SS Regalia (Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Violent Century: Full Color Special, No. 2)

158 pp. Over 100 four-color photographs. Of the multitude of abbreviations which characterise twentieth century organisations none is more evocative than the letters SS. They stand for naked power, secret violence, for the knock on the door in the night, for the mass graves of millions of innocents. The uniform was black, a colour which had important overtones in Germany. On that, the SS wore a vast variety of decorations, symbols, badges to distinguish rank, from the collar runes to the death's head. The appearance was both dramatic and menacing.