Description
Product Description: This Waffen SS Portrait is a very eye-catching and evocative display item. The photo was taken in occupied Czech territory, what was at that time the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It is a well-done portrait of a young SS soldier wearing a typical issue type overseas cap with SS insignia. The subject of the portrait holds the rank of “SS Mann,” the lowest enlisted rank. The collar bind and details of the uniform are visible. The photo has been backed with a thick sheet of pressed paper, which has developed a slight curve that can be corrected by framing. The photograph is undamaged with only scattered small surface marks. The backing has some slight discoloration, wear to the corners and edges, and is marked in pencil below the portrait with the name of the photo studio, “Foto Riedl” in “Prag XII” (municipal district 12 in Prague) as well as the date “1942.” This desirable Waffen SS Portrait is in excellent condition.
Historical Description: The origins of the SS began in 1923 as a small detail of men meant to protect Nazi Party meetings during the first years of the party. Under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, the SS would grow to become one of the most feared, loathed, and yet in some instances, respected organizations in world history. From the early days of the Nazi party to its final moments, the SS were Germany’s foremost security, surveillance, and elite military organization. The SS was comprised of three main elements, the Allgemeine SS (General SS), the Waffen SS (Armed SS), and the SS Totenkopfverbande (SS Deaths Head Units). The Allgemeine SS were primarily responsible for policing, security, the Gestapo, and enforcement of racial policies. The Waffen SS were the organizations paramilitary combat troops who would eventually become the nucleus of Germany’s most elite formations during the Second World War, comprising of many divisions and volunteers from all over Europe. The role of the SS Totenkopfverbande is amongst some of the most notorious of the organization as their responsibility was overseeing and operating the concentration camps and death camps from 1933 to 1945. Additional subdivisions of the SS also included the Sicherdienst “SD”, and the Geheimestaatspolizei “Gestapo”. By the end of World War 2, the SS would have grown from a small unit of 8 men, to over 1 million, including volunteers from nearly every European nation serving in their ranks.
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