Waffen SS 3rd Panzer Division Totenkopf Collar Tab – Dachau

Product Description: This is a very good example of a Waffen SS 3rd Panzer Division Totenkopf collar tab, one of the more recognizable pieces of SS insignia. These type of tabs were discovered at the Dachau concentration camp following its liberation by the U.S. 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions in April 1945.

The design is machine-embroidered in white thread on black badge cloth, representing the enlisted version intended for wear by members of the 3. SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf,” as well as SS personnel assigned to the concentration camp system. The reverse features typical Dachau-style construction, with black cloth folded over tan buckram and secured by white stitching.

This 3rd Panzer Division Totenkopf collar tab example is unissued and was never sewn to a uniform. It was likely taken as a souvenir by an American soldier at the end of the war. The tab remains in excellent++ to near mint condition, showing only very light age and no damage. A solid, honest piece with strong eye appeal and a direct link to the final days of the war.

Historical Description: Regulations for the SS Collar Tab went through quite an evolution in just a short 16-year period. The first SS Collar Tabs were introduced in 1929 by Heinrich Himmler as part of the newly introduced SS uniform code. Initially, tabs were worn by both lower rank SS men and their senior leaders. Lower ranks would wear a rank tab as well as a numbered unit identification tab, with senior leaders wearing their rank tabs on both collars. In 1933 the well-known “SS” runic tab was adopted by Hitler’s personal bodyguard detachment, the “Leibstandarte” or “LAH”. The LAH used this runic tab in lieu of the numerical unit identification tab to identify them as members of the elite unit protecting the “Führer”. In 1934 the runic “SS” tabs were again adopted for use by the early “SS-VT” units. This adoption eventually led to the widespread use of SS runic tabs by German Divisions; the later non-German volunteer units would not be permitted to wear the runes, and bore their own unit designed patch instead. SS Collar tabs can be found in an extraordinary variety of numbers, designs, and pipings depending on unit and rank, from hand-embroidered tabs worn by officers to mass produced embroidered and machine woven types that were used on combat uniforms.

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