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Concept
SS blood group tattoo
Summary
SS blood group tattoos (Blutgruppentätowierung) were worn by members of the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany during World War II to identify the individual's blood type. After the war, the tattoo was taken to be prima facie evidence of being part of the Waffen-SS, leading to potential arrest and prosecution.
The SS blood group tattoo was applied, in theory, to all Waffen-SS members, except members of the British Free Corps. It was a small black ink tattoo located on the underside of the left arm. It generally measured around long and was placed roughly above the elbow. The tattoo consisted of the soldier's blood type letter, either A, B, AB or O. The discovery of the Rh factor had been made in 1937, but was not fully understood during World War II, so was not implemented. In the early part of the war, tattoos were printed in Fraktur, while later on they were printed in Latin-style.
The purpose of the tattoo was to identify a soldier's blood type in case a blood transfusion was needed while unconscious, or his Erkennungsmarke (dog tag) or Soldbuch (pay book) were missing. The tattoo was generally applied by the unit's Sanitäter (medic) in basic training but could have been applied by anyone assigned to do it at any time during his term of service.
Not all Waffen-SS men had the tattoo, particularly those who had transferred from other branches of the military to the Waffen-SS, or those who transferred from the Allgemeine SS, the "General" or non-military SS. Some non-SS men also had the tattoo: if a member of a branch of the Wehrmacht was treated in an SS hospital, he would often have the tattoo applied.
Although the tattoo was widely used in the early war years, over the course of the war it was gradually applied to fewer and fewer soldiers, and towards the end of the war, having the tattoo was more the exception than the rule. The application of the tattoo to foreign volunteers was apparently an issue of contention with some, such as the British Free Corps, not required to have it, while other foreign units did not object.
Official source
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