Meine Ehre heißt Treue! [1] - ( German. My honor is called fidelity , another possible translation is Fidelity - my honor ) is the motto on the blades of SS daggers ( German SS Dienstdolch ) and on the belt buckles of soldiers and officers of the SS troops (unlike the SS in the Wehrmacht with soldier’s buckles there was the motto “ Gott mit uns ” - “God is with us”, but in the Luftwaffe there were no mottos on buckles).
Content
History
Appearance
The motto is a slightly modified expression of Hitler 1931 "SS man, your honor is called loyalty" ( German SS-Mann, deine Ehre heißt Treue ).
The expression existed in the German language at least from the beginning of the 20th century and meant that the honor of the servant is loyalty to the owner. So, in 1903, Felix Dan wrote:
And the vassal has the honor - it is called fidelity
Original text (German)Auch der Gasinde hat seine Ehre - sie heißt die Treue [2]
There are various versions of Hitler’s first use of the phrase. .
According to one of them, this phrase was in a letter from Hitler to the head of the Berlin branch of the SS Kurt Daluge . Hitler handed Daluga a letter expressing gratitude in it. In this letter of thanks, Hitler also included a proposal:
| ... SS man, your honor is called loyalty! |
The head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, introduced this proposal as the motto of the SS based on this letter.
According to another version, the phrase was uttered by Hitler at one of the party meetings - after units of the Berlin SA Walter Shtennes tried to storm the Berlin district government of the SS and were stopped by a handful of SS men, while Joseph Goebbels and his entourage fled.
The meaning of the motto
The traditional German virtues - “honor” and “fidelity” or also “fellowship”, “obedience” were widely used in the language of the ideology of SS structures. In the SS, these words were used only to Adolf Hitler. Similar thoughts are clearly expressed in the oath of the SS man.
“I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as the Führer and Chancellor of the Reich, to be faithful and courageous. "I solemnly promise to be loyal to you and your appointed chiefs until death, God help me."
Original text (German)"Ich schwöre dir, Adolf Hitler, als Führer und als Kanzler des Reiches, Treue und Tapferkeit. "Ich gelobe dir und den von dir bestimmten Vorgesetzten Gehorsam bis in den Tod, so wahr mir Gott helfe."
Current situation
The use of this motto in some countries is illegal. So, in Germany this motto is prohibited by the criminal code (86-a, use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations), in Austria there is the so-called. Propaganda Act of 1947 .
Writing Features
Unlike the Wehrmacht motto Gott mit uns , the motto of the SS is Meine Ehre heißt Treue! it was always written on buckles with an exclamation mark .
Curious Facts
The barracks of the crew of the Obninsk nuclear submarine of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy are decorated with the similar motto “My honor is called loyalty” [3] .
See also
- Gott mit uns
Literature
- Shunkov V.N. Wehrmacht. - Minsk: Harvest Publishing House, 2004, - 448 p.
Notes
- ↑ Cornelia Schmitz-Berning. Vokabular des Nationalsozialismus . - Walter de Gruyter, 2007-01-01. - S. 164. - 764 p. - ISBN 9783110928648 .
- ↑ Felix Dahn Felix Dahn's sämtliche Werke poetischen Inhalts . Breitkopf & Härtel, 1903.Vol. 2, p. 53. Dan uses the word Gasinde: living in the house but not a member of the family, “guest”. Some authors derive from him the word "vassal."
- ↑ Lord of the Depths // Red Star, September 5, 2003