Lot 729

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Description:

AUGUST WILHELM OF PRUSSIA
(1887 - 1949) "Auwi", fourth son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, he joined the nationalist veteran's group "Stahlhelm". In the following years he had increasing contact with Hitler and the National Socialists. He was made an Obergruppenführer, the second highest rank in the SA, but after making derogatory remarks about Joseph Goebbels in private, he was denounced in 1942. Tried and convicted of Nazi sympathies at war's end. Superb content T.L.S. "August Wilhelm" in pencil, 2pp. 4to., Potsdam, Apr. 7, 1930 to "Dear fighting comrade Adolf Hitler". The prince announces that he has just joined the Nazi Party and is qualifying for the S.A., in part: "...I paid a visit to Goring...it is my heartfelt desire to inform you of my entry in the Party as a member...with my thoughts and my loyalty, I was with you...going to be a new chapter in my life and at the same time a challenge...How I feel towards our movement and toward you I explained to you at Munich...I think I have passed the S.A. test and finally it does not matter how one risks his neck...Engel spoke for Goebbels at Ipsterburg where a great number of the audience were D.N., among them Hindenburg...at the end of the evening...we were singing the [Horst] Wessel Song...The members of the Stahlhelm have ignored me completely...so it was a shock for them to hear that my brother Eitel Fritz attended a meeting with Goring...I talked at this opportunity for 45 minutes...my motivation for becoming a National Socialist...we shall carry our fight on into the province...by pumping our heart blood into the streets...I have asked to be transferred to Berlin, because the local situations are not encouraging. The leaders fail quite often and those young, undisciplined unintentionally spoiled and destroy what Kube, Goebbels, Strasser and others have built up...their uncontrolled tempers bring discredit to our movement...my joining the party allures open-minded groups...On the first evening I spoke four times...and [Robert] Ley was in his best form...The climax for me...was the ending with the SS at Cologne...I hope to see you at Goring's...I remain with a loud HEIL...". Tiny loss at one fold juncture costs one letter in signature, old tape repairs at fold splits, light wear, overall very good. As a representative of the erstwhile Prussian royal dynasty and German imperial dynasty, August Wilhelm was deliberately used by the National Socialists to gain votes in elections, for example as the lead candidate of the NSDAP for election to the Prussian Landtag in April 1932 or as an election speaker alongside Hitler, whom he accompanied on flights across Germany at the same time. Through his appearances at mass rallies of the National Socialists he addressed himself to sections of the population that were lukewarm towards National Socialism, and convinced them, "that Hitler was not a threat, but a benefactor of the German people and the German Empire".

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October 10, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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