EXTREMELY RARE 1933 DATED GERMAN REICHSBAHN RBD STAMPED P.08 LUGER HOLSTER!

Constructed from dark brown leather in the conventional Luger police flap holster configuration, the back of the holster is stamped “Paul Goldner/Halle a.S.” and “1933” between the belt loops, with “Bahnschutz/RBD Halle(S)” to the right. RBD (Reichsbahndirektionen, Reichs Railway Division) Halle was one of 24 subdivisions responsible for railway operations in the Third Reich. The Bahnschutz were the uniformed police of the railway; chiefly staffed with SA and SS men, they were responsible for security and law enforcement on the rail lines. During the war, Halle, also known as Halle an der Saale (Halle on the Saale River), and it’s surroundings were the location of the aircraft manufacturer Siebel (and the subcamp of Buchenwald that supplied it forced labor) as well as a mustard gas plant; Bahnschutz men may have been called upon to provide security for rail transportation to and from those facilities. Bahnschutz officers would typically carry the Walther PP, and were rarely issued Luger pistols, with only a few examples known of Luger holsters bearing their markings (see page 137 of Eugene Bender’s “Luger Holsters & Accessories” for a similarly marked holster).