Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. The SS (Schutzstaffel - 'Protection Squadron') was originally formed in 1925, ostensibly to act as a small, loyal bodyguard unit to protect the Führer, Adolf AH. Under the direction of the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the SS grew to be the most ruthless and feared organization of the 20th century. They were the vanguard of NSDAPsm and eventually controlled nearly every function of German life and much of Occupied Europe.

This is a truly phenomenal double-sided flag which depicts the Schutzstaffel ᛋᛋ doppelte Siegrune (Double Sig/Victory Rune) symbols, often called "Lightning Bolts" over a black field. This flag is enormous, and took a long time to properly photograph. The dimensions we were able to take are approximately 114” x 202” (about 9.5ft by 16.8ft), but this is not going to be entirely accurate given how difficult it is to lay this out. The runes are sewn on, not printed, with the stitching still in good shape. They are sewn onto both sides, and are not a “mirror image”.

The flag has a long halyard attached to the header, with four metal hooks sewn on, two at the ends and two in the middle, meant to mount the flag. There are stitched reinforcements at the corners to better support the flag’s weight. From what we were told, this flag was captured by American soldiers of the 80th Infantry Division outside of a state building in Erfurt, Germany, alongside a state flag of similar size. However, we have absolutely no paperwork or physical provenance to support this. This does seem feasible, however, given the enormous size of the flag, and how difficult it would have been to transport something this large overseas.

The flag is in fantastic shape for its age with normal wear and tear commensurate with age. There are no markings we could find on the header. 

This is truly a one-of-a-kind piece, one that we cannot find any other examples of. We would say it would look best framed, but who has a wall that could fit it? Someone, somewhere, probably. Would become the centerpiece of any German WWII collection. Comes ready for further research and display!