posted at WAF about the
DJ dagger/knife:
I am no "dagger lover" and much is told since the sixties and even earlier, which never was stated. Neither with an actual document nor a photograph of use. It is my personal opinion that stories about vets in many occasions are dealer's inventions for a better selling of their stuff! To get more money out of the item!
In the booklet "
Aufbau und Abzeichen der Hitler-Jugend", dated April 1940 (and mainly spread since 1941) page 90 says:
HJ-Fahrtenmesser. The further text mentions:
Members from the HJ and DJ do wear the
HJ-Fahrtenmesser, the allowance for wearing is when the
Pfimpfenprobe was done. In no HJ regulation whatsoever a dagger for the DJ is being mentioned and of course not at all a knife or dagger for girls. The last would be against nature and rules to "arm females"!
There is no evidence even that such daggers were planned in early war. Such items were not mentioned in the "
Amtliches Nachrichtenblatt" nor the "
Reichsbefehl" anyway. There was no mention in the "
Mitteilungsblatt der Reichszeugmeisterei" about a new entry (
Neuzugang) for a DJ-dagger or knife. Not even until the end of 1942. The only thing which changed were the leather parts. They changed into a substitute material known as
Supronband UG. Don't you think they would have mentioned it in this periodical? It is possibility they "existed" on a drawing table, but then it would have been decided as "
auf Kriegsdauer zurückgestellt" (to be waited when the war was over). This is known for other items! Who knows some concern has produced them to get them introduced and accepted by the
Reichsjugendführung. But if then aluminum or light weight metals were used is even more questionable!
BUT.....to end my post: until any of the collectors is able to show us such evidence it is my and other HJ interested persons opinion the stories about these knives are bogus, inventions from those that suck money from the collectors (not having enough knowledge). Who started it: the disreputable
major James (Jim). P. Atwood? Do we really know what he put one over on a person?