Description
This is a very interesting little grouping of items regarding wellknown Third Reich keyfigure Arthur Seyss Inquart.
There are three items and these are:
1 A Photo-Hoffmann postcard, showing Seyss-Inquart in SS uniform and SS-Gruppenführer collartabs. The postcard is from his dutch period as Reichskommissar der Niederlande. Note how his name is spelled “Seisz-Inquart“!
2 A bussiness card of Seyss-Inquart, stating his rank was that of “Dr.” [Dokter in German], and held the SS rank of a “SS-Obergruppenführer” and M.d.R. -> M.d.R. = Mitglied des Reichstages [Member of the Reichstag]. It also shows the title of “Reichsminister“. Seyss-Inquart held this position in the period 15 March 1938 till 20 April 1939, wich makes it easy to determine from which period this business card is. We can even pinpoint this more exact as research shows that Seyss-Inquart became SS-Obergruppenführer on 16 March 1939. Only in the period of 16 March 1939 and 20 Arpil 1939 this businesscard was thus in use, which is quite a small timeframe and explaisn why this card is so very rare and very seldom encountred.
3 A business card of Arthur Seyss-Inquarts wife Gertrud Seyss-Inquart [born Gertrud Maschka] who he had met in 1911 and married in december 1916 and had three children with.
As a small collection of items these are three very rare pieces. The business card was only for a very short period in use. I’ve never before seen a business card of his wife Gertrud and the postcar which shows his dutch Reichslommissar rank is also very uncommon.
—-
All three these items originate from one of the oldest dutch collections of a first generation collector. According to oral history these three items came from a former high ranking NSB member who at some point met Seyss-Inqaurt and brought these three items together. They have besides residing in this collection for over half a century never been on the collectorsmarket before and can easily be called very rare! Im not ware of any other Seyss-Inqaurt business cards, and definately no of his wife.
More background information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Seyss-Inquart
