File:Ideen zur SS Uniformierung Nazi Party Schutzstaffel paramilitary test uniform 1925? Kratzschen visorless cap eagle-and-swastika Lederhosen Deutschland Erwache standard etc National Archives NARA Unrestricted No copyright 242-HF-0826 001.jpg

English: "Ideas for the SS Uniform" (original German caption: Ideen zur Uniformierung der S.S.)

A photo, likely taken in Munich, Germany in 1925 (according to Robin Lumsden's The Allgemeine-SS), showing members of the newly formed Schutzstaffel (initially named Schutzkommando and Sturmstaffel), a guarding unit of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) under its paramilitary organization Sturmabteilung (SA, "brownshirts").

• The six men in the picture are posing with test designs of the not yet regulated SS uniform; see early SS uniforms (1925–1928). The Nazis are wearing:
  • Traditional World War I era field caps (Feldmützen, Einheitsfeldmützen) with chin strap and no visor. The soft pill box or pork pie shaped beret- or sailor cap-like Krätzchen ("scratcher") caps are adorned with a large metallic Nazi Party eagle (Parteiadler, "party eagle"), an early version of the later infamous "eagle-and-swastika" party and national emblem. This old-fashioned forage cap (Feldmütze alter Art) was introduced as an Allgemeine-SS/SS-Verfügungstruppe lower officers' and enlisted rank's service and field cap for a short period in 1934, with a smaller eagle device and a Totenkopf (Todenschädel) skull badge on the cap band; This visorless Tuchmütze ("cloth cap") was soon replaced by the modern M34 side cap and military inspired peaked caps (Schirmmützen); see photos here and here.
  • Buttoned shirts or blouses, with pleated patch pockets on the breast, of slightly different designs, some even with collar patches. (When the Sturmabteilung (SA) was re-activated in February 1925 it adopted an all-brown uniform. Rank was still, as since 1923, indicated with one, two or three stripes on the brassard.)
  • Different types of neckties, most of them with the round Nazi Party membership pin.
  • Swastika armbands (Hakenkreuzarmbinde) in black, white, and red, with SS's black stripes on the upper and lower edge. One of the men has a lighter stripe along the middle of the red brassard, indicating his leading rank.
  • Different leather waist belts, some "Sam Browne belts" with a supporting cross strap over the right shoulder. One with a swastika-shaped belt buckle and one with a 1st SA Buckle design adopted in the 1920s.
  • Baggy jodhpurs style pants or riding breeches (Reiterhosen). Also a couple of Lederhosen, traditional, knee-long shorts or breeches.
  • Different kinds of knitted knee-high stockings.
  • Leather shoes. One pair combined with military style gaiter-like leather leggings.
• The men in the middle are holding a ceremonial NSDAP regimental standard ((Standarte).
  • The standard was roughly designed by Hitler himself, and inspired by Roman Legion unit banners and war flags (Feldzeichen).
  • The standards of the SA (Sturmabteilubg) made its first appearance in January 1923; at this stage the letters NSDAP appeared on the front.
  • The fringed flag is adorned with a black striped Nazi swastika (a "static" one, not the later tilted or "mobile" version) in a white disc on a red flag cloth, together with the Deutschland Erwache ('Germany awake!') political campaign slogan from Dietrich Eckart's poem and Nazi song Sturmlied.
  • On the flag staff is a boxed-in "NSDAP" and an eagle-and-wreathed-swastika figurine finial.
• Nazi propaganda; Nazi symbolism (Nazi iconography); Militarism; Fascism

Photo copied from the US National Archives and Records Administration collection of material seized as American enemy property in Germany after World War II ended in 1945; "Miscellaneous Photographs, ca. 1919–ca. 1934" includes diverse subjects such as Hitler's grade school class, portraits of Hitler and NSDAP members, group photographs of SA and SS men, and architectural photos of significant buildings.