Why so many Thuringians?

[ivbaust]

No, I did not ask myself this question, although over the years I have had a few SA and NSKK daggers made by Thuringian manufacturers in my collection

[ivbaust]

The question "Why so many Thuringians?" aims at something else.
I´ve added recently these two “Bickel brothers” to my collection.

[ivbaust]

As always I did a bit of research about the manufacturer “August Bickel” from Steinbach-Hallenberg in Thuringia.

And I noticed that the Thuringian manufacturers were the second largest regional group of dagger manufacturers for the Sturmabteilung (SA) and the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK).

And in these crazy times of Corona – with lots of time at the weekends - I was able to go through some material, which I have compiled during the last years. And here are some of my findings. I hope it´s interesting for SA and NSKK dagger collectors.

[ivbaust]

As far as I know, 233 metalworking companies produced early daggers for the SA and the NSKK in the 3rd Reich in 1934/35, which feature the company logo on the blade (I´m not including the transitional and late RZM daggers).

It´s well known, due to its history, that Solingen was the undisputed world center of blades and edged weapon manufacturing and it is therefore hardly surprising that the largest part of the SA / NSKK dagger production came from Solingen and the surrounding area: namely 198 companies, which corresponds to 85%.

But why did the region of Thuringia have the second largest collection of SA / NSKK dagger manufacturers? Namely 22 companies, which corresponds to 9%! Finally, there were some other areas in Germany where there were metalworking companies. Why haven't these been awarded contracts, but rather so many in the Thuringia region?

Here is a regional overview of the 233 manufacturers (only early SA / NSKK daggers with logo):

- 199 from North Rhine-Westphalia (197 Solingen including all districts, 1 Haan, 1 Remscheid)
- 22 from Thuringia (3 Brotterode, 1 Herges-Vogtei, 1 Marienthal, 2 Schmalkalden, 1 Schweina, 8 Steinbach, 1 Steinbach-Hallenberg, 3 Suhl, 2 Zella-Mehlis)
- 7 from Bavaria (1 Muggendorf, 3 München, 1 Bayreuth, 1 Gefrees, 1 Deggendorf)
- 3 from Baden-Württemberg (1 Canstatt, 1 Esslingen, 1 Tuttlingen)
- 1 from Saxony (Neustadt)
- 1 from Berlin

If this is not correct, I would be grateful for a hint

[ivbaust]

So there were a total of 22 Thuringian manufacturers of early SA / NSKK daggers.
During my research, I found some interesting information that could possibly answer the question about the cluster in Thuringia.

First of all, a main reason was the competence in metal processing. In the 14th century, iron and copper ore was discovered on the south side of the Thuringian Forest. The forest with its wood and the rivers with their water favored the settlement of mining and later also iron processing.

At the end of the 19th century industrialization and factory-like metalworking mass production began, which was supported by further events and developments, such as the foundation of the German Empire (1871), the construction of a railway connection from Schmalkalden via Steinbach-Hallenberg to Zella (1889 - 1891), the connection of the Thuringian region to the electricity network, gas supply and expansion of the road network.

But as I said, there were a few other regions in Germany, which had the same or very similar developments and prerequisites. So why so many Thuringians then?

Presumably a key driver for the award of the dagger manufacturing orders / contracts was the political relationship of this region to the NSDAP. The local political group "Völkische Freiheitsbewegung" from Steinbach-Hallenberg entered already in 1925 into the NSDAP. In the following years, this group supported heavily the development of the National Socialist movement throughout entire Thuringia. According to a local chronicle of Steinbach-Hallenberg, there is a letter from Adolf Hitler dated February 4, 1927, in which he expresses his appreciation for the local group Steinbach-Hallenberg for the tireless support of his election campaign in Thuringia. Steinbach-Hallenberg became later the seat of the “Kreisleitung” (district leadership) of the NSDAP and the “Kreisleiter” (district leader) was at the same time the “Landrat” (chief administrative officer) of the district of Schmalkalden and member of the constituency of Schmalkalden in the National Socialist Reichstag. Presumably these circumstances of the early support of the NSDAP and the thereby certainly good contact situation and relationship with the NSDAP favored the awarding of contracts to companies from Thuringia for the production of SA and NSKK daggers.

Maybe someone has more information or another guess?

[ivbaust]

Here is a list of all known 22 manufacturers of early SA / NSKK daggers from Thuringia (featuring the company logo on the dagger), sorted alphabetically by location of company headquarters. The number of companies per city is in brackets.

Brotterode (3):
Böhme Nachfolger Gebrüder
Münch, Joseph
Neidhardt & Schmidt

Herges-Vogtei (1):
Müller, Gottfried

Marienthal (1):
Heller, Gebrüder

Schmalkalden (2):
Heller, Gebrüder
Völker, Adolf

Schweina (1):
Reich, Ehrhardt

Steinbach (8):
Bodenstein, Julius
Helbig, F. & A.
Malsch, August Friedrich Sohn
Malsch, David
Malsch, Karl Gustav Sohn
Malsch & Ambronn
Malsch-Spitzer, Carl
Simon, Otto

Steinbach-Hallenberg (1):
Bickel, August

Suhl (3):
Haenel, C.G.
Kober & Co., Wilhelm
Sauer & Söhne, J.P.

Zella-Mehlis (2):
Kührt, Carl Fr.
Melzer & Feller

The company DGDE GmbH from Berlin/Germany (www.dg.de) has a great overview of all manufacturer logos on their homepage. From this I have created this picture, which I can publish here with the kind permission of DGDE.

[ivbaust]

But back to the SA and NSKK daggers. The Thuringian daggers are mostly of very high quality and some have unique peculiarities.

The most famous is the "Suhler Stufe", which one can find only at the three manufacturers Haenel, Kober and Sauer from the city of Suhl. This German collector term “Suhler Stufe” could be translated as “step of Suhl” or “level of Suhl”.

For those who do not know the term "Suhler Stufe" (step / level of Suhl), here is a brief explanation. At SA and NSKK daggers from Haenel, Kober and Sauer both the crossguard and the wooden handle are much flatter, which can be seen clearly at the flatter transition between the two dagger parts. The “step” or “level” is flatter. Therefore this peculiarity is called “step of Suhl” or “level of Suhl”.

This photo shows the difference of a dagger from Suhl compared to a dagger from Solingen. Until today it can not yet be clearly explained why this is the case with these 3 manufacturers from Suhl only. Maybe someone here knows it?

[ivbaust]

There is the beautiful saying "Exceptions confirm the rule!"

Because there are also exceptions with this “Suhler Stufe” (step / level of Suhl).

Exception 1)

Not every SA or NSKK dagger from Suhl has this feature. There are also a few Suhl daggers with a "normal" step / level. Here´s a Haenel SA dagger with a “normal” crossguard - grip transition.

[ivbaust]

Exception 2)

And there is one manufacturer from Solingen, where you can also occasionally find a “Suhler Stufe” (step / level of Suhl):

Friedrich Wilhelm Backhaus with the „kid on the stork„ logo

Here is such a rare piece

[ivbaust]

So, that’s it for today from my side. Any comments are welcome

Maybe we can show in this thread the SA/NSKK blades & logos of all Thuringian manufacturers?

Here are some first examples:

Adolf Völker from Schmalkalden with the super rare locomotive logo

[ivbaust]

Same maker without the locomotive

[ivbaust]

Melzer & Feller from Zella-Mehlis

[Ron Weinand]

VERY GOOD information here and good analysis of party influence on the dagger business of the period.

[ivbaust]

Otto Simon from Steinbach (Kreis Meiningen)

[ivbaust]

Gottfried Müller from Herges-Vogtei