Lot 541

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Description:

A most unusual piece of ephemera, 17 3/4" x 13 1/2", titled "Abendtafel beim Fuhrer und Reichskanzler" ("Supper with the Fuhrer and Reichs Chancellor"), a seating chart for a formal banquet with Adolf Hitler and numerous other high-ranking members of the government of the Third Reich, held February 22, 1938. The chart depicts an inverted "U"-shaped table, with Hitler seated at top center. He is surrounded by other Third Reich notables, including Hermann Goering, Erich Raeder, Gerd von Rundstedt, Erwin von Witzleben, Hans Lammers, Wilhelm Keitel, Werner von Brauchitsch, and Erhard Milch. Additional notable guests seated along the arms of the table include Heinz Guderian, Ernst Udet, Otto von Stulpnagel, Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, and more. Four round tables placed away from the main group further seat Karl Bodenschatz, Robert Ritter von Greim, Georg Thomas, and others. The chart was issued to one of the guests, Gertrud Halder, wife of Wehrmacht General Franz Halder, who would become chief of the Army High Command later that year. The chart bears her typed name "Frau Halder" on the front cover, with a green arrow on the chart itself pointing our her seat, next to von Witzleben. Her husband is seated on the opposite arm of the table, beside the wife of Kriegsmarine Admiral Sigmund Moosauer. Most interestingly, the back page of the chart is completely filled with an interesting handwritten account of the dinner drafted by Frau Halder, reading in small part: "...The Fuhrer welcomed me and Mrs. Keitel and Goering. Then we went to the next room, where we met countless acquaintances. My right-hand table neighbor was General [Karl] Becker... Afterwards she definitely wanted to drag me down to speak to the Fuhrer. This time the Fuhrer got up after dinner in the next room and talked to the ladies. At first there were only a few, after which he was surrounded, besieged..." The chart shows a horizontal and vertical fold, else very good.

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April 30, 2019 10:00 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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Bid Increments
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 + $10,000