Original German WWII Early SA Dagger by E. Pack & Söhne of Solingen – Possible Ground Röhm Signature Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. Prior to his “unmasking” as a traitor, Ernst Röhm was the leader of the Sturmabteilung (SA). In 1934, he distributed approximately 100,000 SA daggers with his personal inscription on the reverse blade. These daggers were to honor individuals who had served with the SA prior to December, 1931. Other than the inscription, these pieces were identical to the standard M1933 SA dagger. After the Röhm purge, the inscription was ordered to be removed, and failure to comply would be considered treason. Some were simply ground in the field by whatever means were available. Many other examples, as we suspect this is one of, were returned to the factory for grinding and refinishing.  Examples will occasionally be encountered with remnants of the original inscription remaining on the blade, but mostly none will remain. Some blades exist with an intact inscription, exhibiting only the removal of the Röhm signature. Very, very rarely is an example seen with a full, untouched inscription, as the holder would have surely risked a charge of treason.

The front side of this blade is very nice, with a good amount of the factory cross grain, and the usual runner wear. The acid etched Alles für Deutschland motto is beautifully executed. It does look like some rust was removed from this side, but nothing major.

On the rear of the blade, there are traces of the maker name and logo of E. Pack & Söhne, which has been partially ground away. The Mark originally would have shown their trademark “Young Siegfried wielding a hammer” Logo, surrounded by:

E.P. & S.
(Jung Siegfried Logo)
SOLINGEN

J. Anthony Carter’s book GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS, this firm used this trademark on early SA and NSKK daggers, which they made a good number of. The rear of the dagger shows clear evidence of having the Signature on the back ground down at the factory, and then had a new factory final polish applied. It has the unmistakable striations only seen on German WWI era daggers. Given that another early dagger from this same maker that we sold in the past had the motto without the signature, we feel that this definitely is a “sanitized” Röhm dagger. Unfortunately there is no way to conclusively prove this, but the evidence is there.

The steel scabbard shell is straight throughout and is the early-war style, with a brown “anodized” finish on the steel, which was then lacquered. The lacquer has flaked off quite a bit, which has allowed the anodization to fade in areas, with some light rusting. However there are only a few small dents in the shell. The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, and have a nice patina, with some dents and scratches showing typical wear. The bottom fitting is dented in quite a bit, typical of the softer alloy, and the retaining screws look to have sheared off when it was dropped.  The top mount and throat throat nicely matches the crossguards and the screws for the top mount are both intact and not deformed.

The brown hardwood grip has no chips, cracks or major damage, just the usual wear from age and use. The solid nickel-silver eagle is crisp with a perfect fit. The SA roundel also has a perfect fit and retains most of the enamel, though the plating has worn off, showing the brass base metal.

The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Mi, for Mitte (Center), an SA Administrative region to the West of Berlin, with Magdeburg as the main city.

A very intersting early SA dagger, Maker marked and most likely “sanitized” after the Night of the Long Knives! Ready to add to your collection and display!

The SA or Brown Shirts, were a private political formation which Adolf AH and the NSDAP used to maintain order at organized Party meetings and demonstrations. The group was formed in 1921, and grew to a huge force of nearly 3,000,000 men by the later 1930’s. To instill esprit de corps, as well as create employment for the Blade City of Solingen, it was decided each SA man would carry a dagger with his Brown Shirt uniform. Huge quantities needed to be produced to accommodate the demand. The dagger initially was produced of hand-fitted nickel mounts with attractive finished wood grip and brown anodized (a bluing process) finished scabbard.

The blade was etched with the SA motto, Alles für Deutschland. Examples produced prior to 1935 were stamped with the German sector of the SA group on reverse lower crossguard. Later examples underwent standardization through the RZM ministry. These pieces were produced of cheaper plated zinc-base fittings and scabbards were simply painted brown.

The Night of the Long Knives, in June 1934, saw the wiping out of the SA’s leadership and others who had angered AH in the recent past in NSDAP Germany. After this date, the SS lead by Heinrich Himmler was to become far more powerful in NSDAP Germany. For all the power the Enabling Act gave AH, he still felt threatened by some in the NSDAP Party. He was also worried that the regular army had not given an oath of allegiance. AH knew that the army hierarchy held him in disdain as he was ‘only ‘ a corporal in their eyes. The Night of the Long Knives not only removed the SA leaders but also got AH the army’s oath that he so needed.

By the summer of 1934, the SA’s numbers had swollen to 2 million men. They were under the control of Ernst Röhm, a loyal follower of AH since the early days of the NSDAP Party. The SA had given the NSDAP’s an iron fist with which to disrupt other political parties meetings before January 1933. The SA was also used to enforce law after AH became Chancellor in January 1933. To all intents, they were the enforcers of the NSDAP Party and there is no evidence that Röhm was ever planning anything against AH. However, Röhm had made enemies within the NSDAP Party – Himmler, Goering and Goebbels were angered by the power he had gained and convinced AH that this was a threat to his position. By June 1934, the regular army hierarchy also saw the SA as a threat to their authority. The SA outnumbered the army by 1934 and Röhm had openly spoken about taking over the regular army by absorbing it into the SA. Such talk alarmed the army’s leaders.

By the summer of 1934, AH had decided that Röhm was a ‘threat’ and he made a pact with the army. If Röhm and the other SA leaders were removed, the rank and file SA men would come under the control of the army but the army would have to swear an oath of loyalty to AH. The army agreed and Röhm’s fate was sealed. On the night of June 29th – June 30th 1934, units of the SS arrested the leaders of the SA and other political opponents. Men such as Gregor Strasser, von Schleicher and von Bredow were arrested and none of them had any connection with Röhm. The arrests carried on for 2 more nights. Seventy seven men were executed on charges of treason though historians tend to think the figure is higher. The SA was brought to heel and placed under the command of the army. AH received an oath of allegiance from all those who served in the army. Röhm was shot. Others were bludgeoned to death. The first the public officially knew about the event was on July 13th 1934, when AH told the Reichstag that met in the Kroll Opera House, Berlin, that for the duration of the arrests that he and he alone was the judge in Germany and that the SS carried out his orders. From that time on the SS became a feared force in NSDAP Germany lead by Heinrich Himmler. The efficiency with which the SS had carried out its orders greatly impressed AH and Himmler was to acquire huge power within NSDAP Germany.