Hi.I need some help with my Red Cross Hewer.
The blade tang has some marks .
1. Kissing cranes-Robert Klaas.This is no problem.
2.GEF 45 - somebody knows what is that means?
3.Gakowo - I only found information about concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.
Is that possible ,that this hewer served in concentration camp?
I would appreciate for any information.
Andrei

Andrei,

Sounds unusual, any possibility of you posting pics of the markings? I'd say it's doubtful that a DRK hewer would have a connection with a concentration camp but as we've said many times, anything's possible.

I will try to post pics tomorrow.
Thanks.

Hi Andrei, Gakowo definetely wasn't in Czechoslovakia. Sound's like a poland name or maybe former Yugoslavia.

Best, Lukas.

Thanks Lukas.
You are absolutely right .More search shows me that this camp was in Serbia,but ...now it's more complicated.This camp was for..... Germans.Here is what Wikipedia saying:
-"Gakovo(Gakowo) was founded by German colonists between 1763 and 1768. Because some of these Germans participated in the Holocaust, the entire ethnic population was corraled. It was the site of a post-World War II concentration camp for the ethnic Germans (Donauschwaben). From 1946 to 1948, about 65,000 civilians died at the camps like the one at Gakovo. Many women and children were murdered by Serb Partisans."
How that engraving marks cam be on the Hewer....? More questions ,than answers.....

Some pics.Mark was engraved into blade tang.Same GEF 45,but it's located under the hilt ,you can see only 5.

pic2. 5 right before the hilt

pic3

pic4

pic5

pic6

Andrei,

I can say I've never seen anything like that, I'm more used to seeing something like this.

Mine has same kissing cranes on the other side,exactly like yours.Going to do more search

Who knows, I think you'll never know it. Who, why and when somebody made this GAKOWO inscription. There are plenty reasons.
Best, Lukas.