Military life and training-2-Service souvenirs
Service souvenirs were important and are often seen in pictures and today’s surviving relics. They took many different forms, from the traditional beer stein to schnapps flasks, walking sticks, pipes, individual pictures, and mother’s cups. These souvenirs were not provided by the unit and were purchased by the individual soldier to celebrate the end of active service time.
One of the symbols you see frequently in group pictures is §11, often painted on the bottom of the barrel. There is controversy about what this symbol means, though there are basically two different interpretations. The first one is fairly straightforward. It suggests that it refers to the paragraph in the Wehrordnung governing Reservepflicht and refers either to the end of the active commitment or the required service in the reserves. Soldiers counted down the amount of time they still had to serve before they finished active service and entered the reserves. The second explanation seems to be the more popular one, as it refers to an interpretation of one of the student beer laws. The concept is that the first ten sections were blank and the eleventh encouraged a person to drink more. There are no real citations to validate either interpretation.
Another common picture is one of a soldier riding a ram (male sheep). There are several versions of this tradition, but the most often told is that the ram had a strong odor and was placed in the stables to keep the young recruit guards from leaving their post and trying to take a nap inside the stables or attempting to have an illegal rendezvous inside with a female companion. As offensive as the ram was, some soldiers would go to any lengths to see a local girl. In the pictures, these girls are often depicted as holding onto the ram’s tail representing an undaunted girl.
Another version has the word Hammel (the word for an idiot) used as an insult, “Blöder Hammel!” (Stupid ram!) A new recruit was called a Bock (ram), just as older recruits close to being discharged were called alte Knochen (old bones). Moreover, whenever a young recruit entered a barracks room with older recruits, he had to recite the verse: “Gott grüß euch, alte Knochen. Ein Hammel kommt gekrochen.” (Good day, old bones, an idiot is crawling closer) or “Ein Hammel ruft ins Ofenloch: Reserve hat (number) Tage noch” (An idiot is calling into the open stove door; Reserves only have (number) days left).
Soldiers were also notoriously poor and made far less than men in the civilian world. Soldiers pay also had to cover their personal needs. They had a hot lunch, coffee twice a day and 750 g. of bread. Anything more than that, including laundry, had to come from the approximate 2.2 Mark they were paid every ten days. Girlfriends and parents frequently supplemented the income of soldiers.
