I believe this was something my grandfather picked up. I have had several thoughts on what it may be, but I am not sure. I have never seen another one and nobody has ever been 100% certain what it was.

The most common idea is it was a matchbox cover. It may be, but there is no clasp or way to secure a box in it. The edges are rolled to the inside so there is a lip around the edges. It may be that it is missing a part, but again, with the rolled edge, I'm not sure. The last shot is the inside it. The coating is sort of like an enamel, but is thick.

Any ideas, comments, guesses, interpretations, etc. would be most appreciated!

Jim,

A guess, is it a protective cover for a tiny bible?

That was the second most frequent guess. I have seen the little Bibles you speak of, but I don't know if those were carried by German troops. I know that a combination of mythology intermixed with God, Divine Intervention was the spiritual compliment to the Nazi governmental policy and controls. It would seem too much Bible would begin to sow doubt about Nazi propaganda so it wouldn't be something the military would use as policy. Maybe some group or firm gave them out if that's what they were. It just seems an odd mix to me- a Bible with a Nazi symbol emblazoned cover! Of course, later history has shown evidence of at least some collusion between the Nazis and a certain church.

It's interesting because it makes me realize that with all the stuff I have watched and read about WWII that I have never seen or read anything describing the place and practice of religion in the life of the German soldier, be it Infantry, Panzer Corps, Luftwaffe, Navy or what have you. I have seen lots of things on the Allies -except Russians- and their practices.

I see on the one side with the sword thrust skyward there is a bunker with a gun tube of some sort poking through the opening. I wondered if that was of some significance. The soldier's image seems to be the almost stereotypical image of the German soldier.

I'm sure it is a matchbox cover quite like this one for example:

http://www.germanring.lv/prestashop/product.php?id_product=314

I googled 'german army WWII matchbox cover' and found quite a few images of items that are very similar.

As for the text, I believe (and I hope the German speakers here can verify and correct me) a 'Marketender' or mark tender is a service or sometimes a mobile kiosk if you will that supplies troops with food and sundry supplies. Kind of what you'd think of a 'canteen' in the commonwealth armies. Bedarf is a word usually meaning requirement or need. I would say the translation roughly would mean something like "small supplies needs" or "small store needs"....something like that. Rheinhessen is a wine producing region in Germany and "Rifchi" could be a name or a place so I'd suggest that the text is an advertising for the Rifchi Canteen in Rheinhessen, or the German Army equivalent of that.

And the matchbox covers...Allies had 'em too:

http://www.andersonmilitaria.com/images/misc/wwtoviet/494%20Match%20Holder-tile.jpg

Hope that helps somewhat.


Bob

Hi Bob! Thanks for that info! I tend to agree now that it was indeed a matchbox cover. I assume the lip held the outer box in place and allowed the part containing the matches to slide in and out. Of course, the striker would orient to the open side. I had searched for it before but never came across quite anything like it. I think I didn't include all the search terms you used which likely created my difficulties. I did note that none of them at the site were quite like the one I had. The inscriptions on many of them looked like they were stamped into the metal.

Now, the mystery is how my Grandfather got it. He worked as a civilian for the railroads in Germany during WWII and spent his whole life there as a railroad man. He went afoul of the Nazis and our family was investigated for Jewish ancestry and other things because of the spelling of our last name (my current last name is the result of an adoption) in an effort to imprison him for not joining them. I still have the documents from that he obtained somehow. Apparently, his job saved him from the more petty reasons one could be sent away for. According to him, as retribution, he was sent to work the railroads in the East where circumstances had him flee and make his way back home to Frankfurt on his own. It's a long story I won't bore anybody with, but what he saw never left him. He passed away many years ago.

I tried to find out some more about the region but almost everything current is about the wine growing in the area. I need to dig deeper to find out about it's role in WWII. From the maps I did note that I was either in it or very close to it -I did spend time in Weisbaden- when I went on Reforger '74 and '75 with the 1st Infantry Division. We camped all over as we made our way to Grafenwöhr from Ramstein where we landed and drew our vehicles for the exercise.

Again, many thanks!

Never seen one.
I would keep it as to the condition and well great shape after all it must of went thru.
Thanks for sharing that.