Black SS NCO Schirmmutze by Heinrich Wille

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I also expect that by posting this material some of you may learn more, and others we do not know will be trapped by even better fakes. The latter fact has made me much more reluctant than I once was, made triply more so by the hateful, paranoid, and spiteful ejaculations of some lame brains on the other site.
This feature has especially changed my attitude about the republic of learning on this site, which is turning totally into anarchy.

[BenVK]

Yet again, my assumptions are clearly way off the mark and I thank you again for setting the record straight. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing or so they say...

I actualy find dredging through all the RZM information such a bore. As a publication, the Mitteilungsblatt der RZM is about as interesting as reading this magazine!

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Oh well. We all learn in a kind of non linear way, and this very non linear if one is somewhat fresh to it. I am used to this stuff. Thanks and we will discover more arcane junk.

[BenVK]

I found some photos of my old cap that was polished and cleaned to within an inch of it's life by the previous owner. You can kind of understand why the polish of the TK, it had that black patina that occures to some insignia.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Very handsome and nice with the VA issue stamp. Those are the exception.
Happy hats.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Yet again, my assumptions are clearly way off the mark and I thank you again for setting the record straight. A little information is a dangerous thing or so they say...

I actualy find dredging through all the RZM information such a bore. As a publication, the Mitteilungsblatt der RZM is about as interesting as reading this magazine!

History is a difficult thing and you have helped us with your bold desire to push things forward. I like the sources and am used to them. Actually, the RZM material is pretty bracing, especially if you read between the lines. I am very used to official German correspondence in its historical and actual dimension.
That is, as lived in person by a quirk of fate.
thanks and onwards to more old headwear.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The page from the Mitteilungsblatt ca. November 1934 announcing the introduction of the white RZM tag with SS runics. together with others.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The chronological order of subsequent tags and other details, such that anyone really knows them for certain, I shall leave to others. The tag in the Wille cap is, of course, of a later date, as seen by the stamp on the sweat band.
The enclosure above has been faked more or less since Mollo unveiled it to the world in the late 1960s.

Here is one of these in situ, always a thing of joy to this small minded collector and seeker of esoteric aspects of mass politics and organized violence in the 20th century.

In this case, the retail outlet's license number is included, as are all the other numbers...in their number!

How can anyone care about all of this?

Also, I do not want to make the fakes better with this effort, so there. Damn me.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

In reading the Mitteilungsblaetter for 1934, one finds that the faking of Nazi stuff was in full blast at the time, so why are we so upset about it?

This little zinger was a result of fake SS things, or SS things that somehow did not conform to regulations, which were endless, always changing, confusing and otherwise somehow very Nazi and bureaucratic. One had to sign a legal declaration that one was going to adhere to the rules, which is to suggest that many did not. In fact, the RZM circular is a lot like the SS circulars, filled with endless nasty grams and aw sh!ts which are familiar to those of us with military lives, but which goes completely against the fantasy world embraced by purveyors of the idea that no Nazi ever diverged from the rules. There is a great deal of Freudian projection here, which would make the Nazis upset, even those who followed the rules.