Uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel shoulderboards on both sides. In March 1936, the camp "service" was formally established as the third branch of the SS, the "Totenkopfverbände" or skull units. At about this same time, for similar reasons, the military SS formations (the "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" and the "SS-Verfügungstruppe") adopted a service uniform in what was termed "earth-grey" ("erdgrau"). This also was based on the black uniform, but without the red "Hakenkreuz" armband, its place on the left sleeve being taken by an eagle-and-swastika patch, and worn with trousers and shoes or calf-high jackboots. In June 1938 this uniform was authorized for full-time "Allgemeine-SS"
What Was Before how we choose to tell stories." What Was Before What Was Before () is a 2010 novel by the German writer Martin Mosebach. Through a series of vignettes, it tells the story of a man from the affluent suburbs of Frankfurt, who is asked by his girlfriend what his life was like before they met. An English translation by Kári Driscoll was published in 2014. "Publishers Weekly" wrote: "Mosebach's charming, exuberant narrator is not be trusted, and the novel calls into question our notions of memory. Mosebach's writing is florid, tinged with a biting wit. ... Irreverent, playful, and intricate,