Lot 18
JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP
(1893 - 1946) Nazi foreign minister. First of the Nuremberg defendants to hang on October 16, 1946. A fascinating, most revealing A.Ms.S. twice, once at the head of the first page and again, with an inscription, at the conclusion, thirteen pages (separate leaves), legal folio, [Nuremberg, ca.1945-46], in English. Marked 'Personal' and written in bold pencil, in English. Ribbentrop's manuscript is essentially his autobiography, prepared for Major Douglas M. Kelley, a U.S. Army psychiatrist serving at Nuremberg. It reads, in part: 'My family comes from a farm called 'Ribbentrop' [the source of the 'von' in his name]….in Detmold, where my family can be tracid [sic] back to the twelfth century being 'Freibanum' (free-peasants) on their own land. In later centuries the family produced mostly judges, officials and later also soldiers. An ancestor of mine Barthold Ribbentrop signed the Westphalian peace for the Count of Lippe. My grandfather (father of my father) was still a…..Major in the Brunswick artillerie. My grandmother was also a born Ribbentrop from Brunswick. The father of my mother was likewise….on his farm….in the province of Saxony. The mother of my mother was…..also from the country in Saxony. My father was Lt. Colonel in the Prussian Army Artillerie. His two brothers also…..My father was a real type of a soldier, but also highly interested in intellectual and political matters. He was well based in all literature history and a very independent sort of a personality. He also took an interest in the social tendencies of our century giving the working class a better living. His independence of thought (critic of political, military matters and of the former Kaiser) brought him into difficulties with his superior officers, so that he resigned from the army in 1909. We then lived in Switzerland for some years. In the worlds war my father fought with distinction and then lived as retired officer…..He was interested in the national-socialistic movement, but did not join it till 1933, because he was against the anti-Jewish policy of the party. He died on the 1 of January 1941 in his 82nd year. My feelings towards my father were such that I liked and admired him more than anybody in this world except my wife and children. There has never been a change in our relations since my childhood. I always had a very free exchange of views with him on all subjects and his death was felt by myself more than I can express. Of my mother I only have the recollection of my childhood. I was about 11 years when she died….of tuberculosis of the lungs after she had already lost a kidney, also of tuberculosis. The disease has been in her family, as her mother also died of this illness. My remembrance of her is of being a very sweet, delicate or rather suffering woman. Very good looking but very fragile. We loved her very much; when we saw her - as she was often absent….. - she was mostly in bed. I believe she was very fond of us 3 children, but did not want to infect us with T.B. and therefore saw us seldom. I have been sorry all my life not having known her more, because she was...very good and sweet to us, She was, I believe, also very intelligent and very musical like my father. I used to love to sit beside her, when she played the piano, which she did, I believe, wonderfully. She made me love music so that I took up the violin and wanted to become a violinist, when I had finished school. My one brother, Lothar Ribbentrop, which I had, has been during his short life my good comrade. We were very fond of each other & helped us whenever we could. Once he saved my life in pulling me out of a river, as I could not swim, something which I never forgot [of] him. I also could help him sometimes. We were together in Canada, where he caught a tuberculosis shortly before the war. He never recovered. He came over after the outbreak of the first worlds war, the army would not take him, he went to Switzerland and died of consumption at Lugano at the age of 26 in December 1918. We always had much the same ideas and thoughts. It may be a queer coincidence, but I must mention it: I was in Odessa (Russia) in December 1918, ill in bed, when one night in a dream I saw my brother quite clearly dying, lifting himself once more up in his pillows and then fall back dead. When after months I came home to Germany, my father told me of my brother's death and I could see from my diary that he had died really the same night I had seen him die in my dream. Our family life always has been very intimate. My brother was a rather quiet & earnest type of a man, very straightforward & very reliable. My only sister, Ingeborg….is a very nice little woman. Everybody likes her and we have also always been very fond of each other. It was on account of her, that my father at the time went to Switzerland, her lungs as little girl being affected by tubercular bacillus. However she recovered and has been healthy since. She was married about 1922/23 to a friend of mine, Albert Jenke, with whom she lived mostly in Turkey, he being in the building industry, Later on my brother in law was commercial attache & councillor at the German Embassy at Constantinople. My sister...is always sweet & nice to everybody, has very many friends, has the heart in the right spot and I love her very much. The story of my own family: I was married to Annelies Henkell, daughter of the German champagne manufacturer Henkell and his wife,…..in Wiesbaden on the 5th July 1920. This year we should have celebrated our Silver Wedding. The story of the life of my wife and myself together is a rare one. It is too precious and too wonderful to be described in words, a marriage which has made life worth while living for me. I love my wife more than anything in this world, more than my own life and her love for me, she could not show better than she did during the last days of this war, when she wanted to come to me to Berlin from the south and end her life with mine. The Fuhrer forbade her coming. Our common life has been a life full of work, events, sad and gay ones, but above all a life full of happiness and harmony, as is seldom given to two human beings. I shall ever be grateful for this wonder. My wife has given us 5 children. The oldest Rudolf-Lothar was born on the 11th of May 1921 in Wiesbaden. He is a fine boy, educated in Berlin, joined the Westminster school in London for about a year, went then the usual way for Hitler Youth, working service into the army. He served with an SS Panzerdivision with distinction, was a brave boy, wounded several times, decorated and very much liked by his men, whom he commanded last as a Captain. He is jolly, always good natured and very just and honest fellow, now prisoner of war with the USA Army. I am very fond of him. My oldest daughter Bettina was born on the 20th July 1922. She was married shortly after the American occupation to Herbert Rucks, an officer in the former German Air Force. She is a sweet woman, always helpful to everybody & I love her very much. During the war she was a nurse in a military hospital. She was educated in Berlin and also for some time in a school in England. At the age of fourteen she was thrown out of a motor car and suffered a double fracture…..We were in great anxiety about her during a number of years, but everything went to the better and she is quite all right now. My three smaller children are: Ursula born 29th of December 1932, Adolf born 1st of September 1935 & Barthold born 19th of December 1940. While Adolf seems to have a tendency for lung trouble, the two others are healthy. They are all three very delightful children & my wife and myself we love them tremendously. My own medical history: My childhood was spent in Wesel, Wilhelmshohe near Kassel, Metz and in Switzerland. My father being an army officer with fair means our life was the normal ones of soldiers children. As my mother was mostly ill, we had as I remember many governesses which not always left a pleasant memory. As childhood diseases I only remember measles, tonsilitis etc. Furthermore I had a number of nose operations. I went to a preparatory school in Kassel, then to….Metz, then we had an instructor during our stay in Switzerland. Afterwards I was a while studying in France and London. In 1910 I went to visit friends in Canada. I stayed there, went first into a bank, then in the constructing business. In Quebec I caught tuberculosis of the kidney, which was taken out. At the beginning of the worlds war I returned to Germany, served….during the war, caught a slight tuberculosis of the lungs, which was healed though, was wounded lightly without consequences, but sent to Constantinople as adjutant of the representation of the war ministry. After the German defeat I was for a while on the staff of the peace conference, then retired from the army and went into business. I built up an export and import business and when Germany was economically going more and more down I came into the political life. My official life as collaborator of Adolf Hitler is known. Hobbies: Music, violin, formerly sports, tennis, golf, hunting, shooting. Health since a number of years I suffer from overwork and sleeplessness. Four years ago I had after a mental strain a cramp (?) on the left side of my head which caused for some time absolute sleeplessness and very bad headaches, ear drumming & occasional schwindelanfalle [attacks of dizziness]. It has never come quite in order again. I have taken sleeping powders & bromides for about 4 - 5 years. Also in the years before already I had to take them. This has caused a lack of memory to a certain extent, that some times certain happenings are completely wiped out of my memory…..the sleeplessness hasn't improved. I regularly take powders, but only sleep a few hours…..sometimes they have no effect at all. Headaches, ear drumming, schwindelanfalle have somewhat intensified...' Signed and inscribed at the conclusion, 'To Major D. E. Kelley, with greatest thanks for all his kindness, Joachim von Ribbentrop'. A remarkable autobiographical manuscript written by Ribbentrop while imprisoned at Nuremberg. Some light age toning to some pages and with a few small, minor tears to a few margins, generally very good to fine.
Accepted Forms of Payment:
American Express, COD (cash on delivery), Discover, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Paypal, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer
Shipping
*SEE ADITTIONAL SHIPPING ABOVE* -Shipments are sent via FedEx and DHL (for most overseas shipments) or FedEx Ground at the auctioneer's option. Due to complications from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we will ship with USPS Priority Mail only if the buyer submits their request to us in writing and accepts responsibility for delayed shipments. Signature is always required, unless other arrangements are made. Handling and shipping charges will be added to the invoice in one entry. Buyers should be aware that large, framed, fragile or odd shaped items can incur substantial shipping and packing charges. International shipments are invoiced by DIMENSIONAL weight, not the item weight. Please contact us for an estimate before bidding NOTE: Large, heavy or bulky items may not be shipped by the auctioneer - arrangements for shipping of these items via a third-party shipper may be arranged through the auction house. Customers who supply their own courier account number will still be charged a handling fee. Please allow 2-3 weeks for shipments after receipt of payment due to the high volume of packages being shipped.
Alexander Historical Auctions LLC
You agree to pay a buyer's premium of up to 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.
View full terms and conditions
| From: | To: | Increments: |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $99 | $10 |
| $100 | $499 | $20 |
| $500 | $999 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $1,999 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $4,999 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $9,999 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $19,999 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $49,999 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $99,999 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $999,999 | $10,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $1,999,999 | $50,000 |
| $2,000,000 + | $100,000 |