I'm very interested to know if people have any interesting stories regarding the histories of daggers in their collections.
If people have got them from US veterans, where did they pick them up etc, and the same goes for German veterans.
Would be really interested to hear stories of how the vets got their booty and where from.

Unfortunately i haven't got any vet bring backs, but perhaps some of the collectors here have some great stories?

My Dad got his two lufts, 1st and 2nd, after the Germans surrendered their weapons by piling them in the street. The GI's were free to collect whatever souveniers they wanted. This was in the city of Esslingen near Stuttgart. There was a German airfield in Stuttgart. He got his SA dagger when doing house to house searches for weapons. The dagger was hidden in a linen closet. Dad also shipped home a sword. That one never made it back. Someone pilfered it which I believe was commonplace.

My best veteran story is from a man in my home town that owned a auto parts business. Jewish, he was sent to a large estate to arrest the owner. No one was on the estate and, while searching one of the smaller out buildings that was the residence of the on grounds Forester, he found a large picture of Hitler in the man's den on the wall.
He tried to pull the photo down and it was hinged on one side and opened to reveal his Forestry Uniform on a form in a hidden shadow box. On the belt was a great Sr. Forestry Dagger with knot by Luneschloss. The knot has a party badge on the stem and he pulled it out of the frog and off the belt. I bought it years ago and it is a delux one. I thought this was a great story.
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria

Nice stories, keep them coming.

Thanks guys!

Best one i have owned (and still do..) is a Luft 2nd model that was bought in a pawn shop.It belonged to a Luftwaffe GCG winner and one of a handful of Luft pilots who flew combat missions against the allies on D-day..i was alerted to it being in the shop by his son, who told me that his dad placed it there as he thought no one would be interested in 'that old nazi junk'!

In time i would get to know this man, and with his passing last year obtained his pilots badge, visor cap and log book for a Bf-109.
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One that i know of and am currently in the process of getting..is German General Johannes Blaskowitzs' gold finished dagger and hangers ,as well as his pistol belt and map case...from a Canadian mp who relieved the General of these items.

Upon entering a room in a government building in Holland, he was asked to surrender any sidearms and visible items of 'influence and aggression'
The papers are the itinerary for the General leading up to the surrender of all German forces in the Netherlands ..all documents are OKW marked and stamped etc...

I displayed this dagger at the last Militaria show in Toronto at the International Centre..

Very interesting!

So far, I have bought 5 HJ knifes, 1 SA dagger and 1 etched bayonet directly from the German initial owners or their decendants. 3 out of 5 HJ knifes and the SA dagger turned out to be in super condition (near mint to mint) as they were stored/hidden and never used after the war. Most Germans do not like to speak out about WWII times if they do not know you and/or if you do not speak their language. The only way to get to their treasures is to be introduced.
I am mostly interested in blades but often they also keep some headgear, medals, cloth, pictures and eventually papers.

Best regards,

Herman

Dear fellow collectors. Just some thoughts for you (please, I do not want anybody to attack, believe me). Although the III.R. regime was without any doubt a sometimes criminal, violent and brutal dictatorship and at least most of the time supressed vast masses of people I dare to say there also lived "normal people" as you and me. Even when there were soldiers between them, dress edged weapons (like we love collect), their uniforms, their silver items, their watches, virginity of young girls for sure did no harm and were no danger for the liberators. Those things also were not kept in prison, even at germany in those times so the did not needed to be liberated. Not always the case but in some cases you even might think those items were stolen or robbed or taken by force simply for enrichment and joy.
I am very glad that personally I did not live a single second during those regime times. My father has been clever enough to hide his dagger, his sabre and parts of his officer´s uniform (all I own today) from any liberators as did a lot of other true posessors of those things.
I personally NEVER would buy any of the " war booty " books of TMJ.
Perhaps you imagine that you might hurt somebodies feelings with those heroic stories how a dressdagger, a dresssword or any other valuable silver or gold item ar anything else undangerous has been taken away during house seeking.
And I wish you all (and for myself) that you may be spared from any of those events.
In very short words these are just my thoughts whenever I read such themes. I thought that you should know it for one time. I will not add any more here.
Regards

wotan I very much appreciate what you are saying. However, as is the case of my father he had orders to search houses for all weapons hidden away including daggers. Perhaps you should just be content that your father lived through the war, eh? Many, many people lost more than just a dagger.

Thanks Wotan, i can understand what you are saying, and i am sure there are many different views on the subject.
Would it be possible to see more of your fathers items?
Thanks again for the replies.

LDR

A patient of mine shipped his "finds" back in a wooden box. He told me a lot of guys had their stuff in their duffle bags, which had to be dumped out prior to getting on their ship home. They were told they couldn't bring it with them. Given the choice of staying with their stuff or going home, they chose going home.
He sent back a gorgeous early SMF luft sword and 2nd model Luft dagger, some coins, currency, and a black pillow case cover with a destroyer painted on it complete with a little swaz flag flying off the stern. I swear the pillow cover looked like it came from a Gatlinberg gift shop, but I knew it was real. He didn't have any kids or relatives to leave the stuff to, so I gave him a fair price for the items. He then gave me the box he shipped the stuff home in. Unfortunately, after he got back from the war, he stained the wood of the box, put piano hinges on it and brass plated handles. I was hoping it still had the militara post office markings and dates. He died about a year later. I still have the sword, box, currency. This was about 13 years ago, I wish I had kept the pillow cover as I have since seen the same style with other ships and airplanes.
I don't have time to seek stuff "out of the woodwork", but the few times I have scored stuff sure was exciting. I can see it becoming an addiction...trying to get the next score.

John