Lot 14
'HITLER'S JEWISH SOLDIER' AND GORING BODYGUARD, OBGF. HORST GEITNER
A remarkable grouping of items from a Jewish German soldier, one of only a tiny handful allowed to serve in the Wehrmacht, including the man's tunic, photograph album, and a grouping of awards and other documents from his exemplary military career. He would serve with distinction, and learn only after the war that his own family had been gassed at Auschwitz. According to 'Lives of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers' by Bryan Mark Rigg (2009), Horst Geitner (b. 1922) was born in Berlin to Olga Geitner, a Christian mother, and Arthur Moses, a Jewish father, who were not married to each other but lived together for extended periods. Since Geitner's father insisted on raising Horst Jewish, he had Horst circumcised according to Jewish tradition. Geitner learned his prayers and on the Sabbath and holidays attended an Orthodox synagogue in Berlin. When he turned 11 in 1933, the Nazis took power and Geitner's mother felt that her son should convert to Christianity to avoid persecution. His father agreed and in 1933, Horst was baptized a Catholic. From 1933 to 1936, Arthur Moses moved around throughout Holland and France with his Jewish wife, children, and mistress, also to avoid Hitler's persecution. In Berlin, Geitner stayed with his gentile grandparents, and remained close to his other Jewish relatives there. Geitner's father committed suicide in Metz on 23 December 1938. Before he killed himself, Arthur wrote a friend asking him to help his former lover and his son. In 1940, Geitner joined the Luftwaffe in hopes that he would be able to obtain his high school diploma through his service, and he reported for duty to Regiment 11 at Schonewalde. Geitner, a 'first degree mischling', was questioned several times about his ethnic background, and was denied flight training because of his religion, but was in many instances accepted by his officers and fellow men, his religion ignored or glossed-over. Geitner served with a special guard detachment in Berlin, and even acted as part of Hermann Goring's personal bodyguard at certain events. At Goring's Berlin home, Goring would exchange jokes with Geitner and the other guards or talk about their careers. Often, Geitner was posted right outside Goring's sleeping quarters. At the end of 1941, Geitner's battalion became a Panzer-killer unit, and in the Winter of 1942 was sent to the Eastern Front. He was promoted to Obergefreiter and moved to train soldiers in Furstenwalde. In June 1942, Geitner guarded a train en route to Ukraine. When it stopped near Auschwitz, he noticed the SS offloading several Jews there. He later declared: 'Only after the war did I learn that my whole family would be gassed there. Probably as I talked to my that SS man, my relatives were already in the camp dying.' Geitner then joined the 1st Tank-Destroyer Co., Sixth Luftwaffe Field Division and went to the northern front of Russia in winter, 1943. At Velikiye Luki near Pskov, Geitner was badly wounded after destroying a tank and was awarded an Iron Cross and the Wound Badge in Silver. He later remarked: 'I would be lying to you if I told you I didn't like being a soldier. It was an honor to serve.' he said. Early in 1944, Geitner read that if a 'mischling' had proven himself in battle, then Hitler would declare him 'Aryan.' He applied for the dispensation, and was later summoned by his commander and ordered to immediately leave. He received his discharge, which likely spared his life as the Russians destroyed his entire division during the Soviet offensive in the summer of 1944. Geitner never learned about the systematic extermination of the Jews - including over two dozen of his relatives - until after the war. While Geitner served in Russia, his Jewish sister, Ruth, uncle Wilhelm Auerbach, and aunt Erna Auerbach (nEe Moses) all died in Auschwitz. Geitner was the last living member of his Jewish family, which had been in Germany for over 200 years. In the postwar years, he served as a major in the Bundeswehr and as a judge. Included in this historically vital lot is Geitner's military tunic, a very rare example without the Geitner connection, which is also shown in one of the two Bryan Mark Rigg books included in the lot. The tunic is late war blue-gray Luftwaffe tunic with two flap pockets with blue painted pebbled buttons at the hips, and four bakelite buttons in front (one not matching). Collar tabs are comprised of green cloth with panzer skulls, piped in yellow, commensurate with his service in the Luftwaffe Feld division. Slip-on shoulder boards are also affixed with blue pebbled button, and piped in red for artillery. Geitner's Iron Cross ribbon is sewn diagonally in a buttonhole halfway down the front of the tunic, hand-stitched to the garment. Silver metallic thread rank striped are also hand-sewn to the left sleeve. Within, the tunic is unlined but has three interior pockets, the pocket on the left breast bearing cloth initials 'H G'. There is genuine wear to the collar and sleeves of the garment, as well as a few field repairs. Geitner's personal photograph album is also present, started by him in 1939 with almost all images captioned. The 8 x 10 in. photograph album bears a marbled cover and faux brown leather spine. It contains 130+ photographs, most about 2.5 x 3.5 in. or larger, almost all showing Geitner in a variety of settings. The young man is shown in some images with civilians, possibly family members, as a military reenactor, but by and large in uniform training, with officers and his fellow soldiers, on the Eastern Front, recuperating from his wounds, and in the last image, in the uniform offered here. Finally, there is included a substantial grouping of documents, including Geitner's award of the Iron Cross, 2nd Class and Wound Badge in Silver, a Jan. 21, 1943 untranslated letter to his mother; two Jan. 19, 1943 hospital reports on his wounds; a high school report card; his 'clean' criminal record; a Berlin Catholic Church document, 1934, untranslated but probably attestation as to his baptism; a birth-related document not mentioning his father; a postwar award, and several other documents. Simply an amazing gathering of material from a misguided youth who spent the rest of his life torn in two. He ended his interview with author Rigg by declaring: 'I have never healed from that time and will die with many questions about myself and people.'
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