History In Ink®  Historical Autographs


1403901

Hermann Göring

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Large, war-dated document countersigned by Göring

as Adolf Hitler appoints an assistant schoolmaster

during the Battle of France

Hermann Wilhelm Göring, 1893–1946.  Nazi Reichsmarshall; Luftwaffe commander-in-chief.  Partially printed Document Signed, Hermann Göring, one page, 10" x 14", with integral leaf attached, Führer Headquarters, June 7, 1940.  With facsimile signature of Adolf Hitler.  In original embossed presentation folder.

In this war-dated appointment, issued from the Führer Headquarters during the Battle of France, Hitler confers a lifetime appointment upon a probationary schoolmaster.  Göring has boldly countersigned with a bright blue fountain pen signature beneath Hitlerʼs preprinted facsimile signature.  The certificate reads:  “In the name of the German people I appoint the probationary schoolmaster Gustav Schlüter to the profession of assistant schoolmaster, as a civil servant, for life.  I perform this deed in the expectation that the appointee will conscientiously and faithfully fulfill his official duties and justify the confidence that this appointment evidences in him.  At the same time, I guarantee him my special patronage."

This appointment was issued at a high point of German power during World War II.  Germany invaded France and the Low Countries on May 10, 1940.  During the first phase of the invasion, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), the Germans surrounded large numbers of British, French, and Belgian troops, backing them up against the sea.  Britain evacuated its forces and several French divisions from Dunkirk between May 26 and June 4.  The next day, June 5, Germany initiated the second phase, Fall Rot (Case Red).  German troops overwhelmed the remaining French defense forces and marched into Paris unopposed on June 14.  A triumphant Hitler toured Paris on June 23.

At the same time, Germany had moved into the Scandinavian countries.  It invaded Norway on April 9, 1940, on the pretext that Norway needed protection from Britain and France.  The Royal Family and the government fled Oslo ahead of the advancing Germans.  On June 7, the day that this appointment document was issued, Norwegian King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav, and the Norwegian government left Tromsø, on the far northern coast of Norway, with a total of 461 passengers aboard the British ship HMS Devonshire.  Despite attacks by German warships on its escort, with a loss of 1,519 British officers and men, the Devonshire reached London, and King Haakon and his cabinet established the Norwegian government in exile there.

This document is in very fine condition.  Only a slight diagonal bend at the upper right corner keeps us from grading it extra fine.  Göring has signed with a large, 3⅛" fountain pen signature in bright blue.  The embossed seal with the Nazi eagle is strongly stamped on the heavy paper at the lower left alongside Hitler's printed facsimile signature.  The document is printed in shiny gold and black and engrossed in black calligraphy.  It has normal pencil numbering in the lower left corner but otherwise is clean and bright.  It is folded at left and affixed to the embossed presentation folder with a heavy cord, which runs under the inside ply of the textured paper in the folder and runs between the front and integral leaves of the appointment document.  A version of the Nazi eagle is embossed on the front of the deckle edged folder in shiny gold.  The presentation folder shows minor foxing and soiling and a corresponding diagonal bend at the upper right corner.  It is in fine condition.

This signature by Göring is one of the finest available.  We have never seen a better one. 

We reject Nazism and all that it represented.  We nevertheless offer this document because the German Third Reich, although despised, had an undeniable effect on the course of the 20th Century.

 

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