[Karsten Heidt]

Regarding the "Herr" thing. There was precisely nothing preventing an SS soldier from using "Herr ____" in private life. However, the SS as a consciously classless organization rejected referring to other SS soldiers while on duty by "Herr" followed by their rank, as practiced in the other services. It was considered a regressive remnant of the Prussian aristocracy. This was part of their mission to eliminate class distinctions and divisions between officers and men. So, you would not address your officer as "Herr Untersturmführer", just "Untersturmführer". The SS aggressively corrected members of other branches who mistakenly "Herr"ed them, as confirmed in many memoirs and first-person accounts. Hope that clarifies things.

And, in case anyone feels like dredging up the "other" part of this thread...yes, we know Fascism is bad. We are reenactors keeping alive the memory of an important period in history, without active or implied ideological support for the regimes of the period, nor apologies for their excesses. All serious reenacting organizations have an inflexible zero tolerance rule for extremist or hateful acts or beliefs from their members and prospective members. Our interest is in uniforms and history, not nutbar politics or revisionism. So, no need to get excitable.