WWII & Holocaust era

Holocaust-era Vilna Ghetto police permit: 18 March 1942 dated permit, improvised on a sheet of notebook paper, issued by the 3rd Police Station (precinct) at 655 (am) for a Chaim Meler to go to the employment exchange (Arbeitsamt) until 845; stamped by the station's (German) text cachet at center with the policeman's signature below + bilingual German/Lithanian form stamp at the top left. As writt...

Holocaust-era Hungarian conversion document: 16 March 1944 dated "extract" of the Budpest Evangelical Church confirming the conversion of 3 family members. Although the "Second Jewish Law" of 1939 had already defined Jews by race instead of just religion, thus altering the status even of those who had formerly converted from Judaism to Christianity, here on 12 March 1944 the Germans occupied Hung...

Third Reich propaganda in collectible cigarette cards: set of 50x minature (63 x 48mm) photographic collector cards of the series called "Hitler's Path to Greater Germany", published by the Austria Tabakwerke company, circa. February 1940. The series uses the then-recent annexation of Austria into the Third Reich (March 1938) to draw the collector into the notion that Austria was liberated by Nazi...

Third Reich - Sudentenland WWII era clothing ration card "reichskleiderkarte" issued by the town of KSCHISCHLITZ (KRIZLICE) in the Kreis Hohenelbe (Hohenelbe district) to a local resident; valid until 31 Augst 1941 & partially used; stamped on front by the community's issuing body....

Hand-made armshield badge of the Danish volunteers of the Danish Free Corps ("Frikorps Danmark") of the Waffen-SS, 1941-43. The Free Corps was raised in June 1941 and fought on the eastern front, notably at Demjansk, and was disbanded in May 1943. Former members of the Free Corps later served in different military units, including the SS Grenadier Regiment "Danmark" of the 11th Nordland Division (...

Armshield badge of Finnish volunteers in German military service, circa 1941-43. This armshield was probably worn by members of the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS ("Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon"), formed in June 1941 (and disbanded in June 1943). It may also have been worn by Finnish volunteers serving in the 5th 'Wiking' Division of the Waffen-SS, or in the NSKK or Organisation...

Armshield badge of Flemish (Belgian) volunteers in the Flemish Volunteer Legion of the Waffen-SS, 1941-43. This is the seldomly encountered thick, woven version of the sleeve shield (with the paper template inside), which characterizes the shields of the early years of the Legion. The Legion initially served on the Leningrad front, in November 1941, and when re-organized in 1943 as the Volunteer A...

Poland: Litzmannstadt (Lodz Ghetto) 10 Pfennig 1942 Type-1 coin in magnesium; size: 22mm; weight: 0.95g. Obv.: in G-VG - displays heavy wear w/ oxidation in places, but no corrosion visible; rim almost fully visible. Rev.: in EF-AU quality: layer of oxidation but no corrosion visible, excellent detail where not obstructed oxidation; lines of Star of David are visible; wheat sheath details visible....

Poland: Litzmannstadt (Lodz Ghetto) 10 Pfennig 1942 Type-1 coin in magnesium; size: 21.25mm; weight: 0.95g. Coin coated w/ oxidation & few corrosion dots. Obv.: good detail where not obstructed by oxidation; line of corrosion above numerals & few tiny dots on rim. Rev.: decent clarity of details where not obstructed by oxidation, but weak (possibly from the strike and not from actual wear); two ma...

Russia: rare [hand-made] armshield badge for enlisted personnel (red border) of the ‘Kaminski Brigade’, with base cut from Soviet uniform. The unit evolved from a small militia in Lokot, Byelorussia, following the German invasion & became a large force posessing captured Soviet tanks & field guns; renamed the Russian National Liberation Army (RONA) under Bronislav Kaminski & tasked...

Latvia: interwar Latvian Army/ WWII collaborationist [Security] Police private's collar patches, c. 1931+. Wine-colored pair w/diagonal silver tresse stripe of type used from 1931 by Latvian Army (infantry) & during the German occupation by the 'Security Police' (known as 'Schutzmannschaft'). Surface wear on left patch & moth nips. Interwar army & security police each numbered 25,000 m...

Rare armshield of the Latvian Legion & Auxiliary Police, being the locally made M1943 Schutzmannschaft "Latvija" patch; size: 5cm x 6.9cm. Appears to be a 2 or 3-piece stitched construction (see reverse). Seen frequently in period photographs but rarely encountered; more frequent is the often unused SS-issue with the thick black borders around the Latvian shield. Differs in construction to the...

Embroidered beret cloth emblem patch of the collaborationist Vichy French 'Milice française' militia, c. 1943-45; 50 x 48mm. A piece of militaria belonging to a unique paramilitary force which embodied - militarily and politically - the tight-rope intricacies of the Vichyite political agenda/ideology-in-the-making, of national rejuvination following the defeat of France in 1940, anti-liberalism, ...

Handmade armshield of a Cossack force of the Wehrmacht: red cloth shield with diagonal silver tress across the field, still attached to the original 'waffenrock' swatch of the wearer's uniform; size (red shield only): 5.7cm x 7.4cm. Almost undocumented except for a similar emblem depicted in Littlejohn vol. 4 pg. 279, and may belong to either the Jungschultz or Lehmann Cossack regiments (of Army G...

Armshield badge of Croatian volunteers in the Waffen-SS. This is a scarcer version of the sleeve shield, thick and woven, with the paper template visible inside, and bearing "Hrvatska" ('Croatia', in Croatian) - as opposed to "Kroatien", in German, as appears on most armshields of this type. A rare version of the shield, in excellent condition....

Armshield badge of the Albanian volunteers in the 21st Mountain Division ("Waffen Gebirgs Division") of the Waffen-SS, 'Skanderbeg', 1944. The second division of Muslim volunteers (after the 13th Croatian "Handschar" and before the 23rd Croatian "Kama" Division), Skanderbeg was formed in Kosovo in the summer of 1944 and numbered 6,500 volunteers by September. Assigned to anti-partisan duties, the ...

Nazi occupied Eastern Europe "Im Dienst Der Sicherheitspolizei" ('In service of the security police') green armband w/black printed text; length: 36cm. Issued to members of paramilitary forces raised locally by the Order Police (Ordnungspolizei, green-uniformed police subordinated to the SS) or the Sicherheitsdienst (SD, 'security service' of SS), and known as "schutzmannschaft" ('protection troop...

WWII German-occupied Poland: 10th Criminal Police Agency / Nazi-German Security Police (SIPO) Polish-language protocol document dated 7 April 1944, confirming receipt of declaration of missing personal documents belonging to Anna Zalewskiej, charged 40 groszy using a Warsaw municipal tax stamp (1928 series), cancelled by hand. On the reverse is a German-language statement filed by the Sicherheitsp...