My grandfather brought back several swords from Europe when he served in WW2, like many veterans who saw real action he never spoke about his experiences so we don't know when or how he acquired them.
Each of his kids took some of his pieces after his death and my father ended up with these two swords and this pin. I figure the bayonet is more ornamental, the blade is fairly square but the sword has a bit of an edge on it. Probably a Calvary sword based on the blade length/width.
Does anyone know more about these pieces? Like who they were issued to, what their purpose was, or when they were made (I can't imagine they would be producing swords after the start of Barbarossa.)
I'm not sure about the pin, but I know the markings on the sword.
The insignia on the sword is mark of the 11th SS Division Nordland which was comprised of Scandinavian volunteers. The sword is most definitely ceremonial in nature. It's very possibly an officer's ceremonial sword, but I don't have any other information about how or when it would have been used.
I know it's a wikipedia link, but I hope that suffices for a simple divisional insignia answer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_SS_Volunteer_Panzergrenadier_Division_Nordland
Sword looks like a Luftwaffe officers sword. Made by Carl Eickhorn Solingen, it's got the later marking that's similar to the one used today so I'd date it in the 1940's or late 1930's. I'm not particularly an expert so of course, I could be a bit off.
I'm fairly certain the bayonet is a standard municipal police (Gemeindepolizei) bayonet. Looks to have been made between 1933-1935 by Carl Eickhorn in Solingen, as for any further information I'm not entirely sure. There doesn't seem to be any specific markings that could help me narrow it down a bit.
For a bit of background, I believe that before the Nazis came to power the police generally used a different design of bayonet. Post-1933, the German police forces were organised and this new design was made standard with a 13" blade and new Nazi police insignia. Since they were essentially the same design, rather than producing new blades they instead shortened the already existing ones to the new standard - usually you can tell a shortened bayonet as the blood groove on these run all the way to the very end of the blade.