Germany, Ordnungspolizei. A Medal Bar and Award Documents to Hauptwachtmeister Alfred Lorenz

(Polizei Ordensschnalle mit Verleihungsurkunde). A lot of awards and documents to Schutzpolizei (including Hilfspolizei) Hauptwachtmeister Alfred Lorenz, consisting of:

1. A medal bar featuring two decorations, with a War Merit Cross II Class, constructed of bronzed zink, on loop for suspension with its period original ribbon, consisting of a Maltese Cross with pebbled arms and crossed swords piercing the centrepiece, the obverse bearing a central wreathed mobile swastika, the reverse bearing a central wreathed date of “1939”, the suspension ring maker marked with Präsidialkanzlei code “7” for Paul Meybauer, Berlin, measuring 47.84 mm (w) x 49.51 mm (h), weighing 21.5 grams, demonstrating loss of bronze finish throughout, in very fine condition, and; a German Social Welfare Medal, constructed of silvered bronze, on loop for suspension with its period original ribbon, the obverse bearing a raised Geneva Cross overlaid by a German national eagle clutching a mobile swastika, the reverse bearing a raised inscription of “MEDAILLE FÜR DEUTSCHE VOLKSPFLEGE” (“MEDAL FOR CARE OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE”), unmarked, measuring 38.14 mm in diameter, weighing 25.5 grams, demonstrating minor loss of silver finish, in extremely fine condition; both suspended from a 70 mm-long zink bar with a horizontal pinback and green wool reverse liner, unmarked, demonstrating fading and soiling to the ribbons with some detachment of the reverse liner, in very fine condition.

2. An award document for the German Social Welfare Medal, constructed of off-white paper stock with ink, named to Alfred Lorenz as a Hauptwachtmeister der Schutzpolizei Berlin district, dated 1 April 1943, and certified by facsimile signatures of AH and Otto Meissner, measuring 21 cm (w) x 29.5 cm (h), perforated with two holes consistent with previous storage and demonstrating moderate creasing and material fatigue, in very fine condition.

3. An award document for the War Merit Cross II Cass with Swords, constructed of off-white paper stock with ink, named to Lorenz as a Hauptwachtmeister of 3. Kompanie, Hilfspolizei-Regiment 2, issued in Belgrade on 21 December 1943 and certified by the handwritten signature of SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant der Polizei August Edler von Meyszner, measuring 14.5 cm (w) x 21 cm (h), perforated with two holes consistent with previous storage and demonstrating minor creasing, in better than very fine condition.

Footnote: A veteran of the Italian Front of the First World War, August Edler von Meyszner served as a Gendarmerie Officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army before joining the Austrian branch of the NSDAP in 1925. He held administrative roles in Styria before being forcefully retired and subsequently imprisoned in 1933 and 1934, respectively, with the latter resulting in a three-month stint in Wöllersdorf concentration camp. He was rearrested in July of that year, but escaped and subsequently found refuge in Germany, where he joined the Allgemeine SS and came to the attention of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. After postings to Austria, Germany, and Norway, Meyszner was assigned to Belgrade, where he frequently clashed with other German authorities in occupied Yugoslavia and was noted for a visceral distrust and harted of Serbs. Von Meyszner oversaw the transport of forced labourers to the Reich, and was later responsible for the murder of thousands of Balkan Jews through the use of gas vans. His professional downfall came in April 1944, when von Meyszner complained about the lack of retaliatory attacks against locals by the occupation authorities. He was subsequently recalled to Berlin and tasked with establishing a Europe-wide Gendarmerie, with this plan failing to come to fruition following the Axis defeat. He was arrested by Allied authorities upon Germany’s surrender, and transferred to Yugoslavia for trial. Convicted of war crimes, von Meyszner was executed by hanging in Belgrade on 24 January 1947.