I believe the time frame these pieces come from predates the HJ's affiliation with the SS. Wittmann has a small section on these blades in his SS book & I don't remember him having any concrete idea on what their purpose was or what the connection with the SS motto was. What I always found odd was that SS daggers use an eszett (�) in the word "hei�t" where these knives use a double s to form "heisst".

I've observed 3 blades on these knives, this type with SS motto, an HJ motto & a plain blade. I've also seen 3 distinct pommel etches, an HJ emblem like this one, an HJ banner & a swaz in a circle. The majority I've seen have hard rubber grip plates although stag was apparently an option. This one was also W�sthof marked on the obverse & Glatiator on the reverse.

HJ.JPG (95.17 KB, 797 downloads)

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