The Himmler's SS (32 page)

The German death's head was first used by Prussian cavalry regiments in the eighteenth century. The Totenkopf featured on the tall mirliton caps of the 5th Hussars (the ‘Black' or ‘Death' Hussars), while the mirlitons of the 9th Hussars bore a reclining skeleton which led to their being called the ‘Total Death' Hussars. This busby dates from around 1910 and was worn by a member of the 1st Leib-Husaren Regiment based at Danzig-Langfuhr.

It is not surprising, therefore, that members of the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler eagerly took the Totenkopf as their distinctive emblem in 1923, initially acquiring a small stock of appropriate army surplus cap badges. Their successors in the SS thereafter contracted the firm of Deschler in Munich to restrike large quantities of the Prussian-style jawless death's head which they used on their headgear for the next eleven years. As Hitler's personal guards, they liked to model themselves on the imperial Bodyguard Hussars, who had become known as the ‘Schwarze Totenkopfhusaren', and were fond of singing their old regimental song, with its emotive verse:

This version of the Prussian-style death's head was adopted by the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler in 1923 and worn by the SS until 1934.

The 1934-pattern SS death's head. This particular example was produced by the firm of Deschler in Munich.

In black we are dressed,
In blood we are drenched,
Death's Head on our helmets.
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We stand unshaken!

In 1934, when the Prussian-style Totenkopf began to be used as an élite badge by the new army Panzer units which were, after all, the natural successors to the imperial cavalry regiments, the SS devised its own unique pattern of grinning death's head, with lower jaw, which it wore thereafter.

The 1934-pattern SS Totenkopf ultimately took various forms, right-facing, left-facing and front-facing, and appeared on the cloth headgear of all SS members and on the tunics and vehicles of the SS-Totenkopfverbände and Totenkopf-Division. It was the centrepiece of the prestigious SS death's head ring and could be seen on dagger and gorget suspension chains, mess jackets, flags, standards, drum covers, trumpet banners and the SS and police Guerrilla Warfare Badge. Moreover, because of its direct associations with Danzig, where the Prussian Leib-Husaren regiments had been garrisoned until 1918, it was selected as the special formation badge of the SS-Heimwehr Danzig and the Danzig Police. Himmler wanted his men to be proud of their heritage and there is no doubt that the honourable associations of the German death's head were well used to that end. It became an inspiration to those who were granted the privilege of wearing it.

Alongside the Totenkopf, the SS Runen, or SS runes, represented the élitism and brotherly comradeship of the organisation, and were elevated to an almost holy status. Indeed, as SS men marched off to war in 1939, they sang their hymn ‘SS Wir Alle' (‘We are all SS') which included the line: ‘Wir alle stehen zum Kampf bereit, wenn Runen und Totenkopf führen' (‘We all stand ready for battle, inspired by runes and death's head'). The word ‘rune' derives from the Old Norse ‘run', meaning ‘secret script'. Runes were characters which formed the alphabets used by the Germanic tribes of pre-Christian Europe for both magical and ordinary writing. There were three major branches of the runic alphabet and a number of minor variants, and some runes doubled as symbols representative of human traits or ideals, much as the Romans used oak and laurel leaves to denote strength and victory. In
AD
98, in his work
Germania
, the historian Cornelius Tacitus described in detail how the Germans engaged in divination by runes.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, runes began to be re-examined by the fashionable ‘Völkisch' or ‘folk' movements of northern Europe, which promoted interest in traditional stories, beliefs and festivals. The Thule Society was among these groups, and through his association with its activities Himmler began to look back to the mystical Dark Age Germanic period for much of his inspiration. He had always had a fascination for cryptic codes and hidden messages, so it was doubly appropriate that he should tap many of the ideas in pagan symbolism and adopt, or at least adapt, certain runes for use by his SS. All pre-1939 Allgemeine-SS Anwärter were instructed in runic symbolism as part of their probationary training. By 1945, fourteen main varieties of rune were in use by the SS, and these are described on pp. 146–7 and seen in the accompanying illustration.

Runic symbols used by the SS.

A.
The Hakenkreuz
The Hakenkreuz, or swastika, was the pagan Germanic sign of Donner (or Thor), the god of adventurers. During the nineteenth century it came to be regarded as symbolic of nationalism and racial struggle, and in the post-1918 period was adopted by several Freikorps units, primarily the Ehrhardt Brigade. As the senior badge of the Nazi party and state, it inevitably featured on many SS accoutrements, either static (i.e. standing flat) or mobile (i.e. standing on one point to give the appearance of an advancing movement). An elongated version of the mobile swastika was used by the Germanic-SS in Flanders.

B.
The Sonnenrad
The Sonnenrad, or sunwheel swastika, was the Old Norse representation of the sun, and was taken up as an emblem by the Thule Society. It was later used as a sign by the Waffen-SS Divisions ‘Wiking' and ‘Nordland', many of whose members were Scandinavian nationals, and also by the Schalburg Corps. It formed the main part of the design of the Germanic Proficiency Rune, and was worn by the Norwegian SS.

C.
The Sig-Rune
The Sig-Rune (also known as the Siegrune) was symbolic of victory. In 1931, SS-Sturmführer Walter Heck, who was a graphic designer employed by the badge manufacturing firm of Ferdinand Hoffstätter in Bonn, drew two Sig-Runes side by side and thus created the ubiquitous ‘SS Runes' insignia widely used by all branches of the organisation after 1933. The SS paid him 2.50 Reichsmarks for the rights to his design! Heck was likewise responsible for the ‘SA Runes' badge, which combined a runic ‘S' with a Gothic ‘A'.

D.
The Ger-Rune
The Ger-Rune was symbolic of communal spirit, and featured as a variant divisional sign of the Waffen-SS Division ‘Nordland'.

E.
The Wolfsangel
The Wolfsangel, or wolf hook, was a heraldic symbol representing a wolf trap, and as such still features to this day on the coat-of-arms of the city of Wolfstein. Adopted as an emblem by fifteenth-century peasants in their revolt against the mercenaries of the German princes, the Wolfsangel was thereafter regarded as being symbolic of liberty and independence and was popularised as the badge of the German peasant hero Harm Wulf in Herman Löns' novel
Der Wehrwulf
(1910) set during the Thirty Years War. The Wolfsangel was an early emblem of the Nazi Party, and was later used as a sign by the Waffen-SS Division ‘Das Reich'.

F.
The Wolfsangel (variant)
A squat version of the Wolfsangel with hooked arms was the emblem of the Germanic-SS in the Netherlands and was later adopted by the Waffen-SS Division ‘Landstorm Nederland', which comprised Dutch volunteers.

G.
The Opfer-Rune
The Opfer-Rune symbolised self-sacrifice. It was used after 1918 by the Stahlhelm war veterans' association and was later the badge which commemorated the Nazi martyrs of the 1923 Munich putsch. It also formed part of the design of the SA Sports Badge for War Wounded, which could be won by disabled SS ex-servicemen.

H.
The Eif-Rune
The Eif-Rune represented zeal and enthusiasm. It was the early insignia of specially selected SS adjutants assigned personally to Hitler and, as such, was worn by Rudolf Hess in 1929.

I.
The Leben-Rune
The Leben-Rune, or life rune, symbolised life and was adopted by the SS Lebensborn Society and Ahnenerbe. It likewise featured on SS documents and grave markers to show date of birth.

J.
The Toten-Rune
The Toten-Rune, or death rune, represented death, and was used on SS documents and grave markers to show date of death.

K.
The Tyr-Rune
The Tyr-Rune, also known as the Kampf-Rune or battle rune, was the pagan Germanic sign of Tyr, the god of war, and was symbolic of leadership in battle. It was commonly used by the SS as a grave marker, replacing the Christian cross, and a Tyr-Rune worn on the upper left arm indicated graduation from the SA-Reichsführerschule, which trained SS officers until 1934. It was later the specialist badge of the SS recruiting and training branch, and an emblem of the Waffen-SS Division ‘30 Januar' which comprised staff and pupils from various SS training schools.

L.
The Heilszeichen
The Heilszeichen, or prosperity symbols, represented success and good fortune, and appeared on the SS death's head ring.

M.
The Hagall-Rune
The Hagall-Rune stood for unshakable faith, which was expected of all SS members. It featured on the SS death's head ring as well as on ceremonial accoutrements used at SS weddings. It was also chosen as the sign of the SS-Polizei-Division, since it resembled the traditional ‘Police Star' badge.

N.
The Odal-Rune
The Odal-Rune symbolised kinship and family and the bringing together of people of similar blood. It was the badge of the SS Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt and emblem of the Waffen-SS Division ‘Prinz Eugen', which comprised mainly Volksdeutsche from the Balkans.

The symbolism of death's head and runes was brought together in one of the most potent yet most obscure of all SS uniform accoutrements, the Totenkopfring der SS, or SS death's head ring, instituted by Himmler on 10 April 1934. The ring was not classed as a national decoration since it was in the gift of the Reichsführer. However, it ranked as a senior award within the SS brotherhood, recognising the wearer's personal achievement, devotion to duty and loyalty to Hitler and his ideals. The concept and runic form of the ring were undoubtedly adopted by Himmler from Germanic mythology, which related how the god Thor possessed a pure silver ring on which people could take oaths (much as Christians swear on the Bible), and how binding treaties were carved in runes on Wotan's spear. The Totenkopfring comprised a massive band of oakleaves deeply engraved with a death's head and a number of runes. The award document presented with each ring described the latter and interpreted them thus: