Need info on honorary SS members

[Blitzvogel]

I would like to request some information on honorary SS members. I was able to find very little info on this subject online.

I am particularly interested on which SS units and branches they were attached to, and if their profession was a factor in this matter. I am also curious on how often they wore their uniform. Photographs would be highly appreciated as well.

I am quite familiar with Wernher von Braun's case as an honorary SS member, but I would like to read and see more about these kind of people. I assume Mollo's books cover this matter?

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The Bastian Hein book on the Allgemeine SS goes into this institution in great detail. It is in German and a scholarly book on the Allgemeine SS.
Mollo deals with this issue tangentially.

[Wilhelm Saris]

There are a few threads with this WRF-forum that give information about Ehrenführer
(search for this phrasing).
For the SS they were most often assigned to a unit or staff with a special function:
zur besonderen Ehrendienstleistung or as mentioned to a staff (here some names):

[Blitzvogel]

The Bastian Hein book on the Allgemeine SS goes into this institution in great detail. It is in German and a scholarly book on the Allgemeine SS.
Mollo deals with this issue tangentially.

Thanks. However I'm afraid the book in question won't be of much use to me, since I do not speak German.

There are a few threads with this WRF-forum that give information about Ehrenführer
(search for this phrasing).
For the SS they were most often assigned to a unit or staff with a special function:
zur besonderen Verwendung.

Thanks! I did indeed find some informative threads with that term.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

When I get a chance at the end of the week, I will explain to you what is in Hein. The secondary collector works do not remotely get at how all of this worked.

Do bear with me that you cannot mount the challenge with SS regalia beyond the beginner level without use of German.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Delich just got a nice Ehrenfuehrer cuff title, the image of which he is sending to me via mid 20th century means, and I will post it when I have it.
We included an image of Bouhler with said Montur, but it was apparently phased out fairly soon in the short life of the regime.

[Blitzvogel]

When I get a chance at the end of the week, I will explain to you what is in Hein. The secondary collector works do not remotely get at how all of this worked.

Do bear with me that you cannot mount the challenge with SS regalia beyond the beginner level without use of German.

Many thanks, that would be highly appreciated. I am eager to learn German someday, perhaps after I graduate from university and have a bit more free time in my hands.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Many thanks, that would be highly appreciated. I am eager to learn German someday, perhaps after I graduate from university and have a bit more free time in my hands.

I am a huge scold, but there you are. The Hein book surpasses the collector books and then some. Only Wim's books are really any good beyond the beginner's level.
There is a huge, new, exciting scholarship on the SS that is revolutionizing my understanding of it, and I have read as many books on this baleful subject for
about a half century as I can. I started in 1968-9.

Himmler was the son of a court private tutor to the Wittelsbachs and very alive to status and rank in Munich and Bavarian nobility, aristocracy, and haute bourgeois.
He used the rank mechanisms of the SS to engage these people to the end of the SS for its elite ambitions, but also for its financial aspect.
I own an Oberfuehrer Montur (from the Hayes book) which was some Herr Doktor Professor from Frankfurt, I think.
He was attached to the staff of the XXX Abschnitt, but the special Ehrenfuehrer regalia was phased out. The Hein book explains this process
in detail. Mollo is wonderful, but, as time goes by, a lot in his book comprises a snap shot of the organization at a moment, and not the whole
story of the whole thing in its dizzying and maddening detail over time.
It is still the great book, but especially with this detailed thing, Wim's work is superior, because of its length.
The Mollo books are very brief, really.

[HPL2008]

If you did a search for Ehrenführer, surely you will have found this thread...:

SA-order important for the SS

..where Wim posted the 1934 order governing the SA-/SS officer corps. Here's an English translation of the relevant paragraphs on honorary officers:

"4. Ehrenführer:
Appointed as Ehrenführer are men who had rendered outstanding service to the Führer and to the movement, particularly the SA, and thus to the people and the Fatherland.
From now on, the appointment of all Ehrenführer will solely be undertaken by the Oberster SA-Führer* upon the proposal of the Stabschef** and will be announced in the Führerbefehl. Proposals may be submitted by:

the Reichsführer-SS
the commanders of the Obergruppen and Gruppen
the heads of the Ausbildungswesen, Kraftfahrwesen and Sanitätswesen.

Ehrenführer are appointed with a rank of Obergruppenführer, Gruppenführer, Brigadeführer, Oberführer or Standartenführer. They are assigned zur Ehrendienstleistung (z.E.)***) to a Standarte or assigned to the staff of a Brigade (Abschnitt) or a Gruppe (Oberabschnitt). Likewise, Sanitäts- and Verwaltungsehrenführer**** may be assigned to the staff of a Brigade or a Gruppe.
The z.E. assignment to a Standarte places the person honored in this way in a particularly close relationship to the Standarte's officer corps and SA men. The assignment order may, for example, be worded like this:

Appointed is:
as an Ehrenführer with the rank of Brigadeführer
...
assigned z.E. to Standarte 100 or with assignment to the staff of Brigade 10.

The Ehrenführer are subject to the service regulations of the SA. However, they do not carry out any active service. In a parade formation, they stand three steps to the right and the rear of the commander of the Standarte, Brigade etc. In a march-past they are marching parallel to the Standarte's adjutant / the staff leader of the Brigade or Gruppe (Abschnitt etc.), in line with the right wingman. The Ehrenführer wear the collar patches and cap band of the Standarte or staff to which they are assigned zur Ehrendienstleistung, furthermore on the left lower arm, an ivory-colored cuff title with the word "Ehrenführer" in Gothic letters in gold embroidery; in the case of Ehrenführer z.E. with a Standarte followed by the designation of the appropriate unit (for example: Ehrenführer 109). The cuff title is 3 centimeters in width and has a 2-mm-wide golden border at both edges, 1 mm in from the outermost edges. Furthermore, they wear from their right shoulder to a button of the service dress or, respectively, the second button of the service blouse, the Ehrenführer aiguillette in gold, which will be available via the Reichszeugmeisterei as of 1 Feb. 34. They wear the insignia of the grade appropriate to their rank (for example, a Standartenführer's oak leaf), as well as buttons and cord edgings in gold or, respectively, silver. They do not wear Tresse around the edge of the cap turn-up.
SS officers analogous to the above; but cuff titles and Ehrenführer aiguillette silver instead of gold.
Sanitäts- and Verwaltungsehrenführer analogous to the above; but inscription on the cuff title only "Ehrenführer".
The Ehrenführer aiguillette may be worn with informal service dress and must be worn with full service dress and mess dress.

5. Rangführer
SA officers of the ranks from Obersturmbannführer down to and including Sturmführer, who had been appointed to these ranks on an honorary basis are designated as Rangführer. Their appointment is undertaken by the Reichsführer SS and the commanders of the Gruppen; either on their own initiative or upon proposal by their subordinate agencies. The intended appointment is to be announced to the Stabschef in written form in advance. They are solely assigned to a Sturmbann, not to higher command levels. Otherwise, the same regulations as for the Ehrenführer apply to them, including those about uniform. However, they do not wear the Ehrenführer aiguillette; of course no Tresse around the edge of the cap turn-up, either. The inscription on the cuff title is: Rangführer (without additional designations)."

*) i.e. Hitler
**) i.e. Röhm (succeeded by Lutze, then Schepmann)
***) roughly "so as to render honorary service"
****) honorary medical- and administrative officers

The special cuff titles and aiguillettes are also seen in Wim's thread.

The distinction between Ehrenführer and Rangführer as well as all special uniform distinctions were abolished in 1936. After that, the SS' Ehrenführer were attached as "Führer beim Stab" ["officers with the staff"] to the Reichsführung, Hauptämter, Oberabschnitte and Abschnitte and wore the same uniform and insignia as those officers who were actually on active duty with these agencies.

[Blitzvogel]

Excellent, thank you HPL!