2214512
Walter von Blomberg
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Very rare handwritten letter by Blomberg, the first General Field Marshal appointed by Hitler
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg, 1878–1946. German Field Marshal; Nazi Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, 1935–1938. Autograph letter signed, W. v. Blomberg, three pages (front, back of integral leaf, and across the inside of the unfolded stationery) , 5⅜” x 7”, on stationery of the Grand Hotel Menaggio, Menaggio, Italy, July 1, 1938. In German, with translation.
Blomberg’s handwritten letters are almost impossible to find. Our search of auction records has found only two other Blomberg ALSs offered since 1975. Unlike this one, neither of those had personal content. Blomberg’s signed photos, mostly postcard size, and signed documents are generally available, and his typed letters can be found if one is patient. But his autograph letters signed are very rare. Neither Charles Hamilton’s Leaders and Personalities of the Third Reich nor Andre Hüsken’s Autographs of National Socialism 1919–1945 illustrates one.
Here, Blomberg writes to send condolences on the accidental death of a man’s son. He writes to “Herr Müller,” who likely is Ludwig Müller, the Nazi Reich Bishop of the German Evangelical Church who was Adolf Hitler’s confidant for church issues. It was Müller who introduced Hitler to Blomberg.
Here Blomberg writes, in full:
Dear Herr Müller! When I opened your letter, I was just so happy to receive the successful pictures of the gravesite. Upon reading the letter, I was most deeply affected by the news of the death. May I assure you that I share most deeply in your grief. What a shame about this young, vibrant, and competent man. Although one should never complain about the dead; it is the survivors whom one must pity. The dead have peace from the sufferings of this world. They truly rest in peace.
How terrible that you are having troubles with your apartment just now. It is my hope that a tolerable situation will be found.
How deeply will my sister share in your grief. At the moment she is in Poland visiting our relatives. My good mother will be completely beside herself over this misfortune/accident as she followed your Kurt’s development with great attentiveness.
May God give you strength in your grief! Naturally, all these words are meant equally for your dear wife.
Most faithfully yours,
W. v. Blomberg
Johan Heinrich Ludwig Müller (1883–1945) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor who led the pro-Nazi German Christian movement. He joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and introduced Hitler to Blomberg when he was chaplain of the East Prussian Military District and Blomberg was the district commander.
In 1933, Hitler appointed Müller to the post of confidant and plenipotentiary for all problems concerning the Protestant church. According to Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, Müller had “no obvious qualifications for the position except a high regard for his own importance and an ardent admiration for the Reich Chancellor and his Movement.” Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris 489 (1st Am. ed. 1999). The radical pro-Nazi German Christians sought bring Christian doctrine in line with Nazi ideology; they tried to get rid of the Old Testament and create a German national religion without a basis in Judiasm. According to Müller, whose controversial views angered many mainstream Protestants, Jesus Christ “was an Aryan,” and traditional Christianity was “a whole-hearted Bolshevism under a tinsel of metaphysics.”
Blomberg was a professional solder, not a Nazi idealogue or, as far as we can find, ever a member of the Nazi Party. Nevertheless, as a soldier he swore allegiance to Hitler. Hitler trusted Blomberg completely and made him the first General Field Marshal whom he appointed.
But Blomberg alienated both Hermann Göring, the Commander-in-Chief of the German air force, the Luftwaffe, and Heinrich Himmler, the head of the German SS, the Nazi Party security organization, who conspired to remove him. He was ultimately forced to resign from the Wehrmacht because of a scandal involving his second wife, a much younger woman on whom the Berlin police had a long criminal file. Her mother had been a prostitute, and she herself allegedly had been a prostitute and in any event had posed for pornographic photos. Göring and Himmler used the opportunity to get rid of him. Hitler, who attended Blomberg’s wedding as a witness, was stunned when he learned of Mrs. Blomberg’s past. Blomberg refused to end his marriage, as Hitler wanted, but he nevertheless resigned his positions to prevent Göring from making the information public.
To get Blomberg out of the limelight, Hitler personally paid for him to take a world tour. It was during that tour, when he was in Italy, that Blomberg wrote this letter.
Blomberg has written and signed signed this letter in black fountain pen. The letter is in very good condition. The integral leaf is attached at the right side rather than the left, and Blomberg has written on the opened stationery so that the first page is on the front of the front leaf, the second page is on the back of the integral leaf, and the third page completely spans the insides of the front and integral leaves. There is one horizontal mailing fold, which has some wear to it, particularly on the integral leaf. There are a small hole and small fold separations from wear where the folds cross, and there are what appear to be short archival tape repairs to the ends of the horizontal folds on the third page, where there is also a tiny bit of paper loss on the margins. The letter is uniformly toned, with soiling at the margins and around the vertical fold and integral leaf horizontal fold on the front, and there are some scattered creases that do not detract.
We reject Nazism and all that it represented. Nevertheless, we offer this letter because, although it is despised, the German Third Reich, which spawned World War II, had an undeniable effect on the course and history of the 20th Century.
Unframed.
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