Lot 155

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Description:

HANS FRITZSCHE CLAIMS NO 'ANTI-JEWISH' BROADCASTS
HANS FRITZSCHE (1900-1953) Radio propaganda chief in Joseph Goebbels' propaganda ministry. Delivered regular radio broadcasts with the familiar opening 'Hier spricht Hans Fritzsche!', making him one of the best-known commentators in Nazi Germany. Fine content partly-printed D.S. 'Hans Fritzsche' in pencil, 1p. legal folio, Nuremberg, Nov. 13, 1945 (one week before the start of his trial), a submission to the International Military Tribunal being a 'Defendant's Application for Document' for use in his defense. Fritzsche requests a 'Collection of foreign opinions and attacks on me' which he believes are stored in the basement air raid shelter of the Reichs Ministry of Propaganda. He hopes that the documents will prove: 'That I, even in the opinion of the allied radio commentators [he inserts: 'during the war'], did not agitate anti-Jewish measures or crimes against humanity...' Mounted to heavy stock, along with the official translation, also mounted. Very good. A relatively minor propaganda ministry official who had not held a policy-making position, Fritzsche was included in the dock at Nuremberg in the absence of the deceased Joseph Goebbels and to mollify Soviet authorities, who held him in their custody. The Tribunal did not find Fritzsche guilty, though, because it concluded his Jeremiads against the Jews did not directly urge their persecution and: '...his position and official duties were not sufficiently important...to infer that he took part in originating or formulating propaganda campaigns...' He would be jailed for war crimes following a second West German trial. This document originates from the files of Hans Werner, Director of Printing for the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. It was his task to publish the 42-volume record of the trial using this document and scores of others. Following completion of his task, Werner was permitted to retain possession of the documents, which were never tagged as evidence. They were then sold by autograph expert Charles Hamilton in his auctions, in 1979.

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December 7, 2021 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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