Article about: This was the membership card which was kept on every member of the SS. I have three in my collection. All came out of Gdansk, Poland after the fall of communism. The first card I will show i
This was the membership card which was kept on every member of the SS. I have three in my collection. All came out of Gdansk, Poland after the fall of communism.
The first card I will show is an earlier issue card. It gives, like the other two I will show, the man's name, SS number, NSDAP number, photograph, date of birth and unit (in all these cases they are Allgemeine SS Standartes). The card should have been signed by the man, but as you will see, this was not always done.
The card has a facsimile of Himmler's signature on the reverse along with an actual ink signature of the authorising Officer, usually a fairly high ranking officer. More on this later. There is also a paper stamp to show his dues are paid up.
The card are well made with a background design of interlocked swastikas. They are also embossed with the unit stamp, plus an ink stamp too. They display well the German love of record keeping!
I love research and I have done a little on the man who signed the above card. He had an interesting career in the SS. His name was:
ROCH, Heinz
SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei / SS-Obersturmführer d.R. (W-SS) / M.d.R.
Born: 17. Jan. 1905 in Essen.
Suicide: 10. May 1945 in Trondheim, Norway.
NSDAP-Nr.: 34 475 (Joined, 1922; left after München Putsch of 9. Nov. 1923; Rejoined, 19. Jun. 1926)
SS-Nr.: 2 883 (Joined 1. Aug. 1930)
Promotions:
Oberst der Polizei: 20. Apr. 1942
SS-Obersturmfuhrer d. R. der Waffen-SS): 1. Sep. 1941
SS-Untersturmfuhrer d. R. der Waffen-SS: 21. Jun. 1940
SS-Oberfuhrer: 5. May 1934
SS-Standartenfuhrer: 6. Nov. 1932
SS-Sturmbannfuhrer: 14. Sep. 1931
SS-Sturmführer: 20. Aug. 1931
SS-Truppführer: 18 Nov. 1930
Career:
SS und Polizeiführer "Nord-Norwegen": 21. Nov. 1944 - 8. May 1945.
Responsible for POW's in Wehrkreis I: Oct./Nov. 1944.
SS und Polizeiführer "Bialystok": 18. Jun. 1944 - 22. Oct. 1944.
b. HöSSPF "Ukraine": May/Jun. 1944.
SS-Standortkommandeur "Simferopol": May 1944.
Kdr.d.Sipo u. SD Simferopol: May 1943 - May 1944.
Office head under Kdr.d.Sipo u.SD Simferopol: ____ - May 1943.
SS und Polizeiführer "Taurien-Krim-Simferopol": 3. Mar. 1943 - 25. Dec. 1943.
SS und Polizeigebietsführer "Aleschki" (briefly): Dec. 1942 -
Assigned to HSSPF "Rußland-Mitte": Jan. 1942 -
[Chief of security for construction of a main supply road from Poland to southern Russia: Jan. 1942 - Nov. 1942, then Inspector of staff for the roads construction: Nov. 1942 - Mar. 1943]
Assigned to "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler": (1. Sep. 1941)
Assigned to SS-Totenkopf-Division: (21. Jun. 1940)
Führer SS-Abschnitt XXII (Allenstein): 1. Mar. 1937 - 8. May 1945.
Führer 18.SS-Standarte "Ostpreußen" (Königsberg): 1. Apr. 1936 - 1. Mar. 1937.
Führer SS-Abschnitt XXXII (Augsburg): 15. Mar. 1936 - 1. Apr. 1936.
Führer SS-Abschnitt I (München): 17. Apr. 194 - 15. Mar. 1936.
Führer 7.SS-Standarte (Zwickau): 5. Apr. 1934 - 5. May 1934.
Führer 46.SS-Standarte (Dresden): 16. Dec. 1933 - 5. Apr. 1934.
Member of the Reichstag (Electoral District Düsseldorf-West): 12. Nov. 1933 -
Member of the Preußischen Landtages (NSDAP Faction):
Führer 25.SS-Standarte "Ruhr" (Essen): 13. Jul. 1932 - 16. Dec. 1933.
Führer I.Sturmbann / 25.SS-Standarte (Essen): Oct. 1931 - Nov. 1931.
Führer 1.Sturm/I.Sturmbann / 25.SS-Standarte (Essen): Aug. 1931 - Oct. 1931.
Assigned to SS-Sturm 47 (Essen): 1. Aug. 1930 - Oct. 1931.
Joined SS: 1. Aug. 1930.
Rejoind NSDAP: 19. Jun. 1926.
Joined SA: May 1926.
Frontbann service: Sep. 1925 - Jun. 1926.
Joined NSDAP: 1922; left in wake of München Putsch, 9. Nov. 1923.
Ater completing trade school, worked in agriculture, forestry, a factory, and as a miner. Imprisoned by French occupation forces in the Ruhr for Nazi political activities, Mar. 1923. Later amnestied. Worked for an auto dealership, 1928 - 1931.
As 'Max History' has pointed out, I might be wrong; that may not be the signature of Otto Wilhelm Lange after all. Based on Lange's promotion dates it actually can't be him so it looks like I have spoken too soon! I'm going through all of my SS officer references to try and ID the SS Officer's name, but so far I haven't been able to come up with a match. I'm rather confident that the last three letters of the sig in question are "...nge" but i have been unable to find a name that begins with an "H" (as Max is suggesting) and ends with "...nge"
Sütterlin can be tricky - especially when written hastily - as even a slight variation in shape or form can throw you off. If that first letter is a "L" then I'm rather confident it's "Lange" - but for now, the search continues.
Here’s a rather early SS-Ausweis to a SS-Mann with a rather low SS number from my collection of about two dozen or so SS, SS-Unterführer and SS-Führer Ausweis.
This Ausweis was issued through the 60.SS-Standarte on 19 July 1933 to Bruno Hundsdörfer, SS number 74,141. The authorizing signature on the reverse is that of SS-Standartenführer Heinrich Krause when he was still a Sturmbannführer who – as of now – I have yet to find much information on.
The card itself is quite worn and tattered, but none-the-less an unquestionably original 'textbook' example of an early SS-Ausweis that I am happy to share. Very few SS-Ausweis have survived the tests of time and as a result they are considered to be both rare and highly desirable... especially those that feature the individual SS uniform (even more rare are those Ausweis that show the original owner wearing a piece of SS headgear!)
The SS Ausweis
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so it looks like I have spoken too soon! I'm going through all of my SS officer references to try and ID the SS Officer's name, but so far I haven't been able to come up with a match. I'm rather confident that the last three letters of the sig in question are "...nge" but i have been unable to find a name that begins with an "H" (as Max is suggesting) and ends with "...nge"
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