Raynors HCA 2018-10
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/20/2018
An autograph book that includes 10 signatures of Nazi soldiers during the Nuremberg Trials. The book measures 2.75" x 2.25" and is engraved with a faded but colorful drawing of a flower on the soft leather cover. The cover and pages are in very good condition with minor wear to the binding of the book, the remaining pages after the signatures are blank and intact. "Hjalmar Schact", signed in the middle of the page, indicated by the guards that Schact was in "Cell – 24". Largely responsible for Hitler's chancellorship, Schact was tried during the Nuremberg Trials for crimes against peace instead of war crimes and eventually was freed after several years of imprisonment. Included with a newspaper cutout portrait of Schact on the pervious page. "V. Schirach", signed on the second page and docketed in German format "22.6.1946", Cell number 29 indicated at the bottom of the page. Baldur von Schirach was notably the head of Hitler Youth from 1931-1940 and was put on trial in Nuremberg for crimes against peace but was acquitted for denouncing Hitler and denying his involvement in concentration camps, however, these claims were false and he was sentenced to 20 years at Spandau Prison in Berlin after being found guilty in 1946. "A. Jodl", signed in the middle of the third page indicated at Cell Number 6 by the prison guards. Alfred Jodl was the Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command during WW2 for the Nazi party. During the Nuremberg Trials, Jodl was hanged for his crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, and planning and initiating wars of aggression. Signed "J.V. Ribbentrop", assigned to Cell 7 as indicated in the bottom right of the page. Joachim von Ribbentrop was the Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany from 1938-1945. A defendant at the Nuremberg Trials, Ribbentrop was convicted and executed in 1946 for his crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and various other war crimes accompanied. "Hermann Goering" signed in the center on the fourth page of the book, assigned to Cell 5. Goering was the second highest-ranking Nazi official tried at Nuremberg and was sentenced to death for his various war crimes and crimes against peace and humanity, specifically playing a large role in plundering and removing art and property into Germany from other countries during the war. "Ernest Kaltenbrunner" signed and docketed "26/6/46/" on the following page with "Cell 26" written in by prison guards. Kaltenbrunner was a Nazi general as well as the highest-ranking member of the Shutzstaffel (SS), the paramilitary organization under the rule of Adolf Hitler, present at the Nuremburg Trials. Kaltenbrunner was hanged under similar offenses to other high-ranking Nazi officials during the Nuremburg Trials. "Walther Funk" signed on the center of the sixth page included with his cell number, 27, and docketed in German. Funk was an economist as well as a prominent Nazi official who served as the Reich Minister of Economic Affairs from 1938-1945 until he was tried at Nuremberg. American Chief Prosecutor Jackson referred to Funk as "The Banker of Gold Teeth" for the methods Nazis used of extracting gold teeth from prisoners in concentrations camps and forwarding them to the Reichsbank to melt them down. Funk was not executed for his various war crimes on many accounts, however, he was sentenced to life of imprisonment during the trials. Signed "Julius Streicher" on the seventh page and noted that he was in "Cell 25" during the Nuremburg Trials. Streicher was the founder and publisher of the anti-Semitic newspaper called Der Stürmer (The Striker). Although Streicher was not a member of the Nazi military, there were many citations that led him to be tried at Nuremburg as one the Major War Criminals including his children's book Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom) in which he compared the danger of Jews to an attractive yet deadly mushroom, becoming a widespread piece of propaganda during the war. Striecher was one of the defendants hanged during the Nuremburg Trials. "Hjalmar Schacht" signed on the next page indicated at "Cell 24" by the guards at Nuremburg. Schacht was the co-founder of the German Democratic Party and was also the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank. He was one of the few defendants who were acquitted when he pleaded not-guilty to crimes against peace claiming that he had lost all official power before the war even began and mentioned that he was arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp himself because he shared very little ideology with the Nazi Party. "Albet Speer" signed on the last page of the book located in "Cell 17". Known as "The Nazi Who Said Sorry" Hitler's right hand man was found guilty of war crimes on two accounts, although he argued he was unaware of the extermination plans in concentration camps, which was found to be false during a private correspondence in 1971. Speer's eloquence and apologetic manor as well as his denial with involvement in the extermination of Jews were the reason he was sentenced to 20 years in prison although 3 of 8 judges originally voted in favor of his execution. A rare assemblage from a very dark period of history.
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