SS wedding ceremony...

[Timo]

I have some question about a wartime SS officer wedding ceremony

- If the ceremony took place in his home town, how many days/weeks was the officer allowed to be away from his frontline unit?

- Were fellow officers from his unit allowed to attend the wedding (and thus be away from their unit aswell)?

- Was the Julleuchter a wedding present or was it presented for another occassion? Any (other) usual present(s) from Hitler/Himmler for the new couple?

- Can somebody name/describe some of the usual NS ceremonial from such a wedding ceremony?

- Who married the new couple? The mayor, a civil servant? An SS official?

Thanks in advance!

Timo

[Reader3000]

I don't know if it is helpful, but I here is a photograph of Gerd Bremer at his wedding celebration. in the background you can see another SS-soldier.
(I deleted the attached photo, because of copyright issues)

[Arensburger]

Wedding of Hando Ruus from SS-Panzergrenadier Bataillon “Narwa” (SS-Division „Wiking“)

[Timo]

Thanks for the photos "Arensburger" and Florian, but can somebody answer my questions?

[HPL2008]

It’s not much, but maybe it helps – Here is a paragraph from Robin Lumsden’s „Himmler’s Black Order“:

Christian weddings were replaced in the Allgemeine SS by pseudo-pagan rites presided over by the bridegroom’s commander. Marriages no longer took place in churches, but in the open air under lime trees or in SS buildings decorated with life runes, sunflowers and fir twigs. An eternal flame burned in an urn in front of which the couple swore oaths of loyalty, exchanged rings and received the official SS gift of bread and salt, symbols of the earth’s fruitfulness and purity. A presentation copy of "Mein Kampf" was then taken from a heavy oak casket carved with runes, and handed over to the groom. Finally, as the couple departed from the ceremony, they invariably passed through a sombre arcade of saluting SS brethren.

Speaking of the gift of bread and salt: This was kept in a wooden container, in whose design the famous/infamous Karl-Maria Wiligut or “Weisthor” was involved; the text of three letters concerning this matter – what runes are to be used for ornamentation etc. - is reproduced in Hans-Jürgen Lange’s book “Weisthor”. (one of those letters was written by Wiligut/Weisthor, one by Himmler and one by one SS-Obersturmführer Höhne.)

As for the wooden casket containing a copy of "Mein Kampf": A photograph of it appears in Lumsden's book as well.

[Timo]

Thanks for the interesting info. Does the book contain info about the Julleuchter too?

[HPL2008]

Sorry, none. Here's Stefanie Endlich's entry about the Julleuchter from dtv's "Enzyklopädie des Nationalsozialismus", but it has no specific data relevant to wedding ceremonies:

Julleuchter. Kunsthandwerklicher Bestandteil der Ausstattung von SS-Feiern. Besonders beim Jul-Fest (= Jul = altgerm. Feier der Wintersonnenwende), das von der SS anstelle des christlichen Weihnachtsfestes propagiert wurde, gehörte das Entzünden der Julleuchter zum vorgeschriebenen Ritual. Vom Reichsführer SS wurde der J. gerne auch als Geschenk verwendet, als eine Art Auszeichnung. Häftlinge in der Modellierwerkstatt des Klinkerwerks im KZ Neuengamme stellten 1943 15,000 Julleuchter her.

(I know you can read German, but here's a rough translation for non-German speakers:)

Julleuchter. Artistic item forming part of the equipment for SS celebrations. Especially during the Jul-Fest (= Jul = Ancient Germanic celebration of the Winter Solstice), which the SS propagated instead of Christmas, lighting of the Julleuchter was part of the proscribed ritual. The Reichsführer SS was also fond of giving away the J. as a present, as sort of decoration. In 1943, inmates of the modelling workshop at the Neuengamme concentration camp's brickworks manufactured 15,000 Julleuchter.

Another bit about the Julleuchter is here:

http://www.ns-gedenkstaetten.de/nrw/de/ ... g/thema_5/

(Scroll down to "Neue Medien" and select the download file "Präsentation Julleuchter")

[skrable]

WOW!!! That's really a nice photo of Gerd Bremer. Where did you get it from Panzerass?

[Reader3000]

skrable: I found it sometime ago on a webpage dedicated to the 12th SS-Panzerdivision "Hitlerjugend".
I found the url: http://home.att.net/~SSPzHJ/Photos.html

[Seyffardt]

This is a pic of a Dutch (Germanic) SS-man at his weddingday.

[Seyffardt]

A nice picture of SS-Opperstormleider Willem Heubel and his bride.
He served in the 34.SS-Div. Landstorm Nederland as Ostuf and Kompaniechef and was killed in action april 28th 1945 at the Maas-Waal front. His grave is located at Ysselstein Cemetary, Limburg, Netherlands.

[Max Williams]

What a lovely photograph. Thank you for posting this.
Max

[Xavier]

from manions:

caption says:

"He wears the German Cross in Gold, a Close Combat bar, Iron Cross 2nd Class ribbon, Iron Cross 1st Class medal, Infantry Assault badge, & a Gold or Silver Wound Badge. Photo has been retouched to obliterate his cap skull, sleeve eagle, collar insignia & shoulder boards. An Unterfuhrer"(?) cuff title is still visible"

regards
Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

[Ti.P]

Hmm, I don't know.?

One suggestion, you better ask! I know the page in question and it's copyrighted as most other websites. If you haven't the owners permission I suggest that you remove that photo very quick! I've also seen the conversations how to get around copyrighted material, serious problems can follow if such actions are undertaken. Contact the webmaster and ask for his permission, if not, delete the photo, if not I'll do it!

Martin

wouldnt it be possible to refference the site from which it comes or put a link to the picture? shouldnt that avoid breaking any copyright laws?

[skrable]

Referencing the webpage or linking to the site would be the correct thing to do. Under the circumstances I think Martin's comments were warranted and appreciated. It's a shame but every picture posted on the internet needs a watermark, there's no other alternative except for not posting photo's at all!