Authentic SS General Schirmmütze Thread

[Friedrich-Berthold]

But the grey one has its own poetry, and when one deepens one's self in the subtle details of these things, I am always astonished at the rise and fall saga that adheres to all of it; that is, the ultimate futility of power and the capacity for people to make the world into hell. The zig zag stitch on bottom piping of the cheapened SS general's cap, with the junky insignia betrays how the expert cap maker of a few years before was either dead in an air raid, or drafted into the forces and long gone and some poor benighted soul was making such caps in the waning phases of the war and on and on....

[M18922]

...how the expert cap maker of a few years before was either dead in an air raid, or drafted into the forces...

I always thought the expert muetzenmachers were exempt from being drafted into service. Mainly because of their important role of supplying uniforms to the people and their hard to find skill.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

As the war proceeded, more and more men were sent into battle without exception and in 1944 many German cities were burned from the air with casualties and such.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Also, many of the persons you show, Patrick, were slave laborers, which further speaks to my point that the cap maker of, say, 1937, was in 1942 or 1943 dead on the Eastern Front. And in certain cases, the persons you show were then murdered within a year of the photos being taken.


A propaganda view in 1943, but you can see between the appearance of determination and rhetoric to the reality.


1943 12 24 Berlin Aprés les Bombardements - YouTube

[M18922]

I am very sorry, I had no idea the photos I shown were of slave labour. I have removed them.

Thanks for the link. A very interesting video.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I am so sorry, I had no idea the photos I shown were of slave labour. I have removed them.

Thanks for the link. A very interesting video.

No need to remove anything, but the photos are indeed of laborers in ghettos that, in nearly all cases, were later all "liquidated" in the further stages of mass murder.

I have images from 1936 or so of cap makers some where; but my point is simple, that they likely got conscripted or surely found other uses than the making of caps in peacetime in Berlin free of enemy bombs and the chaos of war. That is, a less skilled person made the grey SS general's cap that we blundered upon in this thread.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The same cap is for sale with Martin at Hannah's Reich I believe.
http://www.hannahsreich.co.uk/viewph...h=2777&phqu=10

yes, it is, surely. How these things circulate.

[stonemint]

Here is the attestation from the son of the vet. I have no doubt the story got mixed-up over the years:

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I place no credence in such stories whatsoever, sorry to say. The auctioneer often has some very good things, to include a nice black SS uniform a couple of years ago. This auction also has what strikes me as a very real Deutschland Erwache/SA Feldzeichen flag, too.

- - Updated - -

The cap is real and as such contrasts with the mountains of depressing fakes.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Many notable items of uniform came from "Dachau" in its variety, or from the greater environs of Munich, with its many SS facilities.
This kind of legend and myth making I have been exposed to for fifty years of my collecting life, and the hyper retelling of these things in the 21st century replete with the mise en scene of the internet makes them no less true than in the gun show or stamp shop or hock shop of several decades ago.