Blutfahne

After this last public display, the Blutfahne vanished into history.

Also stored there was the so-called Blutfahne, or "blood flag" or "blood banner."

As a member of the SS, he was given the honour of carrying the blood-stained Blutfahne from the Munich putsch.

In utter silence, Kluge turned toward the Blutfahne on the dais beside his throne, raising the chalice in ultimate salute as he murmured, "Die Fahnen hoch.

Grimminger survived World War II, and was put on trial by the Allies in 1946 for being a member of the SS and carrying the Blutfahne for nineteen years.

At the "Blutfahnenweihe" (Blood flag consecration), new "Standarten" (flags) of SA- and SS-units were "consecrated" by touching their guidons with the "Blutfahne".

There were six of them, marching by twos, giving proud escort to a seventh knight with an eye patch who bore the sacred Blutfahne, the Blood Flag of the old Third Reich.

The central "relic" here was the "Blutfahne" (Blood flag), which was allegedly carried by the Beer Hall Putsch rebels and was soaked with the blood of one of them.

The Blutfahne was last seen in public at the Induction Ceremony of the Volkssturm on 18 October 1944 (not at Gauleiter Adolf Wagner's funeral six months earlier, as has frequently been reported).

The procession passed to the left, behind Egon's head, the column then splitting before the dais to form a sword-arch for the Blutfahne as it was carried up the steps and reverently set in a standard close beside the Master's throne.

The sudden ending of the song left behind it an utter and profound silence, hardly broken as Kluge's KWGflTS OF THE BLOOD knights formed up smartly before the dais and escorted him and the Blutfahne from the hall by a side exit.