Basic gear from the former German Democratic Republic: East German masks and snorkels

[dmaziuk]

In the USSR it wasn't so much "paramilitary" as as the pre-draft or post-service organizations. E.g. I got my driver's license at 15 through "Voluntary Society For Assistance To Army, Airforce, and Navy" (ДОСААФ), they ran "underwater swimming" clubs, parachute jumping clubs, etc., too. I believe part of it was saving time on basic training once kids got drafted, and part: access to equipment and facilities that was, shall we say lacking, in the Eastern Block countries. Dunno how much of it was true of the GDR, of course.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks again, dmaziuk. I must admit I hesitated over the use of the term "paramilitary" in this context because it's hard sometimes to find meaningful western parallels when talking about life in the Soviet Union and its former satellites in Eastern Europe.

On with the series of East German masks:

I'm going to showcase the model labelled "Kompensator" in the Hungarian flyer image above.

Kompensator mask

This mask has an interesting design from the equalisation perspective. It looks like a cross between a classic Cressi Pinocchio "nosepiece" mask and an early Beuchat compensator mask with accordeon bosses:

The markings on the "Kompensator" mask are interesting too:

"Gr. 3" is short for "Größe 3", German for "size 3" and reminder that some masks back in the 1960s and 1970s came in a range of sizes rather than in one size claiming to "fit most/all faces" as many nowadays do. Another marking is "Guwelin", the mask's manufacturer:

This mask proved immensely popular in the GDR, doubtless because it lacked the drawbacks of previous masks of East German manufacture, particularly weight and high volume. Here it is modelled on the front of an East German diving book:

and here on the front cover of an issue of the East German diving magazine "Poseidon":

Next time we'll look at an East German full-face mask made by Medi of Leipzig.

 

[iamrushman]

you've done a lot of research...thanks for sharing.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks, iamrushman. On to, or back to, Medi, which is short for "Medizintechnik" (Medical technology), the name of the manufacturing company, which was based in the East German city of Leipzig. There's more about this company in my thread about East German fins. I'm going to start with the following Medi flyer:

The young lady modelling the rebreather has a pair of goggles on her forehead. This was part of the kit along with a pair of fins in the early days of East German diving. You couldn't buy the goggles and the fins separately from the rebreather. Here is a further image, from the Oxydiver website:

And here, as promised, is the Medi full-face mask, or more accurately, the instruction leaflets accompanying this mask:

Here are some images of a Medi full-face mask recently offered on the Russian auction site Avito:

More images of Medi rebreather equipment can be found at Weitere MEDI-Geräte.

I'll move on next to East German snorkels.

 

[iamrushman]

impressive set-up.....quite interesting.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks again, iamrushman. On now to East German snorkels. We'll begin with an overview of the range. If you go to Tauchzubehör on the Medi-Leipzig website, you'll find several East German snorkels for sale:

As with Soviet snorkels, none of them has a proper product name or even an indication of provenance. Let's start with the J-shaped snorkel with the number 3 in the image:

J-shaped snorkel with standard mouthpiece

The second and third images include Naiade full-foot fins, which were first made in the GDR and later produced in Hungary. The snorkel itself consists of a J-shaped plastic tube with a mouthpiece at the end of the U-bend. The mouthpiece has an unusually short neck. There are lugs for the teeth to bite on to, but they too are shorter than usual.

Here is an East German advertisement for this snorkel:

This image can also be viewed at Technisches Tauchen in der DDR on the seveke.de website. According to the text, this snorkel model is available in all sports shops. Retailers and organisations could source their supplies from wholesale companies (GHG - Großhandelsgesellschaften) dedicated to the sporting goods trade.

The launch of the snorkel was announced in the GDR's national newspaper Neues Deutschland (New Germany) in an article entitled "'Schnorchel' für Sporttaucher der DDR ('Snorkel' for GDR sports divers):

German: In Zusammenarbeit mit der hydro-biologischen Tauchgruppe im Haus der „Jungen Talente“ Berlin, stellen wir den Schnorchel her. Dieser Massenbedarfsartikel ist In allen Verkaufsstellen für Sportartikel erhältlich. Der Einzelhandel und alle Organisationen erhalten die Schnorchel nur über die GHG (Großhandelsgeschäfte) Kulturwaren, Niederlassungen Sportartikel. Neues Deutschland. Ausgabe vom 26.07.1961. Seite 6. ND-Archiv: Neues Deutschland vom 26.07.1961.
English: In cooperation with the hydro-biological dive group in Berlin’s House of “Young Talents”, we are manufacturing the snorkel. This consumer article is available in all outlets selling sports goods. The retail sector and all organizations will obtain the snorkel only via the sports goods subsidiaries of the wholesale cultural goods trade. Neues Deutschland. 26 July 1961 edition. Page 6. ND-Archiv: Neues Deutschland vom 26.07.1961.

So the newspaper article dates the arrival of this snorkel to late July 1961. We'll turn next to snorkels 2 and 4 in the first image in this post.

 

[David Wilson]

On to the next snorkel. As promised, this posting will focus on snorkels 2 and 4 in the image below:

Gagum Snorkel

The images derive from an auction on eBay.de and you can buy the lot for just over 22 euros. In the first image the two snorkels are accompanied by a pair of assymetrical Hydroslip fins, which have already been discussed in a parallel thread.

The second image offers a close-up of both snorkels. They are J-shaped breathing tubes with a straight plastic barrel and a one-piece U-shaped non-collapsible rubber elbow and mouthpiece. The brand name "Ga-Gum" is embossed on the rubber elbow, but there is no other indication of provenance. I have a soft spot for this design as my first "professional" snorkel, bought when I joined my university sub-aqua club in the mid-1960s, was the yellow-barrelled blue-mouthpieced Typhoon T4 illustrated below from the Lillywhites 1967-1968 catalogue:

More information about the Gagum snorkel can be found on that now familiar Hungarian flyer:

If you can't read the small print of the caption next to the picture of the three Gagum snorkels in the lower half of the right-hand page, here you go:
Mouthpieces:
GAGUM: dia. 21 mm, 350 mm
with long, straight, hard PVC tube without valve.
I couldn't resist comparing the Gagum's dimensions to what is prescribed in national Standards for snorkels. Here is my summary of six western Standards dating from 1969 to the present day:

The Gagum snorkel is 350 millimetres in length. This measurement is too small for the British Standard (BS) of 1969 but compatible with the later German (DIN) and European (EN) Standards for all users. The inner diameter of the Gagum snorkel was 21 millimetres. This measurement is too big for the British Standard of 1969 but compatible with all the later German and European Standards provided the user is a fully developed adult.

We'll move on next to an East German L-shaped snorkel.

 

[iamrushman]

just out of curiosity. Why use the racquets in the above public relation photo?

 

[John C. Ratliff]

just out of curiosity. Why use the racquets in the above public relation photo?

It was probably the same E-Bay auction. But I'll let DRW state more, if he knows.

SeaRat

 

[David Wilson]

just out of curiosity. Why use the racquets in the above public relation photo?

The pictures are from an auction on German eBay. See for yourself at Konvolut DDR Taucherbrille Schnorchel Schwimmflossen Federballschläger Freizeit | eBay. The picture below

is accompanied by the caption "Originales Konvolut an Freizeitartikeln aus DDR - Zeiten. Schwimmflossen Größe 2 (steht drauf), Federballschläger aus Kunststoff. alles ungereinigter Fundzustand. 100 %ig original. Erhaltung: Schwimmflossen farblich verblasst, alles gebraucht. bzw. benutzt, alles weitere siehe bitte Fotos." This means roughly: "Original collection of leisure articles from the time of the GDR. Swim fins size 2 (it's written on the fins). Badminton racquet made of plastic, everything in the uncleaned state it was found in. 100% original. Condition: Colour has bleached from the swim fins, everything in a used state, for anything further, please see the photos."