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Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

Article about: Me and her were going through old pictures that her grandmother (RIP) had from her childhood in Germany and we came across pictures neither of us had ever seen. We knew he had died fighting

  1. #1
    WorldWarIIBuff
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    Default Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    Me and her were going through old pictures that her grandmother (RIP) had from her childhood in Germany and we came across pictures neither of us had ever seen. We knew he had died fighting for Germany but we didn't know what 'sector' he was in...well, we found out today it was the SS. I'll try to scan some of those pics so some of the experts can identify exactly which sector of the SS it was but I believe it was the Waffen SS. I know the uniform he's wearing is the exact one I'm looking to buy. It's got the red band swastika around the left arm, the Nazi eagle on the top of the hat along with the skeleton right below it. We were amazed at the pictures. I'll scan a few later.


    BTW - I feel ridiculous but wouldn't her grandmother's brother be her Great Uncle? That's the relation. I felt ridiculous that I didn't know that off the top of my head.


    Anyways, thought I'd share that with the board. Now, if I can only find which relative of hers in Germany has that uniform.

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  3. #2

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    Hi, I look forwards to seeing the photos.

    The pics you describe sound like he was a member of the Allgemeine SS. He may well have later entered the Waffen SS.

    Great Uncle is the correct relationship

    Cheers, Ade.

  4. #3

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    Many members of the Allgemeine SS, that is, the part time, volunteer bulk of the Gesamt SS, later joined the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS.

    The pre war armed SS, i.e. the SS Verfuegungstruppe and the SS Totenkopfverbaende also wore a black uniform as a dress uniform.

    Here an early image of a Leibstandarte SS man as seen by an artist of the time as well as others from the SSVT, Allgemeine SS and SSTV. Viz: top row, LAH illustration, Allgemeine SS men at Nuremberg
    2d row, Allgemeine SS officer's uniform (Coleman collection); SSTV black uniform cuff title (private collection)
    3d row, SSVT signals btl. troops in parade uniform ca. 1937
    4th row, caps of somewhat early date (private collection)

    The issue of colors of these uniforms in the years 1933-1945 fills volumes.
    The armed SS units phased out the black uniform even before the war in many roles.
    Authentic uniforms are very, very rare and highly costly and burdened with a legion of whispering doubters and nattering nabobs of negativity.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS   Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS  

    Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS   Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS  

    Attached Images Attached Images Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS  Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS 

  5. #4

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    "Skeleton" on caps ca. 1933/4 and 1935-1938..... (private collection)
    These badges are the cause of endless mischief and rending of the brow.
    Somewhat akin to the Maltese Falcon, but neither as poetic nor as edifying, really.

    Better to collect bubble gum cards or used race cars.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS  
    Attached Images Attached Images Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS 

  6. #5

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    As to your relative's uniform still being in moth paper in a Garderobe in good, old Germany, the bulk of these garments were recycled during the war, confiscated by the occupiers and destroyed after the war, or simply thrown away in the long period until recently where many Germans treated them as total junk or a huge embarrassment with serious political complications in the here and now. I do not wish to make a political value judgment, but merely to describe the truth.

    There are certain colleagues who assert to find intact black SS uniforms in Germany, but such is the exception, and I am always highly skeptical.

    There are also cunningly made fakes from certain central European dealers to fill a huge demand for which there is a tiny, conflicted supply.

  7. #6

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    WorldWarIIBuff, you will find that there are many on this forum that are close to what people would call "experts" in identifying , analyzing and critizing.

    Be careful in your purchase and if possible show what will be your prospective purchase before committing on buying. As stated these uniforms are extremely rare and copies flood the market.

    rgds, Tyrone

  8. #7

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    Quote by Ty Revelo View Post
    WorldWarIIBuff, you will find that there are many on this forum that are close to what people would call "experts" in identifying , analyzing and critizing.

    Be careful in your purchase and if possible show what will be your prospective purchase before committing on buying. As stated these uniforms are extremely rare and copies flood the market.

    rgds, Tyrone
    All too true, in fact. The sad truth is that all one is likely to find is the photo itself, whereas all the other regalia has long been destroyed. For a while, this stuff was turning up frequently with the internet revolution, but this trend has slacked off quite a bit, which makes me think there is perhaps less of it extant than I had thought.

    Or, the real regalia has been collected up and one must await an older collection to go the way of the buffalo before one can secure an item. In fact, this is the most likely way to secure a nice piece.

    I waited decades to find those I own, and recently the search is much more difficult and contentious, to say nothing of unaffordable.

    This site boasts a handful of generous and well mannered people with real black SS uniforms who share images and knowledge, which you won't find on the popular site...

    I do not frequent the world class militaria shows, and cannot generalize about what happens there with specifically this regalia. I always debrief my colleagues as to what turns up...

    Happy schwarzer Rock!
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  9. #8

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    This overcoat was recently for sale from a noted publisher.

    I own the tunic that went with it, and did not buy the overcoat. Even though the piece was for an enlisted man in the Sipo/SD, the piece was of highest quality.

    These coats are seldom found.

    The Collector's Guild had a nice one from Koenigsberg for sale recently. A piece from Koenigsberg is the exception by far, i.e. East Prussia.
    Attached Images Attached Images Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS 

  10. #9

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    This piece sold recently from a well respected website.

    This website has not infrequently had nice material.

    This tunic is interesting because it is named, made by a well known Berlin firm, and is superior quality to many one finds.

    It had a nice patina. Further, it had the former service in Wehrmacht/Polizei Ehrenwinkel, which one seldom finds on these uniforms, though such were often worn. The uniform originally came from Shea, who also comes across an above average number of these things...

    This year I have spent a lot of time in Bavaria, where my colleagues Peter J and Robert H beat the bushes for foetid woolens. I have never had the time, and expect to be lynched if I asked. I peer into peoples' eyes as I pass in the pedestrian zone in Munich or as I roar through villages in my rented Opel on the way to the next briefing, and I try to use ESP to see in the Garderobe in the nice Ammergau house with the wall decorations. I have come up with zero comma nothing, other than an affection for Bernd das Brot on KiKa TV from Erfurt.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS  

  11. #10

    Default Re: Found Out Today My Girlfriend's Great Uncle Was In The SS

    I did actually go to this firm, which is still in business in a different guise. They sell hats, but they are made either in China or by a single German hat maker elsewhere. The hats they sell today do not have "skeletons" on them, of course. The people there were very nice when I finally screwed up my courage to ask where the old stock of unsold black SS caps were made by them in 1934 could be bought for 3 Euros, but I was simply told that only one living member of the family might know something about the war. The nice person I talked to (she was of the family) was only born during the war and became a refugee from the Sudetenland, as are so many in Bavaria and Austria. I ended buying a Loden coat and some rain hats from her, since it started to rain in Munich in August after being very hot. My other rain hat I had inadvertently left in the hotel in Berlin, so I was in a panic, weil ich nicht wasserdicht bin.

    No Nazi stuff at all.....the same rain hats are for sale at nice hat stores in Vienna, too, with a different tag sewn into them.
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