Honour Sword of the Reichsführers-SS
liaison officer to Italian police chief Arturo Bocchini, in Rome; right: SS-Ehrendegen of Blutfahnenträger (Blood Flag bearer) SS-Standartenführer Jakob Grimminger (1892–1969).The Honour Sword of the Reichsführers-SS (German: Ehrendegen „Reichsführer-SS“ or SS-Ehrendegen) was a honour weapon (German: Ehrenwaffe[1]) of the Schutzstaffel (also SS-Verfügungstruppe and SS-Totenkopfverbände) for higher ranks of outstanding merit, but also for young officer candidates of SS or Waffen-SS after successfully graduating from a SS-Junker School (German: SS-Junkerschule) (retrospectively for all graduates since December 1934) as a sign of trust and a symbol of their everlasting honour.
Contents
History
The beautiful straight dress sword was awarded as a personal gift from the Reichsführer-SS since 1936. It was also used as a ceremony sword by the swearing in of SS candidates (SS-Anwärter) or as a special symbolic addition to SS marriages. It is not to be confused with the SS-Führersäbel ("SS officer sabres/sabers") for the early officers of the SS-Verfügungstrupe, nor the SS-Degen M 1936 für Führer (the normal sword for all officers), nor the SS-Führerdegen, which was a special gift sword for well-deserved officers and inspectors of Ordnungspolizei (Order Police), Wasserschutzpolizei (Water Protection Police), Feuerwehr (fire department) and so on, as long as the men were also officers (Führer) of the SS, nor with the SS-Polizeidegen, which all officers (Führerdegen) and NCOs (Unterführerdegen) were issued.
Appearance
The sword has a long thin straight blade produced at different lengths to accommodate for the height of the wearer. The degen features a "D" shaped knuckle-bow (crossguard) as the handle, which also features a black ribbed wooden grip. The grip is bound with silver wire and features an inset disc featuring the lightning-bolt runes. The scabbard is painted in black enamel and has decorative silvered top (locket) and bottom (chape) mounts. It was worn with an aluminium braid sword knot embellished with the SS runes in black on the stem.
Damascus blade
The Damascus-bladed Honour Swords are extremely rare. They were awarded to a select few by Himmler personally, usually to high-ranking SS leaders, or important businessmen or statesmen who held an honorary SS rank of at least SS-Oberführer. Since they were often given to recipients on their birthday (usually their 50th), they are also known as "Birthday Honour Swords".
Award numbers
Until 1945, in addition to the young officers of the SS-Junkerschulen, 362 SS-Standartenführer (from 621), 236 SS-Oberführer (from 276), 88 SS-Gruppenführer (from 96), 91 SS-Obergruppenführer (from 92) and all four SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer of the SS officers corps (SS-Führerkorps) had received the SS-Ehrendegen.
SS Honour Dagger
The SS Honour Dagger (German: SS-Ehrendolch) was considered the honorary weapon of the Schutzstaffel in the Third Reich. The awarding of these high decorations was explicitly carried out according to a set of rules developed by Heinrich Himmler. From 1933 onwards, the SS dagger could be awarded to all SS members (including the SS Death's Head Units and the Waffen-SS); it was also considered the official sidearm for the SS dress uniform as a replacement for the SS service dagger.
The SS motto "My honor is called loyalty" (Meine Ehre heißt Treue) is etched into the middle of the blade. There is a debate in expert circles as to whether all SS service daggers should be called honorary daggers or only the version for "old fighters", which belong to the category of orders and decorations.
On 21 June 1936, another variant of the dagger was introduced, which was only reserved for those SS officers and NCOs who had joined the Schutzstaffel before 1933. This dagger is identical in every detail to the 1933 dagger, except that the chain was made of SS runes and skull symbols. A silver band with swastikas is attached in the middle of the scabbard. High-ranking SS leaders were given a special dagger by Himmler, which bore the inscription "In cordial comradeship, H. Himmler".
There were also numerous variants of this dagger that were handed over personally by Himmler. These gift daggers were made of high-quality materials and had gold-plated inscriptions. These were and still are rarities today, as only a few were issued. The SS honorary daggers were usually worn with the black SS uniform. According to Himmler, the SS man was obliged to use the dagger physically against anyone who had violated the honor of the SS or insulted the honor or family of the SS member. In November 1935, Himmler issued a decree stating that "every SS man has the right and the duty to defend his honor with a weapon."
From 15 February 1943, officers of the Waffen-SS were authorized to wear this dagger with their field gray dress uniforms. In this case, it was planned that a sword-knot made of aluminum spun thread, corresponding to that worn by Wehrmacht officers, would be wound around the dagger handle.
