about the dietary history of the prisoners written by the surgeon in his unit is in the Holocaust Museum in Washingto DC. My father spoke Polish and told me he helped as a translator at Buchenwald. If you ever go through Timmerlah, stop in at William's Dorfklause. "The Biggest Schnitzel in all of Germany." My wife's father is from there and her cousin is the owner.

[Mr.Jerry]

Yes, it is WWII. The helmet on the finial has the tricolor shield decal, and the small helmet on the design has the Army eagle, these were both not used until 1933.

[3mxd]

The stein, or to use the German word for it "krug," is Third Reich but most likely pre-WW II. IR 63 was based in Ingolstadt and part of the 27th Infantry Division which took part in the Polish and French campaigns in 1939 and 1940. In 1940 the division was reorganized into the 17th Panzer Division which spent the rest of the war fighting on the eastern front. It looks as if Odoerfer was assigned to the regiment's second battalion (II/IR 63, if that's not correct, let me know what the correct unit is) which became the divisional armored reconnaissance battalion after the reorganization. At the end of the war, part of the 17th Panzer was taken prisoner by the Russians, part by the Americans. What happened to your man would require a lot more research in Germany. He may well have ended up in a completely different unit after his initial conscription was up. Crack or not, this krug is a lot better than most in graphics and the lid.

[gwb123]

I have changed the title to German Army WWII Beer Stein as opposed to Nazi Beer Stein.

 

This just seems more accurate. When I first saw this, I thought I was going to open this and see a Nazi Party Beer Stein. Unless I have missed something, there is not even a swastika on this item.

 

I am not looking for any long, drawn out discussions about how the German Army was the Nazi Army, how the officers had to be Party members, etc. That will just lead to endless counter arguments about how not every one in the Army was a Nazi, and many were there just to serve their country.

 

I just think with our interest in history and accuracy we need to draw the distinction between the two. How the Party and the Army were interrelated is a long and detailed discussion which is outside the scope of this Forum.

[wooley12]

Thanks. I would agree with your logic100%. I see it now. It was a a Newb mistake. My wife had a cousin in the SS who went MIA on the Eastern front.