Hi All:
Just back from researching in the captured German records at the Archives and thought I would finally chime in on the "Pinnacle" of SS daggers. I own more than a dozen of ones that have been identifiable that have been among the ones that have most excited me. I don't have much respect from those internet "experts" who have never owned one and base all of their knowledge on what they see in photos on the net. One of the rarest of mine is a numbered Furst that was identifiable. Only
TWO that are numbered have been identifiable so far to the original owner and this is the
ONLY ONE where the SS Mann's records actually record that he was at the Furst SS Sports School for the benefit of haters and trolls.
Himmler daggers have usually not excited me since they have no "soul" by not knowing who, if anyone, was the original recipient. I have documented that Himmler was awarding these as early as
May 1934 dispelling the "myth" that they were made up after the Night of the Long Knives. As evidenced in the Himmler Gift Lists, he only awarded his "
Ehrendolch der SS-Reichsführer" in 1934. After that it was all
Ehrendegens. If you look at the superb research published by Ralf Siegert in his "The Service Dagger of the SS" you will see reproduced two very imporant letters. One dated 7 October 1940 letter to a member of RFSS staff that the writer had
749 Himmler daggers in storage and he was asking for an appropriate directive for their disposition. A telegram dated 10 May 1942 to a member of the
Reichsführer-SS personal staff in Berlin says that there were 80 Himmler daggers in an office cabinet of the adjutant of the
Reichsführer-SS in Munich and asks what to do with them since the sender assumed that Himmler was no longer givings these as presents.
I wonder how many of these minty Himmler's we see today were captured at the end of the war from these hordes and never awarded.
That said, I obtained last year the only Himmler dagger that I have seen that is neatly engraved with the name and SS membership number of the recipient! And as to whether or not these were worn, you can tell from the wear that this one was and the recipient proudly upgraded it to a M1936 chained scabbard. Would have been pretty impressive to pull that one out to show to your SS buds while standing around the water cooler! The recipient was a member of the
RFSS personal staff in Munich at the Brown House starting in the Spring of 1934 and was there during the Night of the Long Knives. His records show that he received the dagger and was promoted by September 1934 which seems to indicate to me that this was one of those awarded for participation in putting down the "Rohm Revolt." He would have been familiar with many of the SA personnel working in the Brown House during the roundup. The recipient continued up the chain of command and eventually became one of the commanders in charge of SS Production at Dachau until the end of the war.
Again for the doubters, haters and trolls, you couldn't pay enough to search through the SS personnel records to find someone that "fit the bill" for either of these daggers to be faked. Now these are a few on my pinnacle. But its JMO.
RossK
www.ssdaggers.com
