Original German WWII A4 Size Letterhead Paper from Der Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice piece of A4 Letterhead paper the office of Der Reichsführer-ᛋᛋ (Head of the SS), the infamous Heinrich Himmler. As head of the SS he was also directly responsible for numerous murders, massacres, and other crimes against humanity carried out by members of the SS.

The letterhead measures the standard 21 cm x 29.5 cm (8.25 in x 11.65 in), correct for A4 paper, the standard paper used for letters in Europe and much of the world. This looks to be a more “informal” style of letterhead, and does not have any address on the upper right hand side. Himmler was the head of the SS from 6 January 1929 to 29 April 1945, so it is very unlikely that this was from the office of one of his predecessors. His successor Karl Hanke only held the office for 9 days before the German surrender.

Condition is very good, showing the expected age toning for being almost 80 years of age. There are some small tears at the edges, as is expected, and it definitely should be handled with care.

A very interesting piece of German WWII memorabilia!

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the National Socialist Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in NSDAP Germany and a main architect of the war crimes.

As a member of a reserve battalion during World War I, Himmler did not see active service, and did not fight. He studied agriculture at university, and joined the National Socialist Party in 1923 and the SS in 1925. In 1929, he was appointed Reichsführer-SS by AH. Over the next 16 years, he developed the SS from a 290-man battalion into a million-strong paramilitary group, and set up and controlled the NSDAP camps. He was known for good organizational skills and for selecting highly competent subordinates, such as Reinhard Heydrich in 1931. From 1943 onwards, he was both Chief of German Police and Minister of the Interior, overseeing all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo (Secret State Police). He controlled the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS. Himmler held an interest in varieties of occultism and Völkisch topics, and he employed elements of these beliefs to develop the racial policy of NSDAPGermany and incorporated esoteric symbolism and rituals into the SS.

Himmler formed the Einsatzgruppen and built extermination camps. As overseer of the NSDAP genocidal programs, Himmler directed the killing of some six million Jews, between 200,000 and 500,000 Romanis, and other victims. The total number of civilians killed by the regime is estimated at 11 to 14 million people. Most of them were Polish and Soviet citizens.

Late in World War II, AH briefly appointed him a military commander and later Commander of the Replacement (Home) Army and General Plenipotentiary for the administration of the entire Third Reich (Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung). Specifically, he was given command of the Army Group Upper Rhine and the Army Group Vistula. After Himmler failed to achieve his assigned objectives, AH replaced him in these posts. Realising the war was lost, Himmler attempted to open peace talks with the western Allies without AH’s knowledge, shortly before the end of the war. Hearing of this, AH dismissed him from all his posts in April 1945 and ordered his arrest. Himmler attempted to go into hiding, but was detained and then arrested by British forces once his identity became known. While in British custody, he committed suicide on 23 May 1945.