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A Question regarding "Herr" and the SS.

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Bluehawk

Bluehawk

Grizzled Veteran
Feb 13, 2006
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Hamilton, ON
#1
I'm well aware that the Waffen-SS frowned upon using "Mein Herr" or "Herr, [Rank]" as forms of address, many of RO's realism units can tell you that, but I'm curious if this extended to the Allgemeine SS as well. My assumption would be that this rejection of the "old Prussian traditions" would be even more prevalent among the regular SS than the SS-soldiers, but use of "Herr" is so widespread in (perhaps poorly researched) media that I'm curious. The internet is not being cooperative and all I ever get are hits regarding the Waffen-SS.

An example of what I'm talking about:
Wehrmacht Heer: "Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann!"
Waffen-SS: "Jawohl, Hauptsturmf
 
#2
I can't say any proper source this as I have no memory where I found it, but I do have some sort of memory about reading something about WSS soldiers being far less strict about the diffrence between a regular soldiers and officers. It was not reguired for soldiers to salute their superiors and in case when they did, it was more of relaxed version of german greeting and for the same reason, Herr- prefix was not used unless referring to Himmler's rank.

Edit: Engrish plz, I'm sinking low with my posts these days.
 
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#3
All I can say from a native german speaker's view is that Jawohl Hauptmann! is kind of wierd to speak out, while Jawohl Herr Hauptmann is both the right form and is not awkward.

On the other side, as the German's dont have anything like Sir, Yes Sir or Yes Sir, it's normally just Jawohl, and never Jawohl mein Herr. (wich I have heard a few times before in movies and games)
 
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#5
I can only speculate that it depended if the person they were referring to was on SS paylists or member of the organisation.

E.G. if they were talking to some officer or soldier from WSS, they could just refer without the prefix but if it were someone else from other branch or not a member of the organisation they would use it. Alternatively in case of E.G. Herr [insert WSS rank here] it is possible that members of Allgemeine-SS were not aware of the way how things were done in WSS.

I really need to try and remember where I found that prefix thing mentioned earlier. There is some reference noted in Gordon Williamson's Waffen-SS Handbook 1933-1945 (ISBN 952-5186-5186-68-7) about their less strict methods compared to those of Heer when it came to soldiers and their superiors, but nothing directly about the use of Herr itself.
 
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#8
"Herr" = "mister". I don't know if there really were any regulations in the SS regarding the use of "Herr" (man, I'm glad I don't). Maybe it just shows that the way of talking within the SS was more informal than in other military units, like not adressing people with their ranks (which is a thing I learned from this thread, so of course it could be totally wrong.)
Usually, if you hear a german saying "Herr...", it doesn't mean that anyone involved is a member of the SS. Maybe you mix things up here?
 
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#9
Seth_Soldier said:
waffen ss wasn't part of the wehrmacht.
However due to the lack of officer, waffen ss have seen a lot of transfert from wehrmacht. Himmler expect them to stay after they did their "job". So herr could have been spread.
algemeine ss aren't soldier so they would use the diplomatic protocol.
Click to expand...
The Waffen SS tried to be part of the Wehrmacht, in order to transform the Wehrmacht from within. It had to be part of the Wehrmacht in order to properly function with other commandstructures.

Politically, it was indeed detached from the Wehrmacht.
 
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#10
Not really.

The waffen ss is a tool of the NSDAP for repression or deal with any threat within the 3rd reich.
They are "Super Policemen", crushing revolt, insurrection or complot.
Also they are a political para-military organization at the service of the party, not of the country.


The wehrmacht was supposed to be completely nazified via reorganization and purge but keep its role or national army.


During ww2, waffen ss were borrowed by the nsdap to the wehrmacht. Sure they were under the command of someone from the wehrmacht, but receiving orders from wehrmacht doesn't mean you're part of it.
Waffen ss has his own organization, his own supply chains, ...

It's not their role to change/nazified/replace the wehrmacht.
Pumping good officer/ressources from the wehrmacht yes, but changing the wehrmacht no.
 
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#12
Bluehawk said:
Guys... I deliberately said Allgemeine SS, not Waffen. But I guess no one knows really.
Click to expand...

I might be repeating myself abit as I can't really find any source about how Allgemeine-SS worked with it, but since we know that WSS did not really use that prefix it might just be highly dependant to whom a member of Allgemeine-SS was referring to and the question if person was aware of WSS's little principle.

Reminds me about documentary hassle of Bf-109, despite the fact that's the official designation (or Bf 109 for nitpickers), you can still find Me 109 in some official (original, german written) documents even on the same page alongside Bf 109.
 
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