Originally Posted By: italiansxs
As an aside:
The inscription on the SS dagger is "Mein Ehre Heist Treue" which translated means "My Honor is my Loyalty" which was the SS motto. These daggers were privately purchased and not issued so every SS member didn't necessarily have one.
Another Point: Tattooing the blood type under each SS members arm became lax as the war wore on and was dispensed with completely in the last days. The SS guys who were turning themselves in knew his tattoo was a dead giveaway regarding their membership and often attempted to remove it with acid.
It didn't take the Allies long to catch onto to this stunt.
Many SS did their best to turn themselves in to the Americans who did not routinely shoot them on sight.
The Waffen SS for those who are students of WW II were probably no better or worse that any other elite forces in their conduct. In the case of the Germans the true worst were the Einstatzgruppen(sp?) who were the special police units charged with "cleansing" the civilian population after the German troops had captured an area.
It should also be noted that oftentimes the non-Jewish populace in those area were ready accomplices in turning in Jews.
Jim
That is also true Jim- but I have seen three Waffen SS daggers at gun shows and all of them were inscribed as I wrote- could be each of the different SS (protective echelon or guards- literally translated) had their variant of the Blood and Honor code- Waffen (assigned mainly to Wehrmacht and Panzer Gruppen- Leibstandarten Adolph Hitler-Hitler's personal bodyguard unit of the SS- and the SS units most closely associated with the termination of the Jews and others Hitler despised- the TotenKopf- or Death's Head with the skull and crossbones emblem--

The unit my late father-in-law served in after Bastogne were well-warned of the various tricks the highly motivated to survive SS troops had- so they took no chances- anyway, even if they had taken the SS troops alive, they would have been hung for war crimes eventually- "Shoot 'em and loot 'em" as the sidearms, daggers and insignia were war booty prizes then- and just look at the RIA and other auction catalogues and see what WW11 German weapons, medals, flags, banners, pins, Eisen (Iron) und Ritter (Knight) Kruzen (Crosses) bring today- and the War in Europe ended in May 1945--

Oh, and one final thought- the 2009 spoof movie of the OSS in Europe in 1944- "Inglorious Basterds" Damn Quentin Tarantino- it's Bastards- but I digress- near the end, just before the give-way scenario in the La Lousiana Tavern in middle France (Drei Glazer)-- when the British Leftenant who studied German films asks the German turncoat Hugo Stiglitz if he can be calm, Hugo is sharpening his dagger and on the blade is clearly inscribed the words "Meine Blt und meine Ehre" No kidding- Hollywood? Go figure!!

Last edited by Run With The Fox; 11/11/13 08:24 PM.
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