Description:

(JOSEPH AND MAGDA GOEBBELS) HARALD QUANDT
HARALD QUANDT (1921-1967) Son of MAGDA GOEBBELS (1901-1945), and her only child to survive the war, her other much younger children poisoned by her in the Fuhrerbunker in the final days of the war. Quandt was the product of her first marriage, to Gunther Quandt, and he lived with the Goebbels family shortly before joining the Luftwaffe in 1941. In 1944, he was captured by Allied troops in Italy; he was released in 1947 and in the postwar years made a fortune, largely with BMW and Daimler Benz stock. The heirs of he and his brother are today worth over $38 billion. HARALD QUANDT'S WAR-DATE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT A very rare and equally fascinating war-date A.L.S., 6pp. 4to., 'near Cortona Italy', June 28, 1944, apparently addressed to his natural father, GUNTHER QUANDT, MAGDA GOEBBELS and JOSEPH GOEBBELS, in German. Loosely translated, it reads in small part: 'My dear Father! My dear Mom! My dear Papa!...I might again a few days from now have another assignment, and thought it was important to make another will, then I'd know if it didn't accidentally happen to you, then I'd like to have at least that...everything is rattling around...according to my [?] everything is organized. If you spend these few moments, my life has fulfilled itself...life certainly was not okay in all respects, and I often had to sober up a lot about my character...I wouldn't regret anything if I lived like that if I could still do it. I'm a little worried because if you think it's a mistake, if you've done something...I have lied...I've experienced everything imaginable, beautiful, ugly, cute...and not always preferred the better in life, but maybe it's all the way I still am today...Everything is predestination, you don't need to feel any sadness other than that a German is no longer, that and love takest. A life has fallen, no more and no less. Thank you for your love...Thank you for all the worries that you have caused me and that I wish you could make up for more....I give my life for the Fuhrer...' Quandt has signed his full name at the start of the text, and 'Harald' at the conclusion of his text. There follows 2+ pages in which he sets forth how his assets are to be distributed following his death. The text is a bit difficult to decipher, but Quandt mentions a gold watch which he asks Magda to hold for 'Kellemit[?] until his 21st birthday; a gold bracelet from 'Mom and Dad' is to go to another acquaintance; and he also gifts his BMW the family chauffeur and film equipment, savings, and a few other personal items to other named individuals, however wanting to make sure that he is indeed dead and not missing before his officer's kit is bequeathed. Finally, it appears that he leaves the balance of his personal effects at two addresses to his 'Vater' and 'Mutti', meaning Magda, and most likely his natural father, Gunther. At the conclusion, Quandt signs a third time, in full. The document closes with a typed attestation of Quandt's signature from a Luftwaffe legal officer of 7.Fliegerdivision. Officially stamped and sealed throughout. Some clean fold splits, else near fine. Quandt would be wounded and captured in Italy the same year, ending the war in a British prisoner of war camp in the Libyan port city of Benghazi.

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January 25, 2023 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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