Hitler Youth Photo Portraits Discovered in Clearance

[Bob Coleman]

Unasigned or new members of either the SA or the SS wore blank collar tabs on both sides. These guys are to young to shave besides being in the SS! At the time frame you are referring to, the SS was a very tiny component of the NSDAPand subserviant to the SA. Early SS men were mature males, not boys like these fellow are.

Bob

[sjl]

Like I said, just a guess - but they are definitely SS armbands (the edging is very plain on my monitor), SS-style shoulder boards, twistcord collar piping, cufftitle and I'm sure that's an SS EM buckle. With tricks of light, there's no reason to assume the uniform is not black.

There's no youth group I know that wore SS armbands.

So if it quacks like a duck... you're probably not looking at a platypus.

I say blow up the photos and end the futile guesswork.

[Bob Coleman]

Stephen-

The early SS wore the SA model belt buckle, not the later SS model. Due to the footwear, it seems everyone is in agreement that these are very early pictures circa 1931-1933. The poor quality of these pictures does not define darks and lights well. There were numerous armbands in the early days with different color tapes at the top and bottom of the armband, not just the SS.
This duck is not quacking at all. No one has yet addressed the very evident young age of these boys.
Bob

[Bob Coleman]

Stephen-

Your comment is insulting and has nothing to do with this thread. If that is your idea of humor, you need a therapist.
Bob

[Matthew Greer]

99.99% sure not HJ members

Hi All:

Old Boys or Young men? Hard to tell. My guess would be these guys are about 16-18 "Just my own thoughts". I reviewed the documentaries that I have about the HJ and the different youth groups "of which by 34 only the HJ were allowed to exist in Germany" As for Pre 1933 if these guys were in a Nazi approved youth group they would have worn the HJ armbands. Hitler wasn't too keen at first with the youth movement. So to have them wearing SA arm bands would have added insult to injury "Again my own thoughts".

Either these guys are wearing HJ uniforms with SS/SA armbands with brown shirts with under them "would be incorrect from what I have seen" or they are early SS recruits. Many different armbands were used in the early party days but they stayed with in that particular paramilitary group. I have yet to see a photo of a HJ member wearing a SS/SA armband. I doubt that these guys are SA, I don't think that they are Brown tunics. The shirts they are wearing are probally brown though "which early SS were known to wear with black ties".

Again this is just my own opinion, but I still belive that these guys are some form of SS "Late 1920's if not early 1930's". Thats my story and I'm sticking too it!!

Matthew Greer

[Arran]

I'm still in agreement that these guys are early Allgemeine SS. We can speculate as to their age, but the facts are there to be seen. Nothing about the uniforms, apart from the absence of collar tabs, deviates from what the SS was wearing in this period (remember, the black tunics were not worn prior to 1930). Perhaps these pics should be posted in the SS forum, and I'd love to hear what Robin has to say about them as well...

Cheers,
Arran.

[sjl]

Bob,

So a moderator can delete a post that contains what is clearly labeled a joke (along with the relevant parts of the discussion), but say a forum member needs therapy? Very classy.

Restore the post and I'll suffer in the court of public opinion.