The Himmler's SS (36 page)

In September 1940, due to national economies, the 1933-pattern dagger was withdrawn from production for the duration of the war.

A more ornate SS dagger, to be worn only by officers and by those Old Guard NCOs and other ranks who had joined the organisation prior to 30 January 1933, was introduced by Himmler on 21 June 1936. Generally known as the ‘chained dagger', it was very similar to the 1933-pattern but was suspended by means of linked octagonal plates, finely embossed with death's heads and SS runes, and featured a central scabbard mount decorated with swastikas. The dagger could be worn only with the black uniform until 1943, when Waffen-SS and security police officers were permitted to sport it with their field-grey walking out dress, and were allowed to attach knots in the army style. Production of the chained dagger had to be discontinued at the end of 1943 because of material shortages, and its wear was subsequently forbidden for the duration of the war.

In addition to the standard 1933-pattern and 1936-pattern SS daggers, several special presentation variants were also produced. The first of these was the so-called Röhm SS Honour Dagger, 9,900 of which were distributed in February 1934 by SA Stabschef Ernst Röhm to members of the SS Old Guard. It took the form of a basic 1933-pattern dagger with the addition of the dedication ‘In herzlicher Kameradschaft, Ernst Röhm' (‘In heartfelt comradeship, Ernst Röhm') etched on the reverse of the blade. Following the ‘Night of the Long Knives', 200 similar daggers, etched ‘In herzlicher Kameradschaft, H. Himmler', were presented by the Reichsführer to SS personnel who had participated in the bloody purge of the SA. A very ornate and expensive SS honour dagger, with oakleaf-decorated crossguards, leather-covered scabbard and Damascus steel blade, was created by Himmler in 1936 for award to high-ranking officers in recognition of special achievement. When one was presented to the NSDAP Treasurer, Franz Xaver Schwarz, he responded by secretly commissioning the Eickhorn firm to produce an even more elaborate example, with fittings and chain hanger in solid silver, which he then gave to Himmler as a birthday present!

The 1936-pattern chained SS dagger, with regulation portepee knot authorised in 1943 for wear by officers of the Waffen-SS, Sipo and SD.

During the 1933–6 era, SS officers and NCOs engaged in ceremonial duties were permitted to wear a variety of privately purchased army-pattern sabres, often with silver rather than regulation gilt fittings. In 1936, however, a series of standardised swords in the classic straight-bladed ‘Degen' style, was introduced specifically for members of the SS and police, emphasising the close relationship between the two organisations. There were minor differences between Degen for officers and those for NCOs, while SS swords featured runes on the grip and police examples the police eagle. Policemen who were also members of the SS could sport the SS runes on the pommel of their police sword. Personnel attached to SS Reiterstandarten retained the traditional curved sabre for use on horseback.

The SS officer's sword, which was referred to as the Ehrendegen des Reichsführers-SS, or Reichsführer's Sword of Honour, was given an elevated status and could not be worn automatically by every SS officer. It was bestowed by Himmler only upon selected Allgemeine-SS commanders and graduates of the Waffen-SS Junkerschulen at Bad Tölz and Braunschweig. Each presentation of the Ehrendegen was accompanied by a citation in which the Reichsführer instructed the recipient: ‘Ich verleihe Ihnen den Degen der SS. Ziehen Sie ihn niemals ohne Not! Stecken Sie ihn niemals ein ohne Ehre!' (‘I award you the SS sword. Never draw it without reason, or sheathe it without honour!'). Awards of the officer's sword, like those of the death's head ring, were recorded in the
Dienstaltersliste
, which reveals that only 86 per cent of even the most senior SS commanders were entitled to wear it. That percentage can be broken down as follows:

The Ehrendegen des Reichsführers-SS, or Reichsführer's Sword of Honour.

Manufacture of the Ehrendegen ceased on 25 January 1941.

Still more exclusive were the so-called ‘Geburtstagsdegen', or ‘birthday swords', given by Himmler to SS generals and other leading Nazi personalities as birthday presents. They were made to order by Germany's master swordsmith, Paul Müller, Director of the SS Damascus School at Dachau, and featured hallmarked silver fittings and blades of the finest Damascus steel with exquisitely raised and gilded personal dedications from Himmler. The sword gifted to von Ribbentrop on his birthday in 1939, for example, bore the golden legend ‘Meinem lieben Joachim von Ribbentrop zum 30.4.39 – H. Himmler, Reichsführer-SS' set between two swastikas. Hitler received a similar weapon, the blade inscription of which extolled the virtues and loyalty of the entire SS officer corps. Müller continued producing Geburtstagsdegen on commission from Himmler until 1944.

The regalia of the Allgemeine-SS also included an extensive range of flags and banners. From 4 July 1926, the SS had the distinction of keeping the most revered flag in the Third Reich, the Blutfahne, which had been carried at the head of the Nazi Old Guard during the Munich putsch when they were fired upon by the police. It was splattered with the gore of those shot during the encounter and was thereafter considered to be something of a ‘holy relic'. SS-Mann Jakob Grimminger from the Munich SS detachment, a veteran of the First World War Gallipoli campaign and participant in the 1922 ‘Battle of Coburg', was accorded the honour of being appointed the first official bearer of the Blutfahne and he retained that position throughout his career. Grimminger was a wood-carver by trade, and had no particular qualification as the Reich's ‘number one standard-bearer', other than the fact that he had been a ‘tail-end' marcher when the shooting started at the Feldherrnhalle. By April 1944, when the Blutfahne made its last public appearance at the funeral of Adolf Wagner, Gauleiter of Munich-Upper Bavaria, Grimminger had attained the rank of SS-Standartenführer, his association with the mystical flag having assured him a steady succession of promotions.

Every Allgemeine-SS Standarte was represented by a banner, or Feldzeichen, which was itself known as the regimental ‘Standarte'. Somewhat reminiscent of the ancient Roman vexillum banner, it took the form of a wooden pole surmounted by a metal eagle and wreathed swastika, below which was a black and silver boxed nameplate. The plate bore the SS area name (e.g. ‘Kassel' or ‘Giessen') or regimental honour title (e.g. ‘Julius Schreck' or ‘Loeper') on the front and the initials ‘NSDAP' on the back. From the box was suspended a red silk flag with a black static swastika on a white circle. The motto ‘Deutschland Erwache' (‘Germany Awake') was embroidered in white thread on the obverse, with ‘Nat. Soz. Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – Sturmabteilung' on the reverse. The whole item was finished off with a black/white/red fringe and tassels. Apart from the black name box, the SS Feldzeichen was identical to that of the SA. When an SS unit achieved roughly regimental proportions, it was awarded a Feldzeichen in a mass pseudoreligious ceremony known as the Fahnenweihe which took place each September as part of the annual NSDAP celebrations at Nürnberg. During the proceedings, Hitler would present many new standards to regimental commanders and touch them with the Blutfahne which Grimminger was carrying alongside, so linking in spirit the most recent SS members with the martyrs of the Munich putsch. The table below shows all the area names which featured on Allgemeine-SS infantry Feldzeichen (i.e. those not bearing honour titles or the name of the regimental HQ town) and the Standarten to which they referred.

Himmler placing a wreath at the Feldherrnhalle on the eleventh anniversary of the Munich putsch, 9 November 1934. The Blood Banner, held by Jakob Grimminger in traditional brownshirt uniform, stands in the background. A ‘Mahnmal' or Martyrs' Monument was erected at this spot, and every member of the public walking past it was obliged to give the Nazi salute. Two SS men guarded the monument in perpetuity.

SS Reiterstandarten carried similar but distinctive Feldzeichen which had the ‘Deutschland Erwache' flag hanging from a wooden bar fixed at right angles to the standard pole. In place of the name box, these cavalry standards featured a black patch, or Fahnenspiegel, on the flag cloth, bearing crossed lances and the unit numeral in silver.

Each SS Sturmbann was represented by a Sturmbannfahne, or Battalion Flag, in the form of a swastika flag with black and silver twisted cord edging. In the upper left corner or canton, a black Fahnenspiegel was embroidered in silver thread, with the Sturmbann and Standarte numbers in Roman and Arabic numerals, respectively.

Allgemeine-SS standards. Top: The ‘Deutschland Erwache' standard or Feldzeichen, of the 1st SS Fuss-Standarte ‘Julius Schreck'; bottom left: battalion flag of Sturmbann III of the 1st SS Fuss-Standarte; bottom right: cavalry standard of the 15th SS Reiterstandarte. (Reproduced from the Organisationsbuch der NSDAP, 1938 edition.)

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