WWII Axis German Ally Slovakia Fascist Militia Guardsman's Dagger Knife Police

Description

Slovak Hlinka Guard Dagger M1939 – HDG
This Hlinka Guard or Hlinkova Dopravna Garda (HDG) dagger is in EXC+ condition.
Model 1939. The total length is 37.6 cm.
Hilt fittings in a good condition, lower cross guard marked, "HDG".
Blade: This blade is double-edged and in a good condition. Stamped with number 22 on the blade.
Scabbard: Shell is straight throughout exhibiting only moderate contact marks and surface wear in the black paint.
Historical background:
The Hilinka Guard was the paramilitary unit created by Catholic Priest Andrej Hlinka and controlled by the Slovak People's Party or HSSP. The Guard was officially established on October 8, 1938 but its roots can be traced back as early as the 1920's to the Rodobrana a strong arm group that styled itself along the lines of the Italian black shirts, and the German brown shirts.
During the crisis caused by Hitler's demand for the Sudetenland in the summer of 1938, the Hlinka Guard emerged spontaneously, and on October 8 of that year, a week after Hitler's demand had been accepted at the Munich conference, the guard was officially set up, with Karol Sidor as its first commander.
The guard was the Hlinka party's military arm for internal security, and it continued in that role under the autonomous government of Slovakia in federated Czecho-Slovakia. The Hlinka Guard were Slovakia's state police and most willingly helped Hitler with his plans. It operated against Jews, Czechs, Hungarians, the Left, and the opposition. By a decree issued on October 29, 1938, the Hlinka Guard was designated as the only body authorized to give its members paramilitary training, and it was this decree that established its formal status in the country. Hlinka guardsmen wore black uniforms and a cap shaped like a boat, with a woolen pompom on top, and they used the raised-arm salute. The official salute was Na stráž! (On guard!).
The Hlinka Guard attracted recruits from all walks of life. On the following day, March 15, Alexander Mach became its commander, retaining the post up to the collapse of the pro-German regime in Slovakia in 1945. Its functions were laid down in a series of government decrees: it was to be a paramilitary organization attached to the party, fostering love of country, providing paramilitary training, and safeguarding internal security. By assuming these tasks, the guard was meant to counterbalance the army and the police. In 1941 Hlinka Guard shock troops were trained in elite camps in Germany. At this point many of the guardsmen who were of middle-class origin quit, and thenceforth the organization consisted of peasants and unskilled laborers, together with various doubtful elements. A social message was an integral part of the radical nationalism that it sought to impart.
A small group called Náš Boj (Our Struggle), which operated under German elite auspices, was the most radical element in the guard. Throughout its years of existence, the Hlinka Guard competed with the Hlinka party for primacy in ruling the country. After the anti-Nazi Slovak National Uprising was crushed in August 1944, the German elite took over and shaped the Hlinka Guard to suit its own purposes. Special units of the guard (Hlinka Guard Emergency Divisions – POHG) were employed against partisans and minorities.
The Hlinka Guard was known for its participation in various war crimes. Under one of the Beneš decrees, No. 16/1945 Coll., membership of the Hlinka Guard was punishable by 5 to 20 years' imprisonment.