Description:

ADOLF HITLER (1889 - 1945) Fuhrer of Germany and Nazi Party leader, Hitler's bloody rise to power, his military seizure of most of Europe and North Africa and his genocidal racial policies culminated in suicide in his Berlin bunker as Russian troops approached. Fine association D.S. making an award for bravery to one of the most despicable and murderous of his fellow Nazis, 4pp. 9 3/4" x 13 3/4",. Berlin, Oct. 2, 1940. On a form rarely used to make such an award, let alone authentically signed, Hitler awards "Reichsstathalter Gauleiter Alber Forster" the War Merit Cross First Class, with Swords". The document has been co-signed at bottom by OTTO MEISSNER (1880-1953), Nazi Nuremberg defendant who served as Reichsminister and Minister of the Presidential Chancellery. Small marginal tear at right, mounting traces to the edges of the verso, else very good. With presentation folder. ALBERT FORSTER (1902-1952) was an early NSDAP member, and was appointed Gauleiter of the Free City of Danzig. In the spring of 1933, Forster spearheaded the Nazi take-over of Danzig, and following Poland's defeat, he served as Gauleiter and Reichstatthalter of Danzig-West Prussia from 1939""1945. As such, Forster was directly responsible for extermination of non-Germans in Danzig-West Prussia. He personally believed in the need to engage in genocide of Poles, stating: "We have to exterminate this nation, starting from the cradle" and declared that Poles and Jews were not human. He was executed by the Poles at war's end. Forster was likely awarded his medal for his increasingly successful efforts in murdering and deporting Poles and Jews.

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November 13, 2018 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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