SS Dagger

SS dagger (SS-Dienstdolch) was issued by order No. 1734/33 of 15 December 1933, signed temporarily by the acting chief of staff of the SA, Obergruppenfuhrer of the SA, Fritz Ritter von Krausser. The SS dagger was made in black and silver; the blade was engraved with the SS motto Meine Ehre heisst Treue (My honor is faith), and the grip was decorated with an image of an Imperial eagle with a swastika and zig-runes in a small round medallion. The base was still the same as that of the SA "Holbein dagger", and its shape and size completely coincided with the SA daggers.

Any SS member had the right to wear it: usually the dagger was handed over at a solemn ceremony during which a candidate for SS membership was made an SS member. At the same time, each future owner of the dagger fully paid for its cost, usually in installments, for several months before delivery. On February 17, 1934, the sale of SS daggers was prohibited. From now on, they were sent from manufacturers to SS warehouses in Munich, Dresden, and Berlin, and from there they were distributed at the request of the abshnit headquarters. For the loss of a dagger, an SS man received a disciplinary penalty – thus, only SS men could have SS daggers, especially since from January 25, 1935, persons dismissed from the SS were required to hand over their daggers, despite the fact that they bought them with their own money. If it was a question of retirement, the dagger was allowed to keep.