Here are some pics of a SS KL wehrpass that I wanted to share with fellow WAF members. I would appreciate any comments about the book from any experienced SS document collectors. Thank you!
Best regards,
Tom
Best regards,
Tom
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Ss kl wehrpass
More pics. -
Ss kl wehrpass
A couple more pics.Comment
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Ss kl wehrpass
Thank you, kuratorium, for your positive comment about the wehrpass. It's always a good feeling when a document in my collection passes an authenticity check from a more experienced collector.
Best regards,
TomComment
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SS-KZ books are very difficult to authenticate as there are extremely clever forgeries out there. With a book like this, I usually would defer to the judgement of a collector experienced in the specific intricacies of these types of items. The stamps in this book look very good and the entries on the whole look very convincing. The handwriting gives me some pause, specifically the SS entries on page 12. In theory the date 20.11.44 would have been inked in when the soldier began serving with 3. Kompanie, and the 23.1.45 date would have been written in later, when he was transferred. I might expect this entry to have been written with a different ink or handwriting from the earlier date but here they look to possibly have been done at the same time. This does not automatically mean it is a fake, however, as there are some possible scenarios I could imagine where these entries might look so similar or even have been done at the same time. I would want to compare these entries with similar entries from Sachsenhausen from the same time period. I have attached a scan of a page of a Heer book that is more typical, notice that on that first line the start and end dates are in different inks. I am not stating that this book is a fake, I don't feel qualified to judge this one with any certainty. I do believe it would not be difficult to make perfect undetectable fakes of this kind of document. Copying the stamps is not all that difficult.Comment
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Ss kl wehrpass
Thanks again, Chris, for your comments concerning the SS KL wehrpass. I compared my book to a SS-KL Sachsenhausen book posted on the WAF earlier today, and the unit entries are identical; same handwriting on these two books relating to the Sachsenhausen camp. The other book received some positive feedback from forum members, so that makes me feel better about my book, but I understand your opinion concerning SS-KL forgeries. I will keep researching my wehrpass, and keep alert for other books from Sachsenhausen, especially from this time period. You've provided some great help to me about this book, and the LSSAH wehrpass. I really want to thank you for taking the time to educate me about these books. If any other collectors with experience about SS KL wehrpass, especially late war Sachsenhausen books, I would appreciate your input about this book.
Best regards,
TomComment
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"Kuratorium" knows his KL better than anyone on the WAF.
Your Wehrpass is indeed an original, untouched example from the Sachsenhausen KL.
"Hundestaffel"Comment
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I found in my computer archive few images of another (original & untouched) KL Sa related Wehrpass , whose owner was also a WW1 veteran and also for some time served in 3. Kompanie, and even in the same period like the owner of Tom´s Wehrpass (3.12.44-23.1.45). Therefore I have no doubts, that the both KL guards knew each other. Here the comparison of both Wehrpasses:Comment
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Ss-kl wehrpass
Thank you, Kuratorium, for posting the scan of another SS-KL Sachsenhausen wehrpass. I spent some time on the internet last night, and I managed to find a few more books with identical entries/stamps as these two books, and some had nearly identical unit transfer dates, too. It seems like a lot of older reservists and wounded soldiers unfit for frontline duty were posted to the KL camps as guards at this period of time. I appreciate very much all the help that was provided by my fellow forum members to authenticate this document. Keep up the great work, guys!!!
Best regards,
TomComment
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Very Nice original untouched KL Wehrpass
It shows how they took Everyone at the End of the War..
Best Regards
AndyComment
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Ss kl wehrpass
Thanks, Andy, for your positive comment. During the last months of the war, I'm sure that the younger SS soldiers were badly needed in frontline units, so the older reservists & wounded soldiers were transferred to the camps. I've read some war crimes court reports related to Sachsenhausen, and a number of atrocities were committed in the last part of the war. Some of these last-ditch guards may have participated in these brutal acts, and suffered the consequences after the war. IMO, this book, as well as other KL docs, represent a very "real" part of the SS culture, and preservation of them as historical artifacts is important. In my earlier days of SS collecting, I always veered away from the KL stuff, and collected only WSS militaria, but as I read more & more books that documented the close ties that the WSS had to the KL system, I saw the true picture. Thanks again for your input!!!
Best regards,
TomComment
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Hi Tom,
I agree with you! In the last Month of the War the most KL Guards were commandeered to Fighting Units. I had the Chance to study Papers of the 32. SS Division "30. Januar", a lot of former KL Guards came into those late War Units early Spring ´45. Than they preferred elder and mostly ordinary Persons like day-laborer etc. as KL Guards.
AndyComment
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