Germany, Third Reich. The Award Documents, Correspondence, and Photographs of Generalarzt Dr. Lothar Kreuz

(Sanitätsoffizier Verleihungsurkunden, Papiere, und Bilder). An extensive estate of award documents, correspondence, and photographs from the estate of noted orthopedic surgeon, medical officer, and final Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität rector Generalarzt Dr. Lothar Kreuz, a recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords. The collection consists of:


1. A selection of eight award documents, including a rare citation for the Knight’s Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords, named to Kreuz as a Generalarzt, issued at Führer Headquarters on 13 August 1944, certified by a facsimile signature of AH and an embossed national eagle insignia, measuring 210 mm (w) x 296 mm (h), accompanied by a telegraph notice that Kreuz has been awarded the distinction and that backdated paperwork will be submitted following certification by the Führer, dated 7 February 1945, measuring 210 mm (w) x 150 mm (h), in near extremely fine condition, supplemented by an Ehrentafel dated 18 OCtober 1944, headlined by the announcement of Kreuz’s award, fully complete with all pages, measuring 210 mm (w) x 296 mm (h), with minor material fatigue evident, in near extremely fine condition; one for a War Merit Cross I Class with Swords, named to Kreuz as an Oberstabsarzt, issued at Army Headquarters on 20 April 1942, featuring the handwritten signature of General Wilhelm Keitel, measuring 145 mm (w) x 210 mm (h), in extremely fine condition; one for a War Merit Cross II Class with Swords, named to Kreuz as a Stabsarzt, issued on 1 September 1941, featuring the handwritten signature of an unidentified Major, measuring 148 mm (w) x 206 mm (h), in near extremely fine condition; one for an Order of the Star of Romania, Grand Officer’s Cross, named to Kreuz in his capacity as university rector, issued in Berlin on 18 December 1942, certified by a facsimile signature of AH and an embossed German national eagle, along with a handwritten signature of Otto Meissner, measuring 210 mm (w) x 296 mm (h), measuring 210 mm (w) x 296 mm (h), in extremely fine condition; one for a Civil Service 25-Year Faithful Service Cross, named to Kreuz as a resident of Berlin-Dahlem, dated 26 October, featuring a facsimile signature of Otto Meissner, measuring 210 mm (w) x 296 mm (h), in extremely fine condition; one for an Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918, named to Kreuz as a resident of Berlin-Dahlem, dated 23 December 1935 and featuring the handwritten signature of a Polizeipräsident, measuring 211 mm (w) x 146 mm (h), in extremely fine condition; one for a Lippe War Merit Cross, named to Kreuz as an Oberarzt of Reserves of Feld-Lazarett 54, issued at Detmold on 26 August 1918, measuring 270 mm (w) x 200 mm (h), in extremely fine condition; one for a Hamburg Hanseatic Cross, named to Kreuz as an Oberarzt, dated 17 June 1918, measuring 210 mm (w) x 330 mm (h), with folding creases throughout, in very fine condition.


2. Kreuz’s Imperial Soldbuch issued for First World War Service, constructed of a blue card stock binding with 20 paginated interior pages stitched with supplemental pages for the addition of further handwritten inscriptions, issued on 1 January 1915 and with information indicating that Kreuz served with an array of units during the conflict, including Minenwerfer-Kompanie 88, Reserve-Infanterie Regiment 23, and other units of Infanterie-Division 88, primarily as a staffer of field hospitals, measuring 90 mm (w) x 140 mm (h), with material fatigue consistent with age and wartime use evident, in near extremely fine condition.


3. A large collection of correspondence to Kreuz, including telegraph notices of awards bestowed, rule and provision documents for those awards, travel passes, personal letters, personnel files, and calling cards, in overall extremely fine condition.


4. A fascinating and largely razor-sharp collection of 14 private photographs from the interwar and Second World War period, featuring several studio portraits of Kreuz in both a Heer Officer’s uniform as well as a white doctor’s coat, notably supplemented by images of Kreuz performing or leading surgeries and autopsies during the interwar and wartime period, the latter featuring professionally-enlarged depictions of surgeries being performed, in overall extremely fine condition.


Footnote: Lothar Kreuz was born on 9 September 1888 in Berlin. He studied at both Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität and the Friedrichs-Universität Halle before entering military service as a newly-qualified doctor on 2 August 1914, on the eve of the First World War. He served as a physician with various reserve units before joining the staff of the famous Charité Hospital in Berlin, qualifying as a specialist in orthopedics, later becoming a professor. He joined both the NSDAP and the SS in 1933, and was a notable purge in the 30 June 1934 purge of the Sturmabteilung (SA) leadership as part of the Knight of the Long Knives. He later worked in various professorships and researched anatomical disorders, before re-entering military services as a specialist in limb injuries and prosthetics during the Second World War. He received a number of decorations for his services, most notably the Knight’s Cross of the War Merit Cross, and was a later advisor to infamous SS physician and war criminal Karl Brandt. Kreuz was arrested by US occupation authorities and held in detention from June 1945 until 1947. He was later declared fuller exonerated by an Allied tribunal in 1948. The same year, he resumed his career as an orthopedic surgeon and worked as a physician and supervisor of the orthopedic department at the University of Tübingen in Stuttgart. He retired in 1964 and died on 24 January 1969 in the same city.