Article about: This is the early S A kepi of Georg Heinrich Staab, a founding member of Standarte 18, Gruppe Kurpfalz. Staab joined the N S D A P and the S A in 1929. He was a true "Alterkampfer,"
This is the early S A kepi of Georg Heinrich Staab, a founding member of Standarte 18, Gruppe Kurpfalz. Staab joined the N S D A P and the S A in 1929. He was a true "Alterkampfer," being injured twice in fights
(once stabbed in the side) with the Red Front. He evidently was a highly honored member of his Standarte. Every Reichsparteitag, he was given the honor of carrying the Standarte's Deutschland Erwacht standarte. Staab grew through the ranks, eventually reaching the rank of Obersturmbannfuhrer during the war. Staab also was assigned to a one year service with Feldherrnhalle. His kepi shows much wear and evidence of some hard fighting. The photograph shows a young, boyish Staab as a new S A recruit.
BOB
LIFE'S LOSERS NEVER LEARN FROM THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS.
An early item with true use and wear has a definate charm, for me. I can appreciate the low survival rate if the Kampfzeit headgear as many were re-cycled or disgarded when Hitler took power and the standardization of Gruppe colors and insignae made them more colorful, but with less character of their bearers.
A wonderful find and even more wonderful with identification and the ability to place a face, and biography, with the piece.
The propagandistic aspect of the happy politischer Soldat and his stolze Frau.
Not everything was bashing the heads of Bolshevisten in Wedding, or chasing down prosperous "non Aryans" on the Fasanenstrasse.
Here is another propaganda picture with the mood of things. We have several examples of this head wear now arrayed on this site. Mr. Coleman owns several of these, and surely this SA Hitlermuetze in the sort of fashion picture is of the later type, with the colored facing.
When you see the early year's the build up of the party and how from 1919-1932 you wounder,if thay had know how much histoy there were about to impacked on.And that with in 70 year there stuff would be so sought after.
Josef Maria Rehse in Munich collected ephemera and regalia from an early date. The Hauptarchiv d. NSDAP (of which a microfilm edition exists) contained a lot of material deliberately collected by the NSDAP. There are articles about him and his collection in Nazi periodica of the era. The image I attached is one of a two volume contemporary history of the party, with illustrations of artifacts.
The Nazis were very historically oriented along with other aspects of the party, at least the thinkers of the party were thus. Historical consciousness was a key aspect of the movement and the use of various lineages, honors, heritages and traditions was a popular and important weapon in the party's arsenal of ideas.
A very distinct interpretation of history formed the basis of the movement, and the propaganda effort of the party sought to form new traditions and co opt old ones. And the uniform pieces were treated like little holy items from the start. See the series of laws that governed the use and production of these things.
These tradition names of party martyrs (Horst Wessel being the most prominent...) were also an attempt to seize on a secular religion of extreme nationalism and political violence. The street fighter who wore Mr. Coleman's cap was not an accident. The SA was as much a propaganda device and a means of political influence in the imponderables of power as it was to protect Nazi meetings and what not. So, while I am sure the average German of the era would be puzzled at what this material brings in terms of money, I do not think Goebbels and Himmler would be disappointed in some fundamental sense that there are those around the world going into hock to own such things. I do not think they would take kindly to punk rockers and other socially oriented types in their Klamotten, though.
The martyrdom of Horst Wessel as a means for Goebbels to conquer the so called Red Berlin represented among the earlier of the Nazi invented traditions.
This image is courtesy of UHM books, which has many interesting items of note. They do not really have bargains, but they know the material well.
In this same vein, here is a propaganda book on the SA in its several editions, the earliest of which appeared prior to 30 June 1934. It is not as rare as some things, but it also gives you a sense of the self conscious attempt to make contemporary events, people and things into something special, elevated and important. There were really dozens of books of various kinds with this instant tradition, and, likely, people must have collected insignia and whatnot, even if it was strictly illegal.
For awhile these popped up in ebay, but I do not examine the latter much any more.
Yes the Nazi were vary keen on makeing the most of everything thay did in order to make them self look like totel winners,thay were the real spin doctors! Thay even turn the most negative into a winning out look.
Well worn early SA kepi
.
Bookmarks