What is the difference between uniforms made by Reitz and those made by E. Reitz ?
During the past years , I received many questions about the difference between the two stamps “Reitz” and “E. Reitz” on German uniforms.
In fact these are two different companies !
Reitz
The Reitz company already existed well before the war broke out. Therefore it is common to find early uniforms with the Reitz stamp.
We encountered Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe uniforms bearing this marking.
The Reitz company continued to make uniforms well into 1944. Therefore it is also logical to find M43 and later uniforms with their marking.
I have not been able to retrace the whereabouts of this company nor to find out where exactly they had factories.
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E. & W. Reitz
In 1921 Erich and his brother Wilhelm founded the “Kleiderfabrik E & W Reitz” in Barmen – Wuppertal Germany.
Somewhere between Oct 1938 and Jan 1940 they changed the companies’ name into E. & W. Reitz Uniformwerk.
The E & W Reitz Uniformwerk remained in business till 1945.
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| The E & W Reitz Uniformwerk stamp on a 1942 pattern winter trousers. | The E & W Reitz Uniformwerk stamp on a cotton tropical kriegsmarine jacket. These jackets did not exist in 1940 or 1941. Another proof this stamp was in use later than 1941 |
E. Reitz
The E. Reitz company was founded by Erich Reitz when he moved from Wuppertal Germany to Merksem near Antwerp in december 1940.
Both he and his brother remained executive directors of the company E & W Reitz in Wuppertal.
So Erich had one and a half companies, where his brother Wilhelm only had half. In reality Wilhelm was the director in chief of the Wuppertal plant, where Erich was running all the other plants.
Since he signed the rental agreement for the building at Merksem in december 1940, the earliest production of uniforms would have been in the beginning of 1941.
We have delivery notes of equipment from Wuppertal to Antwerp starting on 22 Jan 1941 and ending 23 March 1941.
So it is highly unlikely to encounter the M36 uniforms with an E. Reitz stamp.
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