A telegram message of condolence from Heinrich Himmler to SS...

Hammer

£80

A telegram message of condolence from Heinrich Himmler to SS Brigadeführer Baron von Malsen-Ponickau dated 11.05.1935 together with a copy of the bereaved’s typewritten reply dated 21.05.1935 (2).

The telegram: Himmler offers his personal condolences to von Malsen on the unexpected death of his younger brother, Wolfgang, who had died at Munich two days before, and also the condolences of his officers and men, which he asks von Malsen to extend to his esteemed mother:

ZUM UNDERWARTETEN TODE IHRES HERRN BRUDERS DES VON MIR HOCHGESCHAETZTEN KAMERADEN UND SOLDATEN SPRECHE ICH INHEN MEIN HERZLICHES BEILEID AUS IHRER VERE HRTEN FRAU MUTTER BITTE ICH EBENFALLS MEIN TIEFGEFUEHLTES BEILEID ZU UEBERMITTELN.

The copy letter: sent from Stuttgart and addressed to the Reichsführer in Berlin; von Malsen thanks Himmler for his sympathetic words, which were of great comfort to him, his mother and siblings. He also expresses his appreciation of the wreath sent by SS Gruppenführer Schmausser and asks Himmler to convey his compliments to his wife, Margarete, and signs off 'Heil Hitler'.

Provenance: The vendor, a former field officer of the BAOR during the Cold War, was a personal friend of Dieter von Malsen, the second son of Brigadeführer Baron von Malsen-Ponickau. A regular guest at the von Malsens’ schloss in Bavaria, he was given the telegram and typed reply in 1978, and informed of the context in which they had been sent:

Dieter’s father was the first aristocrat to join the SS, and he did so because he regarded them as the only organisation capable of restoring law and order to Germany at the time. In 1937 he wrote to both Himmler and Hitler complaining about the treatment of the Jews in his area. He received no reply from either, but did receive notification that he was being taken off the Active List, but would remain a member of the SS, presumably for purposes of prestige. During the war he applied for active service, but this was refused until 1944, when he was recalled for service in a minor capacity.

Shortly after being taken prisoner by the Americans, a GI knocked his teeth out with the butt of his rifle. Whilst recovering on the ground, a woman dashed out of the crowd in protest and said that that Malsen had saved her life.