Original Item: One-of-a-kind. Genuine German WWII SS identity disc (aka; Dog Tag) Erkennungsmarke. This example was brought back from the Eastern front of WWII. Made of stamped aluminum and in very good condition. It is marked as follows:

This soldier was a member of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) (German: 20. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (estnische Nr. 1)), Estonian: 20. eesti diviis). The "Ost" in the designation indicates "East", the front they were fighting on, as well as Reichskommissariat Ostland, a German occupied territory designation for the occupied Baltic States. The "A" indicates the blood type of that particular soldier.

This was a unit of the German Waffen-SS established on 25 May 1944 in German-occupied Estonia during World War II. Formed in Spring 1944 after the general conscription-mobilization was announced in Estonia on 31 January 1944 by the German occupying authorities, the cadre of the 3rd Estonian SS Volunteer Brigade, renamed the 20th Estonian SS Volunteer Division on 23 January 1944, was returned to Estonia and reformed. Additionally, 38,000 men were conscripted in Estonia, while other Estonian units that had been part of the German Army and the Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 were transferred to Estonia. The unit fought the Red Army on the Eastern Front and surrendered in May 1945.