Germany, Ss. A Lot Of Ss Photographs And Miscellaneous Postcards, C. 1940

Five SS Photographs: the first is a group of people, two women at the left, in the centre is a man in an SS uniform, decorated on the left breast, three women and a man stand at the right side, the reverse is stamped “Aufn. SS-Bildber. Sepp Fritz”; the second photograph is a girl with braided hair kneeling down in a garden, the reverse is stamped “SS Bildbe S. FRITZ”, the third is a studio portrait of a girl with braided hair in a BDM uniform, the reverse is stamped “SS Bildber S. FRITZ”, the fourth is a photograph of three men in SS uniforms with a woman, a dog is at the bottom left corner and a horse with a saddle is at the right, the reverse is stamped “SS Bildber S. FRITZ”, the fifth photograph is of three women in a parlour with two children playing in the foreground, the reverse is stamped “Aufn. SS Bildber Sepp Fritz”, all measuring 236 mm (w) x 177 mm (h), extremely fine. 

Three postcards: one of an infant on a couch, the reverse is unmarked, measuring 84 mm (w) x 135 mm (h); the second is a studio portrait of a woman, the reverse is written on in blue ink and dated May 1944, measuring 90 mm (w) x 140 mm (h); the third is a photograph of children sitting on a salt mine cart in Wolf-Dietrich-Berghaus in Hallein, Austria with a sign bearing the date “15 June 1954”, measuring 91 mm (w) x 140 mm (h), all very fine. 

Footnote:

Arthur Seyß-Inquart was born on July 22, 1892 in the village of Stannern (present-day Stonařov, southern Czech Republic) near the town of Iglau (Jihlava). This was a German speaking community within a Czech dominated area in Moravia, at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The family moved to Vienna in 1907.

Seyß-Inquart began to study law at the university of Vienna, and earned his degree during the First War in 1917 while recovering from being wounded. As a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army he saw action in Russia, Romania, and Italy. He received several bravery decorations and at the end of the war held the rank of Oberleutnant (first lieutenant). 

After the war, Seyß-Inquart developed close ties with several right wing and fascist organisations, among them the Vaterländische Front (Fatherland Front). He became a successful lawyer and had his own practice since 1921. In 1933, Seyß-Inquart went into Austrian politics and joined the cabinet of chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß.

Through growing influence and support by non other than A.H. himself, Seyß-Inquart eventually became Austrian Minister of the Interior in February of 1938. With the looming annexation of Austria by Germany in March of the same year, Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg stepped down. Seyß-Inquart was chosen as his successor due to immense pressure applied on the Austrian government by the NSDAP. 

He served in this position for less than two days, until the Anschluss was completed. Seyß-Inquart signed the documents that legalised the annexation of Austria by Germany. After his office had ceased to exist, he was named Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of the Ostmark, the newly created province that Austria had become as part of Greater Germany. 

Being a fanatical anti-Semite, Seyß-Inquart almost immediately ordered the confiscation of Jewish property and had the Austrian Jews sent to concentration camps. He received the honorary SS rank of Gruppenführer in May of 1939, and would go on to become an SS-Obergruppenführer in 1941.

After the attack on Poland at the beginning of the Second War, Seyß-Inquart was named deputy to Hans Frank, the General Governor of occupied Poland. He supported Frank in the deportation of Polish Jews. Seyß-Inquart was also aware of the systematic murder of Polish intellectuals by the German secret service “Abwehr”.

In May of 1940, A.H. named Seyß-Inquart Reich Commissioner of the Netherlands. His policies concerning the Dutch Jews were no different than his policies had been concerning the Jews in Austria and Poland, in that they were ousted from governmental, and leading press and industry positions, their property seized, before being sent to concentration camps. Of the 140,000 Jews that were registered in the Netherlands in 1941, only 30,000 survived the war.

During his reign of terror, Seyß-Inquart also authorized the execution of at least 800 people, ranging from political prisoners to resistance fighters. At the end of the war, he was arrested by Allied forces and became one of the 24 defendants during the Nuremberg trials against the major war criminals. Seyß-Inquart was found guilty in three out of four charges and executed by hanging on October 16, 1946.