SS dagger early numbered / Blut Orden

[Francisque]

Hello,

Thanks to R. Kelbaugh for his work aboud finding my SS dagger owner.

Have someone information about the Blutorden n° 610? Is it in a collection?

JC

[Francisque]

2

[krikke1980]

Thanks for showing sir. Very interesting.

Do you have more pictures of the dagger?
Which maker?

Do you have a close up from the gripeagle?

[Francisque]

It was a Rohm dagger.

[Francisque]

4

[JohnZ]

Super! Congratulations on a fine package.

[Br. James]

A very nice and historic piece, JC -- congrats! And having a bio file from Ross Kelbaugh on the owner adds a whole other dimension to a dagger or a badge or ...!

Ernst Maerkl was only 20 years old when he participated in the Putsch, and he must have joined the SS not long after the NSDAP was reconstituted, which got him SS Membership Number 1698. But as a young man at that time, probably just starting out in his employment career, he didn't join the Party itself until the early months of 1929, when he received NSDAP Membership Number 143005 -- which wasn't within the range that entitled a member to be considered for the Golden Party Badge. This was apparently not unusual for the period; my assumption is that when a person joined the SA or the SS or the NSKK or any of the other NSDAP-related organizations, they were either unaware that actually joining the Party required a separate application and separate monthly dues...which many people couldn't afford during the Depression or if they were just out of school or from poor families...or that they assumed that by joining one of the Party-affiliated organizations, they were also de facto Party Members, too...which they weren't.

A far more well-known example of this situation is found in the bio of Eleonore Baur, known as Sister Pia, who originally joined the DAP in January of 1920, participated in the Battle of Coburg and the Putsch where she used her experience as a military nurse during WWI to aid the injured, and she proudly received the Blood Order and the Coburg Badge for her efforts. But what she hadn't done was to reapply for membership in the reconstituted NSDAP after February of 1925. She later said that she had assumed her early membership in the DAP, together with her well-known service to the Party and receiving both the CB and the BO would have entitled her to some form of continued NSDAP membership. She was wrong, and when she finally bit the bullet and filed her application for Party membership in early 1937, she wound up with NSDAP Membership Number 5096034 -- and was thereby not entitled to receive the GPB! She could still have been accorded the Honorary AH GPB in respect to her early and dedicated service to the Party, but she was apparently so nasty and so vocal about not being accorded the early Party membership number she felt she deserved that Hitler never got around to awarding her an Honorary GPB! What's that old phrase -- "What goes around comes around!"

I would bet that, as Ernst Maerkl rose in the ranks of the SS and probably attended the 8-9 November celebration and the annual RPTs in Nuremberg, he began to regret not joining the Party earlier. Here he was, wearing the elegant black SS uniform as an officer (since early 1934) and proudly wearing the showy Blood Order on his right breast, and yet he did not have the gleaming GPB on his left pocket...!!

Cheers, and again congrats on a fine collectible,

Br. James

[ErichS]

An SS dagger to a BO holder is a real treat and congrats!

[krikke1980]

Thank you very much for the pictures. Very nice dagger with loads of history.

[Francisque]

Thanks for have take time to answer. It would be a nice project to bring together this dagger & the blood order medal.

[krikke1980]

Thanks for have take time to answer. It would be a nice project to bring together this dagger & the blood order medal.

Sure thing. And a difficult one to I guess.

[Mac 66]

Member Jon Fish might know more about the blood order as he collects them

[heers68]

Great dagger with amazing provenance and documentation! Congrats! Kevin.

[Jon Fish]

I do not know about this medal, never seen it. Probably it is not surviving or still out there, somewhere. Lovely dagger, congratulations! I need an SS dagger like this

[Francisque]

In his "Lebenslauf" is it written:

11 marz 1921: joign the NSDAP
SA man when he fought on 9 & 10 november 1923
13/08/1929: in the SS (obersturmführer)