Germany, Ss. A Hand-Signed New Years Card From Ss-Obergruppenführer Fritz Weitzel

(SS Neujahrsbotschaft mit Unterschrift). Constructed of cream-coloured card stock, the obverse bearing an SS insignia at the upper left corner, featuring a typewritten black ink inscription of “EIN FROHES JULFEST UND EIN GLÜCKLICHES, ERFOLGREICHES NEUES JAHR WÜNSCHT” (“A HAPPY YULE AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR”) in Fraktur script, closing with the handwritten signature of SS-Obergruppenführer Fritz Weitzel, measuring 168 mm (w) x 110 mm (h), in extremely fine condition.

Footnote: An early member of the NSDAP and SS, Fritz Weitzel was promoted to Leader of the SS in the Rhineland and Ruhr in 1930, before becoming Polizeipräsident in Düsseldorf in 1933 and Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer West in 1938. In 1939, he authored the book “Celebration of the SS Family”, which stipulated how holidays should be celebrated by members of the SS and their families, including information on the use of the Julleuchter. During the Second World War, he was appointed to a police leadership position in occupied Norway, but shortly thereafter killed in an aerial attack on Düsseldorf on 19 June 1940.