In an older Article on „Nazi-Chess“ (https://schach.chess.com/blog/batgirl/nazi-chess) Batgirl gives some background information on the "Deutsches Bundesform" (German Federation Pattern). But at least in one aspect she is not quite correct when she states that those sets were produced until the 1990s.

Although the sets are no longer as common as they used to be until the 90s you will see them every now and then in matches in lower club leagues. So I think that these pieces deserve an own thread with some photos I found on the web.

In my opinion the design isn’t something that had a political background but was mostly inspired by the Bauhaus design.

Keres vs. Pirc, Munich 1936

“Design Pieces” by DGT

Fritz himself owns a set of Munich-36-pieces

And even Magnus recently played with them

Nice set, looks Bauhaus. Thanks for posting.

are there any German chess retailers that still sell Bundesform sets, Gerd?

Yes, there are.

The most common set is sold by:
http://www.schachversand.de/d/detail/material/339.html
http://www.edition-marco-shop.de/Schachfiguren-modern-de-luxe-Bundesform-Kh93
http://www.eurochess.de/schachmaterial/schachfiguren/schachfiguren-modern-style-angelehnt-an-die-deutsche-bundesform.html

A different set can be found at:
http://www.amazon.de/Philos-2150-Schachfiguren-K%C3%B6nigsh%C3%B6he-Figurenbox/dp/B0006A3IHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458655878&sr=8-1&keywords=philos+romulus

here are some additional pics, courtesy of the online chess museum:

Vielen Dank...

Fascinating thread. Many thanks.

Well...what I have to show:

" The form dates from the 30ies, specially designed for the 1936 chess olympics in Munich, destined to showcase both Nazi prowess and German chess! (...) Used exclusively at the Chess Olympics in Munich 1936 - and in german club competition after WW 2!"

The owner of Chess Museum in is site.

And yes, this set never dies in chess clubs, Till today this set is alive in some clubs, and sometimes "resurrects" with some replica-variations-some horrendus!

This set is beautiful? No! This set is suitable for competition? No?

Is A piece of History, and a political-ideological set in is conception. Above all is a "Panzer" set. A chess set like as  battle tank. Difficult, very difficult for any of these pieces break even falling from a table. a chess set solid, massive, almost linear, like the old cliche "the German shows his race". But no more!
After a few hours with this set, we fell  tired, annoyed by the aggressive and little slender presence of pieces. Let's say it's a set  that strange one, but do not fall in love.

 My prewar "Bundesform"...I think!

Fascinating, Arlindo. Do you think it is appropriate to call this a Bauhaus set? The Nazis closed the Bauhaus school in 1933, and most of its adherents fled Germany. As the excellent article linked below explains, Hitler chose Speer's "Hansel and Gretel Gothic" design over Goebbels' industrial modernism. Certainly the Bundesform set better reflects Goebbels' tastes than Speer's or Hitler's. What can the historian tell us about just who designed this hideously ugly set, and how it came to be approved by the Nazi culture ministry?

Panzer Set is a clever characterization, but to my jaundiced eye, the German Panzers are, function and politics aside, better-looking. And if you penetrate the deadly beauty of their angled armor plating, you find machines fatally flawed in their uber-complexity, quite the opposite of the Bundesform pieces, which are simply häßlich.

If anything, the pawns remind me of a squad of Wehrmacht infantry in their Stahlhelme, and the bishops resemble collared Mauser rounds.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2002/nov/30/architecture.artsfeatures

 
I will try to translate a paragraph from the german Wikipedia:

In 1934 Ehrhard Post announced on behalf of Otto Zander head of the German Chess Federation, in the Deutsche Schachblätter (German Chess Pages): “Bundesform [Federation Pattern] for playing chess. According to my draft and design a new model of chessmen haven been produced which do excel the previous sets in terms of appearance, stability and cheapness by far. Chess-clubs are advised to introduce gradually the new Bundesform instead of the former pieces.”

Vielen Dank, Gerd. Does this suggest that Post himself designed these pieces?

And, in Arlindo's picture of Engels, isn't Zander sporting an SA uniform? Wasn't he of some rank within the SA?

Yes, Zander was a leading NSDAP party member. According to German Wikipedia, he was one of the drivers behind throwing all Jewish players out of the German Chess Federation and barring them from all organized tournament play in 1933.

“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder” Plato

I personally like my modernized double weighted, 95 mm King, Bundesform set.

Andreas, and Plato "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”

Right , but to this set I'm blind! Collector of Dozens of german chess sets this is
the ugly duck that does not turn into a swan. Ah, I have two old Bundesform!

From my friend Nicolas Lanier in is marvellous site "Chess Museum"

"Deutsche Bundesform" - 3.Reich pieces...

"Deutsche Bundesform" - I find myself in the situation of having to answer my own post - but here is an interesting answer to it, and a bit of information.
The answer arrives in the first number - english language version -  of the excellent german culture-oriented magazine "Karl" .  Karl has been around for 8 years, has established a reputation for superbly researched historical and culture-oriented articles on chess - and now has decided to conquer the english language market, where only New in Chess Magazine provides on occasion similar material (of top quality, ofcourse).

It seems the Nazi authorities and the local Munich Nazi tops wanted to spare no effort ot make the Munich 1936 Olympiad a resounding success for the "New Germany" they were propagating. Part of preparation was to have a new chess set designed - the one mentioned above - in order to repel the Staunton sets invented in "treacherous Albion", and adopted by a still fledlging FIDE. 
 Please read the whole article by Michael Negele (of the Ken Whyld Association), it is very interesting. Certainly a few hundred sets were made, and used throughout the Munich event.

These chess pieces seem to have had a long life after the war in German clubs, until replaced as is natural by newer pieces. The average life span of a wooden set in active club life will rarely exceed 30 years, because pieces get lost, broken, or simply chipped and chapped - and club members change as well.

For the "Bundesform" set, it remains to determine who designed these sets, in which manufactury(ies) were they produced, and where did the postwar set in the same style originate from. “

From the recent german and wonderful site “schachmuseum.com”:

“Die deutsche Bundesform wurde wohl von Ehrhardt Post um 1936 entworfen - damals Bundesgeschäftsführer des Grossdeutschen Schachbundes  - und über das Verbandsblatt den Vereinen dringend zur Übernahme anstand der "ausländischen Figuren" (sprich Staunton) empfohlen. Dieser Empfehlung kamen die Schachspieler nolens volens wohl scharenweise nach - einerseits, weil man ja abhängig war, auch finanziell, andererseits, weil vermutlich die Manufakturen angewiesen wurden , keine Stauntons, Regence- oder Kaffeehausfiguren  zu erzeugen! Bundesform-Figuren wurden zweifellos in Borstendorf, wohl auch in Nürnberg und im Bayrischen Wald bei Stiehler (nachmals Bayerswald) und sicher auch in anderen Drechslereien gefertigt, und zwar in grossen Mengen. Auch nach dem 2. Weltkrieg wurde weiter in Bundesform gemacht - die Figuren sind ungemein robust, leicht zu fertigen, und waren offenbar auch von den Spielern akzeptiert worden. In der DDR wurde die Bundesform bis zum Ende des Volkseigenen Betriebs Grünhainichen in Borstendorf erzeugt, und auch im Westen verkauft - bei westdeutschen Drechslern dürfte es mit der Bundesform früher zu Ende gegangen sein. Offenbar hat man auch im Odenwald noch Bundesform in Horn als Geschenkartikel gedrechselt, wie der unten ausgestellte Satz belegt “

Ah! Fine is to have The "Karl" Chess Magazine and read the Negele article. I haven't the magazine.

I just wanted to wind up this old thread an show You my latest acquisition from ebay.

Josef Hartwig designed a chess set in 1924 that is on display at the Bauhaus Museum in Berlin. It looks nothing like the Bundesform chess sets on this thread. I concur with Arlindo. 

What about this strange chess set , could you tell me if you can identify the type ? Looks very similar with the Bundesform chess pattern but is cleary an older version . I'm saying this because the pieaces are clearly worked manually and some size differences are visible.

I find most of the German blocky Knights to be brutalist and ugly, like Brutalist architecture.

Yes , most probably the most brutalist and ugly chess knights and nobody knows nothing about them