Dear Cecilists,
I’m German and asking the following question in Germany raises some suspicious eyebrows. So maybe you can help me: Did all Nazi members of the infamous “SS” have skulls on their uniforms?
(this question came up when I asked the famous pulp fiction writer Robin D. Laws “why are Nazis the ultimate pulp villians?” and receiving “Communists never put skulls on their uniforms.” as an answer.)
Thank you!
IIRC, the answer is yes. No cite, but, I think that the “Order of the Deaths Head” was some designation one got when entering the SS.
Death’s head insignias, again, IIRC, were ubiquitous as military designations pre-Nazi.
IIRC. Have I mentioned that?
The 3rd SS Panzer Division “Totenkopf” and the “Totenkopfverbande” concentration camp guards both wore skulls as their official organizational insignia.
At least some of the other SS divisions, at some times, wore a skull on their hats. I’m not sure whether all SS members wore this during WWII.
Yes they did, but then again lot’s of other military units thru out history have used the skull and cross bones as well; it’s a warrior/macho thing.
Use of the death’s head on uniforms began with the Prussian Army under Frederick the Great. It’s a German thing more than a Nazi thing.
Since the question has been answered, here’s a very pertinent sketch from Mitchell & Webb.
As far as I can tell, all SS members wore the skull insignia on their uniform hats. It seems to be universal regardless of what unit of the SS the individual was in - I can’t find a picture of an SS hat that doesn’t have the insignia.
The only SS uniforms I found that don’t have the skull insignia are the field uniforms of members of the Waffen SS, the combat branch of the SS. These individuals wore standard German helmets with an SS shield on the side.
That’s gotta one of my favorite sketches, period.
That was funny.
I don’t have a cite, but I read somewhere once that the SS got the idea from a WWI regiment, the Brunswick Hussars. I’ve always thought it was extremely ironic that the regiment was called the “Brunswick Life Guards”. There’s a picture of their insignia on this page: http://www.kammerbulle.de/html/cavalry.html
I could be wrong, but isn’t that an officer’s dress hat? Enlisted hats seem to have varied, some having the totenkopf and some not.
8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer on the Eastern Front summer 1942 (no totenkopf)
Member of 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) (no totenkopf)
Another picture of the unique enlisted soft hat of the Handschar with the totenkopf
I did a google image search for “ss hat” and here’s the results.
The dread Camarostein SS were far more fearsome than their headwear would lead one to suspect.
The deathheads were also used by regular Heer units, so they were not something reserved for SS uniforms. For instance, the Panzerwaffe units had prominent deathheads on their tunics, something which I’ve read caused some concern among Panzer units towards the end of the war, as they were worried about being mistaken for SS troops.
So yeah, as someone mentioned way earlier, it was a German thing, not a SS thing.
Isn’t the point of a uniform that everybody is dressed … uniformly? So either all of them had it, or none did, right? Since you see skulls on uniforms on photos of SS members, then there you go, right?
Yeah, cruising up and down Europe with their muskelwagens.
Logic like that might get you accused of witchcraft. You’re just lucky I don’t have a duck to weigh.
Hence why all U.S. military uniforms have General’s stars on them.
That made me laugh.
Say what you want about the Nazis but they were snazzy dressers.
