Danish mortar firing during training exercise in 1943

Danish mortar

The usual 'photo to illustrate the origin of the use of the "Totenkopf" in the Third Reich period would, I suppose, be of WW1 Generalfeldmarschall von Mackensen, but I thought that the guys In Here (probably most of you) would prefer this one - of Princess Victoria Louise of Hohenzollern etc. in the black dress uniform of  honorary Colonel of the "Death's Head Hussars".  The large "without lower jaw" Totenkopf on the headgear can clearly be seen.  Before anybody tells me - I know that the caption suggests association with the Second, rather than the First Lieb-Husaren Regiment.  I am not sure why - perhaps someone can enlighten me.  I tentatively suggest that, notwithstanding the contemporary status of the 'photo, this may be an error.  On the other hand, it may indicate that the "Death's Head status extended to the Second Regiment; von Mackensen, in his time, served in both, although he only commanded the First.   Best regards, JR.

Origins of the Third Reich "Death's Head(s)".

The Blessed Clemens August, Graf von Galen, Bishop of Munster, a late portrait as Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (1946).  Raised to the episcopate of Munster in 1933, the Graf von Galen proved to be an inveterate and - as far as was possible - public opponent of the inhumane policies of the Nazi regime.  The highlight of his career as a religious resistant came in 1941, when his trenchant condemnation of the "T4" programme of extermination of persons with intellectual disabilities and/or certain chronic physical illnesses (prefigured in a Nazi "voluntary euthanasia" law of 1934, but only implemented in 1939 on a non-voluntary basis)  circulated among German Catholics as an encyclical, resulted in the discontinuation (formally at least) of "T4".  This event resulted in the transfer to concentration camps of a number of priests involved in the circulation of the encyclicals (some may have been guillotined), and in proposals within the Nazi authorities for the bishop's elimination (not for the first time, or the last).  The top Nazi leadership appears to have been restrained from direct action against Graf von Galen by the fear that such action would seriously alienate the substantial Roman Catholic minority in the Reich, a minority that had increased significantly in numbers following the absorbtion of Austria and the Sudatenland.  The Graf was quite even-handed in his condemnation of injustice; by mid-1945, he was heavily involved in opposition to abuses of the rights of the German people by the Allied occupation authorities.  He was, perhaps, fortunate to be located in the British Zone of Occupation; the Soviets might well have had him shot.  As it was, the British did their best (within the confines of Britain's democratic principles) to hamper his activities.  This did not prevent him from travelling to Rome to be created Cardinal by his friend of four decades, Pope Pius XII, in February, 1946.  The Cardinal, Graf von Galen, died shortly after his return to Munster from the Vatican.  In October, 2005, he was declared Blessed of the Roman Catholic Church (beatified) by Pope Benedict XVI (that former HJ member ...)  I suppose I would count as an "ex-Catholic".  But even I would recognise that the Roman Catholic Church was perhaps the least-ineffective locus of opposition to most Nazi policies ... I say "most", because even von Galen appears to have supported Hitler's war against the Godless Soviets.  A great man, nonetheless.  Best regards, JR.