Description:

HEINRICH HIMMLER AWARDS A "DEATH'S HEAD" RING
HEINRICH HIMMLER (1900 - 1945) Hitler's Chief of the SS and Gestapo placed in charge of security and responsible for the construction and operation of extermination camps. He chose suicide rather than face a hangman's noose at Nuremburg. Fine content printed D.S., 1p, 4to, [n.p.], Oct. 22, 1942, in which Himmler awards a "totenkopfring" ("death's head ring") to Dutch SS-Untersturmfuhrer Jan van der Hoeven. In small part: "I give you the Skull Ring of the SS. It should be: A sign of our loyalty to the Fuhrer, our unchanging obedience to our superiors and our unshakable togetherness and camaraderie. The skull is the admonition to be always ready to use the life of our ego for the life of the whole... With their departure from the SS or from life, this ring shall return to the Reichsfuhrer-SS. Images and imitations are punishable and must be prevented. Wear the ring with honor!" Himmler signs at the conclusion in blue ink. Shows folds with very slight splitting thereto, with foxing overall, else very good. The SS "Honour Ring" was initially presented to senior officers of the Old Guard (of which there were fewer than 5,000) who had displayed extraordinary valor and leadership skill in battle. An additional requirement was a clean disciplinary record, and a subsequent blemish on it would require the wearer to return the ring. By 1939, disciplinary issues aside, it was available to any officer with three years' service in the SS, and in World War II virtually the entire SS leadership, including the Waffen-SS and Gestapo, received the ring. Examples of such a ring being awarded to Dutch members of the SS are excessively rare!

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July 31, 2018 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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