Dutch Produced W-SS Cufftitle "SS-Kriegsberichter"
Article about: Evening All! A few years ago, I ran into an old " friend" that I had not seen in a few years (over 10 now, how time flies!!) before that, not since the 80's when it was parted with
Dutch Produced W-SS Cufftitle "SS-Kriegsberichter"
Evening All!
A few years ago, I ran into an old " friend" that I had not seen in a few years (over 10 now, how time flies!!) before that, not since the 80's when it was parted with when I sold the bulk of my first collection to pay for University tuition...
A little back history on this cuff title...I was given this by the late Canadian war photographer Ken Bell, who was friends with my father and who attended the same Legion events with him from time to time. Ken was given this cuff title by a Canadian infantryman who thought that it would be 'right up his alley' as it were, a momento of a fellow war documentarist, albeit on the opposite side. The infantryman was believed to have obtained it from a Dutch SS P.O.W. in Canadian hands in either May or June of 1945.
My father has at least one of the cameras that Ken used while in the field and I am sure that it has captured some historical images to be certain.
It's funny in militaria circles how things get around, and it walked into a militaria shop in Quebec City with its new owner sometime after that, where it was retained in the shop owner's personal collection until it was recently reacquired again by yours truly.
With regards to this cuff title, it is made in the atypical Dutch fashion: hand embroidered in alu/silver bullion thread on a textured base cloth, Its edges are trimmed with a 3mm wide silver soutache type braid, attached with a single row of machine stitching on both the top and bottom of the cuff title. On the reverse, the embroidery is backed by what appears to be a type of impregnated canvas covered with a waxed or moisture proofed paper.
The cuff title appears to have been attached by silver or grey threads to the tunic, and exhibits the general wear and tear associated with field use. My collecting interests have narrowed since I first acquired this cuff title (I now collect SA and NSDAP) but I thought that the members here and elsewhere would appreciate seeing a fairly scare (if not rare...an often overused word to be certain) cuff title worn by a member of the propaganda cum war correspondence arm of the Dutch W-SS. I cannot imagine that there are many like this that survived the war: certainly this is the only one of this type that is available for viewing online.
In fact, one of the reasons I am posting pictures of this cuff title in detail for the very first time is that it has been used in online and book references (wholly unattributed, but such is life in the Wild West of the online world!) and I thought that perhaps better justice could be done to it by way of closeup photography with better lighting.
I am just getting back into the collecting world after a long absence due to academic upgrading...more to follow!
I have often wondered that myself, FB..I have had the SS-PK foto for many years as well, from a series of combat fotos used in a 1943 issue of Illustrierter Beobachter. Certainly, the foto went through the Holland PK bureau.
I acquired many such items from Ken Bell and others in the 80's when such things could be had fairly inexpensively..my GF says that the name Slapak sounds like it has Czech origins.
Thanks for the welcome fellows!...I follow with great interest the many forums here (and elsewhere) but have not had much time in the past few years to indulge in my chosen hobby.
A few members have e-mailed that Walter Slapak was a KB platoon leader with Wiking, so there's that at least!
David Delich gives his upcheck to this piece. Nice that we can see it here.
F-B
It is certainly an interesting piece. The skill of the embroiderer is obvious. Please send my thanks and best wishes to Mr. Delich and as always my best to you.
F-B
It is certainly an interesting piece. The skill of the embroiderer is obvious. Please send my thanks and best wishes to Mr. Delich and as always my best to you.
Thanks, dear friend. Due the fine sanitation of the moderators and Mr. Delich's willingness to shoulder the burden, he has kindly returned to the ranks after a half year's absence. Now you can avail yourself again of his wonderful knowledge, his wit and patience with many questions of a beginner or advanced nature.
We salute him and all fine members here who uphold the standards of the site and who have built it with much slow and exacting labor.
There is a group of us who is concerned with historical inquiry without all the frictional and self defeating behavior which is the norm in the internet
and which is spreading its cancer into the real world at horrific cost. The moderators fight a constant and frustrating battle.
Dutch Produced W-SS Cufftitle "SS-Kriegsberichter"
.
by Friedrich-Berthold
Bookmarks