Hi Gents:
Let me give a little background as to how I got into this serial number research first because I know that I have come out of nowhere into this collecting community. I have always been interested in researching the people connected to the objects that enhances their desirability for collecting. Information is power and an edge to compete with the deep pockets that attracted to hot collecting fields. And I find the collection of information satisfying when I am not buying stuff. I had been working a while ago at the National Archives in Washington, DC, on a project collecting information on Civil War era photographers and serial numbers on Civil War guns. The gun research can sometimes match a weapon to the Union soldier to whom it was issued and all kinds of interesting things can then emerge. When the Archives II opened in College Park, the Internal Revenue Assessment lists that I had used for Civil War photographer research had been moved to the microfilm reading room there. One day on a break (I was a history teacher with summers unemployed), I happened to wonder over to the opposite side of the room where the TR records were kept and spotted the SS files in which I found serial numbers of NCO's and enlisted men. I had read that the conventional wisdom was that these didn't exist. I saw a numbered but unidentified SS dagger on Tom Wittman's website for sale that had the initials "HB" engraved on it. Well, I thought I would just go through the "B" enlisted files and find the guy, buy the dagger and live happily ever after with my discovery. Well, it didn't happen as the research was slow and daunting and someone else bought the dagger. Returning to this project after serving as guest curator for a museum exhibit on Civil War photographs last year, I came across unit files with lists of SS men and their serial numbers- many of whom were NCO's and enlisted men. Eureka! Since then I have been diligently combing the SS records looking for numbers not in the Dienstalterslists and have uncovered more than 50,000 at this point. Putting the name with number is the "Rosetta stone" for unlocking the story behind the object as seen here with Hans Kopp.
Once I match the name to the serial number, you hope to find a Race and Settlement file for him. The SS officer files are massive and were kept by the office of the SS Personalhauptamt. These are the major source for info about them and are available on microfilm at the National Archives. The SS Hauptamt kept the records for NCO's and enlisted men. The enlisted men files copied on microfilm mostly include men who joined the Waffen SS later during the war. The rest were evidently destroyed at the end the war (or the Russians have them). When I get a match for a name and number, you hope that there is a Race and Settlement file as there was for Kopp. These records were maintained by the SS Rasse-und Siedlungshauptampt or RuSHA office. Any SS man had to get a permit to marry which certified the �purity� of his bloodline and that of his spouse. Among the forms that had to be filed were the SS man�s autobiography, a family tree for each person dating back to at least 1800, and three photographs (bust, profile, full length). Each SS man had a personnel card that was maintained in triplicate for his sturm, standarte, and SS Hauptamt files. Several of Kopp�s personnel filecards happened to end up in ended up in his RuSHA file. Attached is one of his cards that I have done some interpretation of which was easier to read since it was typed. My expertise is in finding the records and not translating them. I use a German-English dictionary and recommend Babel Fish translation:
http://world.altavista.com/For reading German Gothic, I find this site helpful:
http://shoebox.heindorffhus.dk/frame-Gothic.htmThese offer some interesting information about this man. I am speculating that the oath taken on 2.8.1934 might have been the one pledging loyalty to Hitler though I know this was usually taken on 9 November. Any help here would be appreciated. If anyone is interested, I will post some more analysis of the Kopp file and the SS research process a little later. I don�t want to be �preaching to the choir� and I know many of you know far more about these artifacts than me.
Regards,
Ross Kelbaugh
www.ss-numbers.com
