111 - Gladiator helmet, air raid helmet model 1938, dark blue steel helmet with Luftschutz emblem, 1938/45

Gladiator helmet, air raid helmet model 1938, dark blue steel helmet with Luftschutz emblem, 1938/45 Steel and textile. Gladiator helmet, air raid protection helmet model 1938, steel helmet of three-piece construction consisting of skull, front visor and neck guard, painted dark blue, an encircling bead between skull and brim, the brim widely flared with side cutouts. Two groups of ventilation holes on each side, silver-colored rivet heads above the bead. On the front a silvery-white air raid protection emblem as a new, subsequently applied decal with wings, foliage, band "LUFTSCHUTZ". Liner with orange-brown grained headband on a light textile backing. Inside the neck guard the embossed marking "RL2-39/42", below it a blue stamp stating the head size. Good condition commensurate with age, liner only partially present. 16x26x31 cm (HxWxD). The Gladiator helmet, also referred to as M38, was a steel helmet for civil air raid protection in the German Reich. It was worn by air raid protection personnel, among them the helpers of the Reichsluftschutzbund, which had been founded on April 29, 1933 at the instigation of Hermann Göring, organized air raid protection in residential areas and smaller businesses and had around 15 million members in 1939. The skull and brim of the Gladiator helmet were pressed separately from sheet steel and then joined, a construction method that allowed inexpensive mass production; besides this multi-piece form there are also helmets pressed in one piece. In 1938 the air raid protection helmets received a dark blue paint finish and a new emblem. The code embossed in the neck guard following the pattern RL2 with a subsequent sequence of numbers designates the manufacturer. A blue stamp in the neck guard certified the sales approval under § 8 of the Air Raid Protection Act and stated the head size and the maximum price in Reichsmark.