Lot 554

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Description:

KONRAD HELEIN PRESENTATION GAULEITER PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM
KONRAD HENLEIN (1898 - 1945) Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of the Sudetenland, his influence among ethnic Germans contributed to the Munich Agreement and subsequent seizure of all of Czechoslovakia. Henlein organized the Kristallnacht pogrom in the Sudetenland on 9 November 1938, which smashed Jewish homes and businesses, and was deeply involved in a campaign for the 'de-Jewification' of the Sudeten economy, confiscating businesses and properties owned by Jews. Committed suicide at war's end. Historic, photo-laden album presented to Henlein on May 6, 1940, his 42nd birthday, by the Keisleiter of Tetschen 'A. Housmann'. Tetschen, which housed a Gestapo prison and a forced labor camp, figures prominently in the album, as well as other northern Sudetenland towns and cities including Maxdorf, Bensen, Polzenlal, Tannwald, Bohm-kamnitz, Wernstadt, Bodenbach, The album includes 108 original candid photographs, most 3.25 x 2.5 in. b/w, showing Henlein in a wide variety of settings. The first set of photographs show him being awarded honorary documents by different burgermeisters in the region. There follow images of Henlein addressing a crowd of dignitaries at a dinner, reviewing honor guards, visiting factories, schools, and groups of occupation troops, greeting 'comrades in the fight against the S[ocial]. D[emocratic]. P[arty].', receiving the acclamation of crowds, meeting youth groups, etc. Bound in multi-colored cloth covers, 14 x 10 in. overall. Two printed illustrations either torn or lost, otherwise in fine condition. Henlein attempted to place his long-term followers in key positions in his Reichsgau and, starting in the spring of 1939, became locked into a battle over patronage with Reinhard Heydrich. In late 1939, Heydrich struck at Henlein by arresting over 50 leading Sudeten Nazis — all of them closely associated with Henlein's mentor Heinz Rutha -- on charges of being part of a homosexual group who used their positions in the SdP in the 1930s to recruit young men for sex. Shortly before being presented this album, Henlein succumbed to the pressure, despite having Hitler's support, and this album demonstrates his efforts at shoring-up his local support following his personal crisis. A very rare portrait of a Nazi instrumental in bringing on the Munich Pact and eventual war to Czechoslovakia.

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November 29, 2023 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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