Description
(LSSAH) SS Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler grouping with personal signed Himmler business card.
This is a LSSAH / SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler grouping/ inheritance, that was recently found in Germany. It has never before been in collectorshands.
The group consists of a large original wartime painting of a LSSAH member with the rank of SS-Oberscharführer, six photo’s and a personal signed business card of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.
Artist A. Wasiliew made the painting in 1943, it is signed and dated as such on the left lower corner. Of what i could find out Wasiliew was a 19th century painter who must have been of old age when he made this painting in the middle of the war in 1943. I had it checked out by an art expert and particularly the face appears to be very well painted. The size of the painting including frame is approximately 64 x 54 centimeters.
There are several postcards that came from the same family inheritance and one in particular shows a striking image of the same man in the painting.
Due to privacy reasons i don’t know the name of the family that the grouping comes from, As such it is uclear if the shown SS and LSSAH members were brothers, family members or otherwise related. Clearly visible in the photo’s are the LSSAH shoulderboards insignia, as well as the LSSAH armbands. The photo that resembles the best the painting shows the member wearing an EK1, Panzerkampfabzeichen and Verwundetenabzeichen. On this photo is at the back written that he died on 23 november 1943.
The most interesting (and rare!) item of the group is a personal business card by Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. These card are very hard to find. even more interesting (and again: rare!) is that there is a personal written dedication on the back of the card, it reads:
Meine Herlichen Geburtstagwünsche!
Heil Hitler!
Ihr sehr Ergebener H. Himmler
2.II.1944
Where it gets even more interesting is when we look at the date of 2 February 1944: at this day Heinrich Himmler was in the Netherlands. On 1 february 1944 he had awarded the Germanische Leistungsrune award for the first time at the famous Avegoor meeting, and on 3 february 1944 he visited Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch in ‘s Hertgenbosch, also in the Netherlands. In between these visits he wrote this businesscard in the Netherlands!!! While the whole grouping comes from a german family and the SS member was a german, logic dictates he was probably with Himmler when Himmler visted the Netherlands in early february 1944. This might be a basis for more research.
As a whole this is an extremely rare SS / LSSAH grounping which is seldom offered on the market. It is also a chance to own a personal writen card by one of the most infamous historical key figures of the whole second World War. This is museummaterial that is rarely ever coming to the collectorsmarket.
