Black SS uniform in wear, 1943

[Woolgar]

This is off the WAF, and the poster has his Kripo disc and ID card.
Pic is dated 1942--note the EK ribbon. Note the wear of the M-36 Dagger, and the piped SD Raute:

Stonemint

The guy in your picture looks like Anton Diffring from the classic films Where Eagles Dare, Heroes of Telemark and Operation daybreak

Nick

[stonemint]

Probably the closest there is to an A-SS uniform worn by an RKT--
Max Wuensche wearing one of his pre-war cut tunics after being awarded the RK in '43:

[stonemint]

KvK winnter Ernst Ritter wearing his black uniform in 1942:

[stonemint]

KvK winner Albrecht Brummenbaum wearing his black uniform on the day of his award, October 1, 1944:

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thanks for additional data. I have seen images of the black uniform in wear later in the fall of 1944, in fact.

So much for the assertion that the black uniform vanished with the start of the war.

The officer corps of the SS consisted of a large cohort of personages in civil society in positions of leadership in party and state with SS leaders' rank.

In its own way such was as essential to the organization as was the relatively small officer corps of the armed SS formations, later Waffen SS, which gets so much play in these websites. When I write "small," I mean in comparison to NATO and Warsaw pact armies, or to armies of the present with their large, if not bloated officer corps. The contrast in the size of staffs and command echelons between German organization of the early and mid 20th century could not be larger with what exists today and forms a frame of reference for some here.

Serious collectors can do worse than to purchase the reprints of the SS rank lists and read them carefully in their totality.

This Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt personage has a wonderful uniform, which I imagine had turned to ash and dust within a few months of this picture. Of course, millions of human beings died in the same period, which is more important, surely, than my interest in his clothes.

Politik ist Scheisse.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

For those who wish to own such objects, v Lukacs has this piece for sale. Has anyone examined it? Is it worth this price in the present idiom?

I have not yet seen a uniform from the former GDR area, i.e. Saxony/Erzgebirge. This makes the piece exceptional. That is, the bulk of uniform have originated in what in the years 1945-1955 were US zones of occupation/stationing of troops, or, in the event, the British zone.

[Walter]

There is something I'm wondering. My interest is primarily in SD/Sipo, and on every wartime photo of SD officers I've seen, they are wearing field grey uniforms. What I want to know is, were there any official regulations regarding this? For instance, if an SD officer showed up on duty wearing a black uniform, would there be any repercussions?

[BOB COLEMAN]

There is something I'm wondering. My interest is primarily in SD/Sipo, and on every wartime photo of SD officers I've seen, they are wearing field grey uniforms. What I want to know is, were there any official regulations regarding this? For instance, if an SD officer showed up on duty wearing a black uniform, would there be any repercussions?

Walter-
The black uniform was strictly worn for dress. There were few occasions during the war that this uniform would have worn in lieu of the gray service uniform. If an occasion called for the wear of the black uniform, an order issuing the uniform of the day would certainly be issued.

[Walter]

Thank you, that clears things up.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

There is something I'm wondering. My interest is primarily in SD/Sipo, and on every wartime photo of SD officers I've seen, they are wearing field grey uniforms. What I want to know is, were there any official regulations regarding this? For instance, if an SD officer showed up on duty wearing a black uniform, would there be any repercussions?

I am not aware of this kind of thing instance during the war. You should look at Mollo's vol. 5 which deals with SD/Sipo and especially the annexes on orders of dress. The Beaver books are not as easy to understand on this score.

Our Canadian friend has all the regulations in more or less digitalized or scannable form, and maybe he can help here.

The figures in the images above in the years 1941-1944 were personages in state and society with various offices as well as SS rank. Whether the people in the Rasse- und Siedlunghauptamt wore a black uniform every day in 1942, I would doubt. Rather, I think these people above were likely figures in associations, civil service, etc. who also had SS rank and were attached in their part time billets to certain SS agencies, but someone else can answer this, likely on the Axis history forum with its crack savants.

The Beaver book cites various directives from Heini H as concerns the black uniform being suspended in wear in the armed SS, i.e. SSVT and SSTV with the start of the war, but I think part timers retained their black uniform. Do recall that in the first months of the war, no one expected that things would unfold as they did until 1945.