Inside the Vault: SS European Volunteer Uniforms

This Inside the Vault episode focuses on WWII German SS European volunteer uniforms with Senior Curator Tom Czekanski.

[@Skanderbeg99]

My great-grandfather must’ve have one of these uniforms, fought with the SS Skanderbeg Division

[@TheOneWh0Knocks]

My greatuncle was there too. my cousin was able to safely collect the uniform before the shkijet got their hands on it in 99 during the time they evicted Albanians out of North-Mitrovica. Interesting side note: His brother (my grandfather) was hiding Jews from Croatia, and my great uncle knew it but he couldn't care less as Albanians had no problem with the Jewish community. There is even an old picture somewhere where my great-uncle(in uniform), my grandpa and the jewish guy were in my great-gramps backyard enjoying a cup of tea together.

[@michaelconley4890]

Wow

[@Skanderbeg99]

@@TheOneWh0Knocks oh wow, my great grandfather and yours must have known eachother. My family hails from Drenas and frequently came to Mitrovica. We actually live now in Mitro

[@sylvesterpatrick4680]

Muslim Albanian Division?

[@vanillaicecream9126]

@@sylvesterpatrick4680 Yes it was Bosnian SS division Handchar...it was bad joke they was terrible fighter just killing people in the villiage..and inocent people they even fail fight agains partisans mostly in fight they run ...so in was cancelled ...

[@nw8000]

Its just wonderful this history hasent been destroyed and Tom is so knowledgeable I am very impressed. Thank you

[@henrikhilskov]

He is not say anything you can t look up yourself. He dont mention you actual can see the unit name and je also dont seem to know that some of the uniforms have fake parts on them because the seller tried to impress the us soldier that bought it.

[@nw8000]

@@henrikhilskov Ah but who has the time these days

[@michaelweeks9317]

Thank you for producing and posting fellows!

[@humanforfreedom9583]

The SS was the most multi cultural army in the world

[@ulf793]

Just like to point out that the SS Panzergrenadier Regiments of Westland, Nordland & Germania were all part of the 5th SS Panzer "Wiking" Division. Also the "Wiking" Division recruited from Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Holland & Belgium. The Divisions symbol was the rounded swastika or sunwheel. A few things in this were a little vague tbh.

[@jonrumple1464]

Nordland Standarte eventually became the core unit of the 11th Freiwilligen Dv "Nordland". The second tunic shown actually has their symbol on the collar tab, a three spoked Hakenkreuz.

[@iii978]

. . . and Iceland - The son of the president of Iceland was in SS Wiking.

[@jasip1000]

From 1943 regiment Nordland was pulled out of The Wiking Division, to form the new 11th SS Division Nordland.

[@mikejames5743]

@@jonrumple1464 the circular Hakenkruez is Irish-Aryan in origin and you also see it in Estonia or Finland a lot too on Ancient ruins and sites, probably Phoenician.

[@aimeeredacted9439]

and now the sunwheel is used as a neonazi symbol.

[@malinyamato2291]

Most important was to fight the communists.

[@MsKatePark]

USSR or communists? Do you know the difference?

[@dianapopa3356]

@@MsKatePark USSR means Communism,you moron...

[@dianapopa3356]

Yes,like Finland did under the command of the greatest military commander ever:Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.My respect!

[@zjoaquin]

As we can see commie bernie and the left democrats, stalin a commie ,churchill a liberal, roosevelt a democrate liberal, Axis right and all conservative.

[@chebu...]

@@dianapopa3356 The Finns didn't want to fight communism as a whole, just the USSR. All of communism and the USSR are different.

[@F.Krueger-cs4vk]

Fascinating, thankyou for posting.

[@victorcontreras9138]

Great video! I'm glad I saw it as now I learned that there is a fine museum the next state over that I must see!

[@Vic-mv8iz]

I love german uniforms of ww2 ss and other uniforms you could wear one today well without the collar tabs

[@Love.life.ashigzoya]

Very impressive lineup . Thank you.

[@jankees66]

thanks for showing and explane a differents.. Wermaht und SS divisions have a nicest uniforms in the world..

[@vladimirpetrovsk892]

I live in Germany and if you told a german that they would be instantly triggered

[@gdwlaw5549]

Are you fucking joking?

[@imperialguardsman5929]

@@vladimirpetrovsk892 bruh

[@HiHi-sm3ef]

Vladimir Petrovsk Why.....Hugo Boss designed the high ranking SS uniform and over coats. They were outstanding. Beautiful. Why are the Germans so triggered?

[@jondoe9581]

BEAUTIFUL UNIFORMS

[@fanta4897]

To my knowledge it wasn't just the occupied territories. I also saw volunteers from other countries(blue division from Spain, division Russland from USSR, I even saw some union jacks, so even some volunteers from UK).

[@henrikhilskov]

But harder to find uniforms from the blue division since it was redrawn from service because Franco was under presure from England to take a clear stand of his "neutrality".

[@jean6872]

@@henrikhilskov The Spanish Blue Division remained in action until October 1944 within months of war's end.

[@henrikhilskov]

@@jean6872 Yes? So there were no uniforms to buy for allied soldiers when the reach germany I guess? I am NOT saying it is impossible. Just more rare.

[@jean6872]

@@henrikhilskov I am not sure of your point but I imagine Allied soldiers had more important things to be doing in October 1944 than scrounging for uniforms of their enemies which would have been difficult to come by as they were being worn by those shooting at them.

[@henrikhilskov]

@@jean6872 Well youtube is not good for debate. hard to keep track of thread. I also wrote at the END of the war I did NOT wrote summer 44. It was first in may 45 and forward the trade with medals, uniforms ect. started. So there were NO spanish uniforms on the market... So they are more seldom... That is my point. And if your english is so bad that you don't understand it. Please keep it for yourself and do not border me...

[@christopherthrawn1333]

Great job explaining the uniforms.

[@johnwilliamknox7156]

Priceless!

[@jessicamilestone4026]

Absolutely fascinating

[@luisdavila1236]

An interesting an well piece of history,nothing less,everything more.

[@michaelmallal9101]

Apparently Indian Waffen SS defended the French coast. There are pics of Indian nationalist Bose talking to Himmler.

[@philipnestor5034]

I wonder if this museum has a video on its collection of different German helmets

[@bepis3966]

Finland mentioned!

[@SigfredBarfod]

Denmark mentioned! Get back to Sweden plis, we miss you in Scandinavia... Love them Finnish Lekrids :P

[@AlphaChinoz]

Jacob, it will be difficult to make Finland a part of Scandinavia, when the language is so different. And what the fuck, just like Finland was a part of Scandinavia when Sweden had it? That's like saying India was a part of the U.K....

[@Kevin-ev7hw]

Whoooooopieeeeeeee Finland is mentioned

[@martikainen6172]

Scandinavia is not the ''language area'' its the ''AREA of Scandinavian Peninsula Area''

[@Chriskros1984]

Gooooooo Finland ........

[@anthonygallagher1397]

Really well described and explained.

[@AntiLGBT_SuperExterminator]

i am glad that i have an original one just like that

[@JohnSmith-nh3bc]

DANKE!

[@tarpattituopponen7783]

Finland fighting against communism from 1917 to 1991 when we ran out of Commies. Those were the days!

[@daddyrabbit835]

Now we are fighting them in our colleges and streets in the U.S.

[@iksigrekowski591]

He is not trained a bit, the man who discusses and explains the origin of the uniforms.

[@danielgreen3715]

Thankyou

[@tulsatombob2769]

0:32 "Tom", is modeling his WW2 vintage " Nueschwaben SS Janitor" uniform. LOL!

[@Nickl1610]

I wish the danish one was an NCO. I would love to see the freekorps Denmark NCO.

[@TheClassicalConservative]

That Big Money Salvia intro though

[@djaybridwell7994]

Wasn't purple for Smoke Troops who manned the Nebelwurfers?

[@hanabilah4734]

Wow amazing uniforms

[@badmonkey2222]

That turnic with purple for administrative was RARE.

[@alannoorkoiv6281]

Could watch this all day!..

[@3Redbug]

Cool Video!

[@mcferson2527]

You dressed this up nicely.

[@retropirate1]

Did swedish volunteers get any uniqe symbols or shields? Or were they just sent to the Nordland division

[@larrywalker6105]

I just saw an Australian tunic sell on e bay for $200 out of Texas. Lots of bids on it so these army clothes are quite popular.

[@carlklein9385]

The size of the tunics really amaze me. I've seen many of these in person and am always astounded as to how small they are. I could not possibly fit into one. Neither could my teenage son. They almost look like children's clothes. I've also seen items worn by Civil War soldiers and they were small too. We would look like giants in comparison.

[@SigfredBarfod]

Not at all. The Average Danish height is 181 cm, whilst the American is 169 cm. Comparing to Denmark of course, 86% is moscular fit (buff would be an american term, or just know as well build) whilst the American is laying at 34%. (Dansk idræts institut). You would be suprised how a man can fit in that, I (myself) is just around 182 cm, and I'm on the upper level of well build when it comes to muscles, and I fint in mine quite well. (Reenactment)

[@agentfungus9742]

Carl Klein : The same thing comes to mind when I'd viewed WWII US womens' uniforms. They were so petite. Even very fit young women are too big to fit into these uniforms. I guess Wonder Bread has done its job.

[@AlphaChinoz]

Jacob, I find that hard to believe. I'm from Norway, and I've been to Denmark several times. 80+% are not muscular/strong/fit/buff... Anyways, all of this was in WWII, and that was truly a different time, especially when it comes to nutrition/food and such. And not that many of the SS/Wehrmacht soldiers were Danish, only some thousands. The entire Wehrmacht (SS not included) have had around 18 million men fighting in it, and then a few thousands ain't that much...

[@hennessyblues4576]

Ya Know, I often wondered that myself. We have a Confederate Civil War Museum here in Missouri. And all of the Gray Uniforms looked liked they could fit a 12 year old kid or something. The curator told us people were smaller at that time, because they didn't have excess to all nutrients we have today. Many of them had to hunt and hand-pick their own food. Sometimes they would go a week on bread and water, and some days they would go without anything to eat. Today its available to us in mass, without doing all of the hard work.

[@henrikhilskov]

@@SigfredBarfod I am danish too and 196 cm high but I know that the average high of a german soldier during the war was only 165 cm.

[@lieutenantdata7156]

Beautiful Uniforms, I will get some

[@WWIIReenactingMilitariaReviews]

AMAZING UNIFROMS!!!!.im going to do a SS "Danish Freikorps" impression here soon and i want my tunic to look just like the on @ 4:42!!

[@tomzivcic2135]

Any idea where I could get a Croatian uniform?

[@curtw7747]

notes: first the waffen ss didnt wear the marksmanship cord. second the collar (and sleeve) trim isnt called tress...its pronounced tres-seh. the marks on the right side of the collar are runes...not "ruins" (they arent bombed out buildings), and the "ober schutz" is pronounced "ober schut-ze" . small things but you would think a museum would get it right.

[@henrikhilskov]

Not many weared the marksmanship for other than perade. It was a wellknow facts that marksman seldom was taken pow alive. Even the us army tend to murder them.

[@z0h33y]

So according to you, if you want to work for a museum you need to have perfect German pronunciation.

[@Heinrich99]

You gave me a damn flashback

[@mady383]

not ""ober schut-ze" "Oberschütze"

[@imvisier9925]

@@mady383 If the person in the video cant even pronounce the simple e on the end, I doupt he ll be able to learn how to pronounce the ü correctly, even long time german learners have a hard time accurately pronouncing it.

[@KirbyComicsVids]

For people who don't know: The actual cross for the Iron Cross was only worn the day it was awarded.

[@pihlak6950]

Only for the EK2. The EK1 would stay pinned on the breast pocket.

[@MrSlitskirts]

Great video and uniforms.

[@perkeleensotasika]

Yay, Finland mentioned!

[@Savchenkov1]

Nice to see someone who knows exactly what they are talking about.

[@Kevin-ev7hw]

They just think that they know something. They are just talking out of their blowholes!

[@rosaurazapata1378]

Kevin Barwiler he has the uniforms, you don’t.

[@aguyfromsweden]

@Renny2hand where?

[@AaronJ323]

Those jackets fit me perfectly

[@Cinnamon535]

The USSR won because of all their Asian reserves from Siberia and Mongolia

[@henrikhilskov]

Mostly because their factories was out of enemy bombing range and they was able to produce oil.

[@mrstrange5733]

No, Soviets had millions of Russians and they were used as cattle to go over mine fields and die. If Russians had same amount of soldiers as Germans, Germans would’ve defeated the Russians as the Germans/Austrians did in world war 1! If 10 million brainless zombies come at you Without weapons, eventually they’ll win, too!

[@PianoMeSasha]

@@mrstrange5733 i hear the USA and Britian were also in the mix

[@rolltide292]

Mr Strange the Soviets were locked in a life & death battle in Kursk , . The Russians had a defensive perimeter 50 miles deep . The Nazis were grinding their way through it , but on the other side of the continent the D-Day landings were taking place . Hitler stripped sorely needed tanks & troops to ship them west to face the new threat . Also , the Germans had lost the advantage of rapid movements to the Russians . Who were receiving delivery of 10,000 studebaker trucks which transported troop , supplies & Pulled artillery . While the Germans were becoming more & more dependent on horses & footware

[@magupico6850]

No, it was cos, the americans and brits help a lot with inteligence ..which was gave advantage the russians over the germans..

[@luiscalderon7383]

I would’ve joined just for the uniform.

[@sanjeetpendharkar5340]

Sooooo awesome Uniforms.. I would like to own one..!!!

[@BorisCheshlarov]

Made by Hugo Boss!! :)

[@lv4557]

The dutch tunic has the westland cufftitle(very early (1940) and that can never be with an late dachau shield as seen on this tunic...

[@jeter71]

Overalls?

[@Mehmet_Ergin]

German soldiers followed fashion in their spare time

[@Dog.soldier1950]

Wire hangers...?

[@JW-zx5dr]

Intriguing

[@5765203]

So funny! Wearing protective gloves while handling uniforms but a uniform on a WIRE hanger! As Joan Crawford would say "A WIRE HANGER"!

[@mrstrange5733]

Who is Joan Crawford, and why is wife hanger bad? These aren’t even gabardine and aren’t OFFICER tunics. They’re not really worth much. GABARDINE OFFICER SS TUNICS ARE WORTH A LOT. And better looking.

[@MrVolvobloke]

@@mrstrange5733 'Not really worth much' You are kidding aren't you? Try finding an original O/R for less that 12K these days.

[@drownindesigner]

@@MrVolvobloke most m43 tunics or somewhere around that time are 1k-2k USD on average.

[@MrVolvobloke]

@@drownindesigner I was referring to the SS tunics featured.

[@Gregiorp]

@Morten101 I've seen the error of my ways . I had only delt in repro uniforms and some Heer stuff. I saw my first orginal SS uniform the other day it was 12k.

[@vintagemotor7451]

Where to buy German uniform

[@Alexander-qz5bt]

obershutze isnt technically another rank its still technically shutze they just have the pip for more than five years of service showing that he wasn't a promising soldier (in their eyes)

[@Pr0FiXOfficial]

Where is Ss Skanderbeg division uniform

[@90Rapter]

The Finnish volunteers of the Waffen SS were part of the Nordland regiment, not a division, and they used ordinary Waffen SS collar tabs. Check the facts

[@deschepperdominiek6824]

A brigade can become a division. The 3-armed rounded swastika of the Flemish volonteers stands for integration in the Reich. I think though it is not authenthic for collar tabs (kragenspiegel)

[@90Rapter]

Yes, Nordland regiment became division 1943, but it was after the Finnish volunteers had completed their service

[@starwarsraul13]

nice how much does an ss uniform cost??

[@WWIIReenactingMilitariaReviews]

@MizzouMode your family was in the SS? what was the unit and what makes you think they were war criminals??

[@wokeeye6441]

To him "war criminal" might mean killing unarmed jews, gypsies communists etc. Perhaps to you war criminal means another thing, hopefully it is not the opposite.

[@nicks1451]

Can you please do a documentary on the European volunteers? I would love to know more about them, especially if they were forced to volunteer.

[@wingatebarraclough3553]

There are a few good books, ie, "for europe" about the french anti communist volunteers. In a very large, very spread out organization, i don't doubt some recruiters got pushy, ie, instances of union army recruiters hitting people with batons if they didn't "volunteer" to fight in Lincolns army, but that wasn't the norm. Overwhelmingly, it was anti communism. There is a sad irony in that as Stalin stood as master of Europe and poised to be master of Asia thanks to the communist loving FDR, some returning frenchmen were killed as "traitors" , going to their death singing the "marsaillaise " (sp), shot by communist terrorists who we armed singing the "internationale".

[@steventhorson4487]

Most definitely NOT forced to join or fight.. very highly motivated and trained.

[@PinoGietermaai]

There is an amazing documentry about the Belgian (Vlaanderen, which is the northern part) volunteers. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3rMlYCugKiGarc I'm Dutch myself but so far i couldn't find much about it on the web, however there are 2 books i can recommand which are called: Feldgrauw and Viking. What i can tell you is that there was nobody from western occupied country's forced to fight for the SS (Wehrmacht only recruited Germans), they were mislead however. For example many of them didn't even know what it was exactly that they signed for because they couldn't read German very well, they just wanted to fight communism or have some sort of adventure. Another example is that part of the Dutch and Belgian volunteers were promised to fight in units that consisted only of people that spoke their language/were from the same country, soldiers as well as leaders. When they were send to the Eastern front, they found out that reality was much different. There was also a group of people that joined the SS simply because at home they were poor and didn't have much opportunities to build a carreer, by joining the SS they were promised a good future for them and their family. What's also very interesting to me is that it seems that most of these men, other than anti-communist, were not interested in politics all too much. Ofcourse there were some hardcore nazi's but i think they were a minority. I'm not a historian but i did lots and lots of research on this matter so maybe i can answer some of the quiestions that you have.

[@WWIIReenactingMilitariaReviews]

@Panzer883 thats 100% correct...but it seems some people only want to see what the germans did and they think the Allies were just little angles that never murdered anyone.

[@Ronbo710]

No one had pieces of flare like them.

[@Ronbo710]

ahem flair :).

[@edwardjj4224]

Walter Heck and Hugo Boss Company did know exactly what was doing

[@RicardoRMedina]

Why is that every time someone disagrees with another on this type of post they recur to insulting language?

[@Kevin-ev7hw]

Because Everyone gets a big sack sitting behind a Keyboard..........

[@PolPotsPieHole]

because what Kevin said

[@henrikhilskov]

because internet let kids be here too.

[@humanforfreedom9583]

Jewish media brainwashing

[@TheMaster4534]

@@humanforfreedom9583 Judeo-Bolshevik*

[@patmcnamara9081]

Most likely later in the war those two stripes because of great losses also signify that they were an officer of that unit say Sergeant equals Lieutenant Lieutenant equals major major equals Colonel more of a word-of-mouth thing plus the two stripes signifying that he is now an officer though without obvious visual rank also referred to as “piston stripes”!

[@mechislander]

did they wear these in the field or the office?

[@henrikhilskov]

@Just thoughts really No man weared the marksmans symbol on their fighting dress. If you look it is clearly that the marksmans mark look very new compared to the uniform. Someone added this to bring some extra bucks for food when sold to a us soldier.

[@henrikhilskov]

@Agent Fungus right and wrong. It was allowed for everybody to bring their own tailor made uniform. But very early in the war it stopped to be a common thing along officers to use them.

[@anthonycrumb5753]

I wonder what stories those jackets could tell - if only things could speak.

[@user-xh4iy4ef1u]

Gut!

[@SgtHinkley]

Dose anyone no the name of the music in the begging?

[@Matthew_Eitzman]

Sgt.Hinkley 1919, it is called “Scheisse Musik” by Kraftwerk (1981).

[@Morten101]

@Gregiorp In what universe? an original SS uniform will be at least 4-5000 bucks

[@Knibbelkoning]

Haha that intro, it was so weird since it is being used by the Interner Etiquette Guy...

[@KirbyComicsVids]

@11thSSNordlandPzG Yea, many Allied soldiers killed German POWs.

[@daveJDB]

Cool.

[@alicesternau1337]

Oberschütze is actually similar to senior recruit, Gefreiter/Obergefreiter is Pvt. First Class

[@dudee145]

Anyone else notice the pile of hersheys in the background?

[@mathiass1999]

Denmark! For the fatherland

[@henrikhilskov]

No. The slogan was for God, King and fatherland.

[@mrstrange5733]

Right above The Fatherland so it was only a matter of time before Germany gobbled up Denmark.

[@MichaelPolios]

The Waffen SS were considered a criminal organisation after the trials. They were not ordinary troops since the SS itself was an organ of the Nazi Party and was thus essentially connected. Members of the Waffen SS were denied pensions afforded to both the Heer and Kriegsmarine, except for veterans after 1943 who were conscripted. But Waffen SS members before 1943 were volunteers therefore they were responsible.

[@henrikhilskov]

except if you get yourself invalid you would still get the pension.

[@JR7noir]

He was part of the fallschirmjager also it seems

[@theoneandonlyrealjoker1827]

cool

[@richardspeed7135]

Interesting

[@steventhorson4487]

excellent!! do not forget Italian and Swedish volunteers in the waffen ss

[@ewlke]

Is he wearing a pair or trousers belonging to one of these uniforms?

[@TheMaster4534]

Doesn't look like the kielhose trousers to me.

[@BewareTheLiveWire]

0:37 "Well, Ron, what we have here today is a collection of SS uniforms and if our viewers order within the next 30 minutes, they get an extra uniform FREE!"

[@semperfine4442]

But wait, if you really want to glorify the cowardly SS achievements, call in the next ten minutes and we'll send you an Einsatsgrupen uniform absolutely free!

[@homtomtomhom8516]

👍👍👍👍Perfektní 👍👍👍👍 ......................... 🥇........................ 🇨🇿

[@dutchbird100]

The germans lost the war but won the fashion show.....

[@danibarcia9703]

The uniform of the real heroes of Europe.

[@Kevin-ev7hw]

No I don't think so Nimrod!

[@Jefferson0702]

Dani Barcia I agree man, Its very tragic.

[@thebobsagetguy]

Except they got fucked in the ass by the allied forces

[@thebobsagetguy]

Jeffrey Dirksen created by anonymous lemming like yourself !

[@pinokio6149]

Fuck off !

[@pabloescobarhub8822]

I see!

[@keijotoivonen3988]

Goooooöd Hugo Bos Best styles!

[@farazbagusrifanditya3121]

i'm an indonesian and i like that stuff

[@zjoaquin]

Me too

[@xzseng4524]

Why did some nco's have all black collar and some had the regular colour

[@bobkrohn8053]

Starting in 1930’s all Army And SS uniforms had dark green collars. After the war started (about 1940), many things were “simplified” to increase production. One thing was doing away with the dark green cloth facing on the collar. Officers retained that feature. The older uniforms persisted and were seen through the end of the war. I think having a dark collar was a “badge of honor” indicating you were an old timer.

[@theprivilegeddouchebag8678]

Finland wasnt occupied tho

[@macnasty7605]

I like these 50cents wire hangers.. I live near the wwII gothic line and once we found a farm full of german stuff.. uniform parts helmets and panzerfaust (one)

[@timbebert]

Still have any of those? Belgian collector here 🔥

[@usuario6866]

do they sell these SS clothes yes or no

[@mcferson2527]

One of the symbols is the flag of the isle of Man