Description
Product Description: A very nice SS Totenkopf Ring produced by the firm of Otto Gahr, München. This SS Totenkopf Ring is made of four main pieces of silver consisting of; an inner band, an outer band, the core, and the skull. This SS Honor Ring was worn during the period of the Third Reich. An even and natural wear pattern can be seen beginning at the skull and progressing on each side to the bottom of the ring, due to daily wear by the original recipient. The oak leaf details show small “scooping” in them from the original construction of the ring. Most of the runic symbols are still visible, with the bottom symbol being the most worn due to its location. The inner band is engraved with the recipient’s last name and the date of the awarding, “Willi Langbehn 21.12.40”. SS Membership #97287. NSDAP Membership #3,063,813. Sturmbannfuhrer Willi Langbehn was awarded the ring on December 21, 1940, and served in the Waffen-SS later in the war as well as being stationed at Dachau Concentration Camp for a few months in 1938. Additional research could possibly be done on the ring by the next owner, but the dossier we have on Langbehn is pretty complete now. The SS Totenkopf Ring has become extremely popular in recent years, making them very scarce and quite valuable now.
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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