Gifts from Veterans

[Tom Houlihan]

Hi Tom,
I have no idea what I am looking at, other than a good looking well preserved ? SS dagger.
How does one determine that it is a replica ??
I was offered one for sale, similar to this, but "chromed", and thus knew that that was a fake.

HaEn, it's the style, and the knowledge that the use of the shield around the divisional emblems didn't start until post-war.

That's a common style of dagger/boot knife. I can't be sure who makes it, but it's not a period piece.

[John P. Moore]

The Julleuchter was a special ceramic candle holder given to SS members by Heinrich Himmler. The Julleuchter was decorated with Germanic symbols and used to celebrate the winter solstice. I’m not sure what qualified someone to receive a Julleuchter and it is not something that appears to have been automatically given to every SS officer. Being the recipient of a Julleuchter was a fact that was recorded on an SS officer’s Führerkarte directly below the Totenkopfring and Ehrendegen.

The former Hauptsturmführer Günter Liersch from the Panzer Regiment/Panzerjäger Abteilung "Totenkopf" gave me this Julleuchter at a vet reunion in 1996. It is probably a post-1945 production as it was in new condition. I have seen these in the homes of quite a few veterans.

[John P. Moore]

Günter Liersch is on the left in the black panzer uniform taken at Modlin, Poland in October 1944. Liersch, who was born in 1914, is still living. He was one of the founding members of the SS-Nachrichtensturmbann in February 1935. He became an officer after completing a course for vehicle maintenace officers in Vienna and served as maintenace officer of SS-Infantry Rgt. 9 in Finnland, ending up in the "Totenkopf" Division when his unit was incorporated in the division as a motorcycle regiment.

[haen2]

I don't know whether during WWII there were already replicas made of the official Jule Leuchter.
But an Uncle of mine had one, I think it was 1943.
A strange and mysterious man though.
Supposedly he was an Obersturmfühere in the Algemeine SS, and an Oberscharführer in the Waffen SS; served at the Eastern front, and had a chest full of crosses and badges, including a silver Verwundete Abzeigen.
The latter part of the war he wore the Feldgrau version of the Algemeine SS; (according to my Aunt) Thus was seen by just about everybody as an SS Obersturmführer, probably because of his many decorations.
Who knows ?. Before the war he fought in Spain AGAINST Franco, and after the war became a communist (again ?), although also involved with Odessa.
Weird family Huh ?
HN

[John P. Moore]

HN - Thanks for those comments. I suspect that your uncle had an original Julleuchter. Was he married at the time? I believe that these were intended for SS officers with families.

Here is a bottom view of a Julleuchter. Note the SS runes in the upper right-hand corner. Julleuchters were made by the Allach porcelain firm at Dachau. Not surprisingly, it's no longer in business and the white porcelain hand-crafted figures that it once produced are valuable collectibles.

[haen2]

Yes he was indeed married to my aunt who had left her husband after she met this guy. He was a VERY flamboyant figure, and as I mentioned was a mercenary on thesocialist/communist side in the Spanish war, and earned some decorations ( which he later wore onhis SS uniform )
Because of his spanish engagement without consent of the Queen, he lost hos Dutch citizenship, thus very short after the Germans invaded, he already joined up, since he did not feel any allegiance to Holland anymore.
He also about immediately applied for German Nationality; don't know if and when he got it.
He was a very likeable man, but as I said, a strange bird.
Ih well.
HN

[chambers]

Weird family Huh ?

Makes for an interesting book!!

Brooke

[John P. Moore]

The signal battalions of the LAH and Hitler Jugend divisions held joint annual reunions for many years. The former Untersturmführer Franz-Josef Kneipp of the “HJ” gave me this beer stein that was produced in 1985 celebrating 40 years of friendship during peacetime.

[John P. Moore]

Here's a photo of Franz-Josef Kneipp in Normandy in 1944 where he was signal officer in the III./SS-Panzergrenadier Rgt. 25. He was severely wounded on July 8, 1944 near Buron while standing in the turret of a tank and captured by Canadian troops.

[chambers]

Great stuff, John!

[John W. Howard]

Herr Kneipp looks like a formidable guy, John Nice photo. Best wishes.

[John P. Moore]

Like many of the early members of the Waffen-SS from the mid-1930s, Kneipp was a big man. Even though I had only seen him in a wartime photo, I had no trouble picking him out in the crowd at the Wiesbaden main train station where we first met in 1992. Here is another color photo that Kneipp gave me from Normandy. These color photos were originally produced by Wilfried Woscidlo, a Kriegsberichter attached to the "HJ" Division.

John

[John P. Moore]

Another photo of the same scene given to me by Kneipp. At the left in the photo is the battalion commander, Ostubaf. Karl-Heinz Milius.

[John P. Moore]

Franzl Kneipp enjoyed playing the guitar and singing througout his life and I have a nice video of him demonstrating his talents for me shortly before his death in 2002 at the age of 90. Here he is in 1979 with one of his comrades from the "HJ" division, the former Untersturmführer Siegfried Schneider, who was in the signal platoon of the SS-Totenkopf Infantry Rgt. 3 in 1941.

[John P. Moore]

Here is a HIAG stein that Franzl Kneipp gave me during one of our visits. He also gave a big sharp knife to my youngest son in 1996 which his mother promptly confiscated upon our return home.