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Germany Third Reich. German Red Cross Hewer or Dagger Model 1938
WW2 German Red Cross sawback dagger or hewer for NCOs and enlisted personnel, Model 1938 (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Hewer für Mannschaften und Unterführer).
The grip features the emblem of the German Red Cross: an eagle with a swastika on its chest and a cross in its claws. One grip scale is smooth while the other is checkered.
The blade is sawbacked with a squared tip, following the guidelines of the Geneva Convention which prohibited medical personnel from carrying offensive weapons. It bears the marking “GES. GESCHÜTZT”, an abbreviation of gesetzlich geschützt (“legally protected”), indicating that the design was protected under German law.
Production of these daggers ceased in 1940.
Original German dagger from World War II.
During the early years of the Third Reich, the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz became one of Germany’s principal social welfare organizations and continued to follow the Geneva Convention until the outbreak of the war.
In December 1939, Adolf Hitler granted the German Red Cross a new legal status, recognizing it as a national organization independent from the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. From that point onward, the institution greatly expanded its structure and functions within Germany, organizing itself into two major branches: one devoted to medicine, nursing, and first aid, and another focused on charitable and social welfare work for children, the elderly, and the homeless.
During World War II, the German Red Cross participated in both domestic support duties and international activities, particularly in the tracing and supervision of prisoners of war.
The organization was headed by Ernst-Robert Grawitz, who also held the rank of Obergruppenführer in the SS and served in medical and police roles within that organization.
