Germany, SS. A Document Group to the SS Totenkopf & later the Prinz Eugen Division

From the estate of Heinz Glaubrecht, member of the SS Totenkopf (Death’s Head) Division and later the SS Mountain Troop Division “Prinz Eugen”. The grouping includes three documents:

1: Two betrothal announcement cards by Heinz Glaubrecht and his fiance Anneliese Tempel, 14.3 x 9.3 cm, Dec 24th, 1942. Glaubrecht is identified as an Unterscharführer in the Waffen-SS. Two cities are mentioned, Michelstadt (southern Hesse), Anneliese’s city, and Steinbach (Hesse, north of Michelstadt), Glaubrecht’s city. However, a note underneath says that he is “in the field” at the moment. The cards are identical, except on the back of one of them somebody has glued two different newspaper cutouts that carry the exact same text as the card.

2: A note addressing the men of the SS and their families by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, 14.8 x 20.9 cm, Dec 21st, 1941. Himmler sends a metaphorical yule candle and yule wishes. Yule is a festival of ancient Germanic origin celebrating the winter solstice. It was christianized and fused with Christmas, which is why in modern day Scandinavian countries yule is used synonymously with Christmas. The yule candle is a neopagan yule symbol. In Nazi Germany and especially the SS neopaganism and revival of ancient Germanic traditions was a part of the glorification of German history. Himmler recaps that 1941 was more demanding than the previous years of war. He says that 1942 will demand the same loyalty and bravery, and that it is the holy duty of the SS men in the field and their families at home to be worthy of the Reich and the Führer. The note was sent from the Führer headquarters and carries Himmler’s facsimile.

3: A certificate “in the name of the Führer and the Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht”, stating that SS-Unterscharführer Heinz Glaubrecht is awarded the Kriegsverdienstkreuz (War Merit Cross) 2nd Class with Swords, 14.8 x 21 cm. It is dated to the Führer headquarters on Jan 30th, 1943 and carries a facsimile of General Field Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the High Command of the Wehrmacht Wilhelm Keitel (1882–1946).

Footnote: Glaubrecht was born on Nov 29th, 1911 in Berlin. Not much is known about his life except a few stations in his career: In Jan of 1940 he served in the I/II. SS-Totenkopfstandarte. In Apr of 1940 he lived in the Stabsgebäude (staff building) of the SS-Totenkopf Unit in Breslau (modern day Poland). In June of 1941 he lived in a building of the 7th SS-Totenkopf-Standarte Brünn (Brno, modern day Czech Republic), Böhmen-Mähren (Bohemia and Moravia). In July of 1942 he served in an SS Reserve Battalion and was stationed in Breslau again. On Dec 24th, 1942 Glaubrecht and his girlfriend Anneliese Tempel were betrothed. At this point he held the rank of Unterscharführer. Glaubrecht was awarded the Kriegsverdienstkreuz (War Merit Cross) 2nd Class with Swords on Jan 30th, 1943. A month later his Feldpost (field mail) number was 47188, indicating that he was part of the SS-Gebirgsjäger-Ersatz-Bataillon (SS Mountain Troop Reserve Battalion) Prinz Eugen. On Oct 3rd, 1944 he was captured by British troops. At the time the Feldpost number of the commander of his unit was 48312, the number of the leader staff of the SS mountain troops. His rank still was that of an SS-Unterscharführer, his last unit was the SS infantry reserve battalion East in Breslau. In Aug of 1947 he was not home yet, and there was no record of his whereabouts.