I’ve spent a lifetime studying militaria, and I can tell you this without hesitation: in the collecting world, items tied to Nazi Germany still fetch the highest prices of anything out there. The most valuable of all are the ones connected to the top leaders—any piece tied to Hitler, Göring, or Speer is worth a king’s ransom. But there’s one uniform I never thought I’d see surface, and it belonged to the second most powerful man in the Nazi regime, the most feared of them all: Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. It was found in May 1945, in an abandoned leader’s home in Bavaria, as American forces swept through southern Germany.
That home was one of Himmler’s two grand houses in the region. He had another at Schönau am Königsee, which was kept in pristine condition for his visits to Hitler at the nearby Obersalzberg. The Gmünd property, on the other hand, wasn’t even his primary residence—it was more of a family retreat, where his wife and children lived, along with two illegitimate children he’d fathered. The house had been remodeled to include a staff wing, a guard wing, and an air raid shelter.
But by the time the Americans arrived, Himmler was long gone. He had fled north in late April, leaving behind everything. His family had already escaped to Italy, still under German control then. The Gmünd house sat abandoned, but it was stuffed full of his personal belongings, including his uniforms.
One of the first units on the scene was a patrol from the 141st Infantry Regiment, and then elements of the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division arrived on May 4, 1945. Among the troops was First Sergeant Paul E. Davis, and he walked out of that house with a haul that would become legendary. His official receipt, written on Himmler’s personal headed notepaper, listed items he’d taken.
And the crown jewel of that receipt was a tunic—Himmler’s own white summer tunic, one of the rarest and most valuable SS relics ever recovered. The tunic itself is extraordinary. It’s cut in the style Himmler wore before 1940, lined with cream-colored silk, even in the sleeves. Inside the right breast pocket there’s a maker’s label from Steckbart, and handwritten in ink: ‘Reichsführer SS Himmler, 22nd of April, 1938.
‘ It’s a stunning piece, and it’s the only authenticated Himmler uniform to survive the war. The decorations that once adorned it were gone by the time Davis got his hands on it—the metal insignia had been stripped off and transferred to Himmler’s field gray uniforms that he kept at his other residences. The white tunic had clearly been in long-term storage, put away and forgotten. Davis also took the associated sash, and he wore the tunic and sash himself in a photograph taken outside the Gmünd house.
In that same photo, he’s holding something else in his left hand: Himmler’s helmet. It’s a remarkable image, and it was among the papers supplied to me by Hermann Historica, the auction house that handled the uniform. The helmet itself is now on permanent display in a German museum. There were other items too.
One of the most interesting things noted on Davis’s receipt was a boxed set of insignia for the grade of Grand Officer of the Order of St. George, which had been awarded to Himmler by the Italian government. Another photograph shows Davis wearing the full sash of that order. Himmler also received two other such foreign awards, but he only wore each of these gifts once, at the ceremony where they were bestowed.
The tunic also has the very rare cuff title, made of silver aluminum thread with black borders, hand-stitched. And the collar patches are silver thread with two inner black stripes, also hand-applied. These are details that authenticate the piece beyond any doubt. But here’s what strikes me most: not one of Himmler’s field gray SS wartime uniforms has ever surfaced.
Not a single one. Either they were destroyed, or they’re still out there, sitting in some attic or basement, in an old trunk that belonged to a veteran who came home from the war without knowing what he was holding. That veteran has probably passed away by now, and his family has no idea of the value of what’s sitting in their storage. Himmler himself was captured by British forces on May 21, 1945, under strange circumstances in northern Germany.
He died just two days later, on May 23, at a house in Lüneburg, after biting into a cyanide capsule hidden in his mouth. His grand Bavarian homes had already been taken by the Americans, and everything he’d left behind was being divvied up by the troops. One of those GIs, First Sergeant Davis, walked away with the most valuable SS relic ever found. And I can’t help but wonder: what else is still out there, waiting to be discovered by someone who doesn’t even know what they’re looking at?
Better check those basements and attics, and granddad’s old trunk. You might just be sitting on a piece of history worth more than you could ever imagine. If you want to see more of these incredible artifacts, many thanks to Jamie Cross Collectibles Militaria for giving me access to these German decorations and medals.
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