The daggers of the SS sports school in Fürth. Varieties.

[den70]

After a recent thread on a parallel forum about sports school daggers, I became interested in their history. I tried to collect information in one place and will welcome criticism or if colleagues add to it. Thanks to the Internet, the availability of archives and information from colleagues on forums and published in books, this is what I was able to find out and collected into a general topic. I will wait for your criticism and comments.

1. In 1934 there were the following SS Sports Schools - Information taken from SS-Overview Map No.3 dated June 1, 1934.
BAD TOLZ (Bavaria)
CORBACH (near Arolsen, Hesse)
COSEL (Upper Silesia)
FÜRTH (Franconia)
LEISNIG (Saxony)
MIHLA (Thuringia)
REUTLINGEN (Württemberg)


The school in Fürth was organized on the basis of the SA sports school. Which, in turn, was made in the building of a former tuberculosis dispensary. The program for students was designed for 1.5 months. The first graduation was from April 1 to May 15, 1934. Unfortunately, I did not find much information about this school or its programs. I was also unable to find any mention in newspapers or documents available to me about awarding school graduates with awards, including daggers.

The photo shows the school building in the 30s and nowadays

[den70]

2. A little historical background. How likely is it that such daggers were issued at the SS sports school? Based on newspaper publications, we know that commemorative SA daggers were awarded to members of this organization for sporting achievements, among other things. In the SS, such a practice could only be at an early stage, since already in April 1934, an order of the RFSS was published about the inadmissibility of making changes to existing uniform items. This also applied to bladed weapons. Therefore, this kind of activity on the part of the sports school, especially after the month of April, is not possible. This can be explained by private initiative, but only with a large share of assumptions. The meaning of the later inscriptions is also not entirely clear. Although the role of sport in the Reich was enormous, it seems to me a little foolish to engrave the period of one’s education at a sports school on a service dagger. I think the SS members had more memorable moments than the short courses (6 weeks) at school. It is also worth understanding that during the period of 1934, SA and SS daggers were in short supply. Therefore, it seems a little strange that during this period a small school was able to independently find a number of daggers for awarding.

Announcement in the newspaper Die Glocke 27.06.36 in which it is stated that the general formation of Sturm 51/174 is announced. The members of the assault must have their daggers with them.

Article in the Durlacher Tageblatt 09/24/37, about shooting in the South-Western SA Group, with the presentation of a dagger with a commemorative inscription to the winner of the competition out of 60,000 people.

[den70]

3. Let's take a closer look at the inscriptions themselves. There are 3 options for a memorial inscription for school participants.
A. Gewidmet v. SS-Sportschule Fürth 1934 - Awarded from the SS Sports School Fürth 1934 / Donated from the SS Sports School Fürth 1934
B. Zur Erinnerung a. SS-sportschule Furth II 15.7-25.8.34 - In memory of the sports school SS Furth II, 15.7-25.8.34
C. SS- Sportschule Furth II 5. Lehgang 8.11.- 20.12.34 - Sports school SS Furth II, 5th term 8.11.- 20.12.34
Option A has several varieties. All inscriptions on the daggers were made using the etching method.
I have roughly divided them into the following types and options.
Option A1. Regular, 1 line. It can be assumed as basic.
Option A2. Long,1 line. In addition to the difference in the letter F, the long lower legs of the SS immediately catch the eye.
Option A3. Fat,1 line. The letter F is also a different design; you can quickly distinguish it by its thick lines and especially thick letters SS.
Option A4. Closed 4,1 line. Also the original letter F, and the only variation of this variant where a closed 4 is used.
Option B. Summer, 2 lines. New version of the inscription about the summer course.
Option C. Winter, 3 lines. Also a new design, repeating the style of the previous one, but about the winter course.
Perhaps with a more detailed study of these daggers, it will be possible to identify more differences.

[den70]

4. Methods of applying memorial inscriptions. All inscriptions are made on finished blades using a handmade method using acid etching. This method is more complex and requires not only the qualifications of a master, but also specialized equipment. A much simpler and more accessible option for this kind of memorable inscription would be the engraving method. There were an order of magnitude more master engravers than workshops where they could do high-quality etching. And to apply engraving, complete dismantling of the dagger is not required, as when working with acid. That's why we see multiple examples of SA daggers, with engravings on the guards or scabbards. Places more suitable for softer metal. Of course, etched inscriptions are more reliable, but only if they were made at the manufacturer’s plant. And there are such examples when a division of an organization ordered memorable items from the plant. There are GU knives for several schools with a non-typical motto and school name. And although documents have not yet been found confirming the release or awarding of such knives, they are more reliable for the following reasons. All known knives were produced by one manufacturer, the etching was done in one place (presumably at the manufacturer's plant). Knives were found belonging to several schools that were part of this program, and these knives have similar characteristics with the only difference being the names of the schools. Returning to the daggers of the SS Sports School, we see the poor quality of etching of commemorative inscriptions, numerous dotted traces of acid from the poor-quality application of a protective layer before etching. There are also examples of dedication made on fake daggers.

Fake dagger. Type A2.
Traces of poor quality etching. Type A1.



- - ------- - -

5. Fonts and style of dedications. As we can see, there are 7 types of fonts on daggers. Moreover, many fonts have a style that is not typical for that period. The numbers in the inscription, especially option B and C, are made roughly, without markings. If you analyze the fonts, you can see that some letters are too pretentious, not typical for a German of the 1930s, for whom Gothic was a common font. This is clearly seen in the example of the letter F, as well as lowercase letters in variants B and C. Almost all variants of the inscription use an open 4, which is not typical. Please note that in lines with dates, the numbers often are not aligned in them. The same numbers in the course dates, different in spelling and size. Numbers that should have round elements are written using pointed elements - 8, 2, 3, 5. Sometimes some small details are missing. Also, based on the style, we can say with confidence that options B and C were carried out by the same master.

[den70]

6. The following daggers are known among collectors
Of course, due to the quality, the photos that were available, the number of daggers may be wrong. The division into types is made on the basis of the most pronounced features.

[den70]

7. Numbered daggers, especially when it is possible to establish the name and biography of the owner, become more attractive. Today there are 3 known owners, two based on the number and one from the words of a veteran (if I understand correctly based on the description in the book). It was established that at least one of them studied at a sports school. This is evidenced by the entry in the personal file. But as they say, the devil is in the details. The period of study for this SS-mann at school, based on the inscription on the dagger, was in the summer from 07/15-08/25, which approximately corresponds to the 1.5 month course indicated in the personal file. We do not know the exact dates when the training was conducted, so we cannot say whether they are correct or not. But there is one entry in the personal file that confuses me. The next line after the completion of the courses is the "Vereidingung" Oath - 2.8.34. It turns out that this SS-mann entered school on July 15, and took the oath on August 2. In my opinion this could not have happened. But I do not have complete information and do not have sufficient knowledge to make an assertion. Perhaps I will be corrected here. I also have a question about the age of the student, Hans Haubner was born in 1895. When he entered school, he was 39 years old, not a good age for a sports camp. For the other two owners, other than their names, I could not obtain information from open sources.


Based on everything that I was able to learn and analyze by myself, I draw the following conclusion. It is impossible to say for sure whether it is original or fake. The bad indicators are different design options and inscriptions, font style, application method and its quality. The good thing is that this is an entry in the personal file of one of the owners. It is necessary to study in more detail the documents of known owners and find more information about the school itself. Therefore, now, I would definitely not take such an item into my collection.

[Chopperman]

I find this very interesting. I am not a dagger collector and have never heard
of a sports dagger so I am looking forward in seeing other's comments.

[Adrian]

I'm with Greg, this is completely new to me too. It will be nice to see images of the whole daggers if available.

As an aside, I'm not a fan of the monstrosity stuck onto the front of the old school building. What on earth were they thinking?

[Larry C]

Impressive work Den ...very interesting and also detailed.
Just an observation...I did not know that Wilhelm Wagner was an SS Dagger producer ..or was this producer soley used for these Sports daggers?

@ Adrian and Greg...yes these daggers have been around but rarely seen and sometimes controversial due to the rarity and the fakers trying to cash in on them.
I like how Den outlined the history of the schools and the etch process and application.

Regards Larry

[den70]

I did not know that Wilhelm Wagner was an SS Dagger producer ..or was this producer soley used for these Sports daggers?

Larry, I believe Wagner is a completely fake dagger. We don't know any SS Wagner daggers. I think it could be a converted SA dagger into an SS dagger, and they decided to add value with a commemorative inscription.