Description:

GUNTHER BLUMENTRITT
(1892 - 1967) German general, instrumental in planning the German invasion of Poland and France, participated in Operation Barbarossa, and afterward bore a large part of the responsibility for planning the defense of the Atlantic Wall and Normandy. Superb T.Ms.S. signed multiple times, 37pp. 8vo., March 1946, a lined notebook with red paper wrappers in which Blumentritt has meticulously recorded his education, genealogy, military service and much more fascinating biographical and philosophical content. The notebook is dedicated to his wife on the cover, and no doubt inspired in part by his affidavit given at Nuremberg. At the conclusion of numerous pages of biographical and military history, Blumentritt writes a 2pp. postscript, which begins: ‘My life and my military service were beautiful and worth living! With the loss of all values after the two lost wars, I have nothing to regret. We, as upright German officers raised in the old German Army, did nothing other than faithfully fulfill our soldier's duty to our Fatherland…to follow Adolf Hitler to his end and to his death was very, very difficult…May the German people, which I love, in the future find leaders who guide it towards true greatness…'. He continues with a fascinating 10pp. essay titled ‘The Conscience', which reads, in very small part: ‘…What a ‘hero' says and judges may be important for the masses, but not for a soldier! For him, the most important thing is his own conscience…Modern, technical warfare today is unfortunately very harsh and brings much suffering and hardship to the civilian population…If a ‘people' is to be ‘destroyed' then every upright member of that people must go to the very last to protect his fatherland…One must therefore fight hard, but this must also be fair and honorable…German soldiers of the army were, in many cases, more humane and more fair-minded than one would have wanted to believe…Other peoples' armies were often different (the Russians!) The German above all…lives by iron discipline…above all…the North Germans…'. Blumentritt goes on to describe his father's character as a civil servant, his own modest upbringing, motive behind his enlistment and desire to become a ‘Bavarian artillery officer' but instead enlisted in the 3rd Prussian (Thuringen) Infantry, his veneration of Kaiser Wilhelm I, the mentality of the ‘royal service', his mother's biography, character and political beliefs (‘she would have become a broken opponent of National Socialism if she had recognized what it truly was and would become…'); and much more. Worthy of full translation. Tape reinforcement to staple binding and edge of wraps, else very good condition. Housed in a hardbound custom linen folder.

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March 26, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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