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An Original WW2 Battle of Britain and the Blitz Period British Police 'Messenger' Brodie Pattern Helmet

An Original WW2 Battle of Britain and the Blitz Period British Police 'Messenger' Brodie Pattern Helmet

Following the defeat of France, Britain and the empire was all that was left to fight Germany.

To successfully invade Britain, Germany needed to control the skies over the English channel.

This led to the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940, followed by the targeted bombing of towns and cities during the Blitz.
The Blitz
The Luftwaffe decided to change their tactics from the Battle of Britain period and started targeting civilian targets and key landmarks instead of the RAF airfields. This was known as the Blitz.

Major British towns and cities were targeted from September 1940 to May 1941. The aim was now to try and force the British to surrender, rather than attempt to destroy the RAF.
Incendiary devices were used to start fires and light up targets on the ground, before bomber planes tried to target populated areas.

The Blitz caused huge loss of life. 40,000 civilians were killed and 2 million houses were damaged or destroyed.

The British Police during WW2
Their usual tasks included keeping the peace, dealing with criminals and making sure that the traffic flowed freely in towns and cities.
The Police also had new wartime duties. They had to make sure people obeyed the wartime blackout rules, help the rescue services during and after bombing raids and search for soldiers who had deserted from the army.
Looting was a big problem. The number of bombed properties provided a big temptation to looters. Many were given fines or short prison sentences.

Black market: Many items were sold on the black market without a ration card. If caught selling on the black market then the punishment could be a fine and imprisonment.

Murder rates increased dramatically during the war. Air raids killed so many people, it was often impossible for the police to investigate all deaths and criminals took advantage of this. {Pretty much like it is today}. Murder, however, still carried the death penalty.

Juliet Gardiner, the social historian and author of Wartime: Britain 1939-1945, says that, while most people found looting despicable, examples differentiated between stealing someone's property and spotting a wireless or jewellery lying on the pavement after an air raid and reckoning that, if you didn't take it, someone else would. "Looting can be a rather elastic term," says Gardiner. "There are stories about rescue parties going to a pub and having to dig for bodies, which is a very grisly task; one of the leaders of such a rescue party found a bottle of brandy and passed it round his men to have a swig to stiffen their sinews and he was actually sentenced to six months in prison. It was mitigated on appeal, but it gives you an idea of what a broad spectrum the notion of looting could cover."

In the archives of the Imperial War Museum in London, there are detailed records of people's experiences during the blitz. The Rev John Markham, vicar of a church near the Elephant and Castle and a chief fire warden, was one who kept a detailed log. He described how one "volunteer" warden had offered to join the team. "I made a few discreet inquiries and found out that he was a burglar and that his van was full of tools," wrote Markham, "and that he'd made a point of driving all over the borough, particularly to business premises when they were hit, and diving straight into the ruins to find the safe. His only concern with us was that he wanted the cover of a warden's badge as an identity card." Markham's team would take bodies to the crypt of his church and have them guarded by a warden because otherwise people might steal their wallets or wedding rings.  read more

Code: 25576

175.00 GBP

What A Fantastic Gift For A Sherlock Holmes Devotee! First Editions In Book Form. A Beautiful and Rare Set Of The Original 8 Book Bindings, 'The Strand Magazine', That Famously Contains the First Bound Volumes of Sherlock Holmes Adventures

What A Fantastic Gift For A Sherlock Holmes Devotee! First Editions In Book Form. A Beautiful and Rare Set Of The Original 8 Book Bindings, 'The Strand Magazine', That Famously Contains the First Bound Volumes of Sherlock Holmes Adventures

The Strand Magazine July 1891 till Dec. 1893 bound in 8 Volumes } Vol. I to VIII}

First editions in bound book form . . the original stories were published as a monthly magazine in these Strand Magazines.

The first appearance of the 24 Sherlock Holmes adventures preceeding the first publishing of the books "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (according A10 and A14 Green/Gibson). Including many of the famous original illustrations of Sidney Paget which help form the popular image of Holmes. Also very interesting is the article in Vol. IV about the daily life of Dr. Doyle with photos of him, his wife and his home. Volume II (July - Dec. 1891) Adventure I. - A Scandal in Bohemia Adventure II. - The Red-Headed League Adventure III. - A Case of Idendity Adventure IV. - The Boscombe Valley Mystery Adventure V. - The Five Orange Pips Adventure VI. - The Man With The Twisted Lip Volume III (Jan.- June 1892) Adventure VII. - The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle Adventure VIII. - The Adventure Of The Speckled Band Adventure IX. - The Adventure Of The Engineer's Thumb Adventure X. - The Adventure Of The Noble Bachelor Adventure XI. - The Adventure Of The Beryl Coronet Adventure XII. - The Adventure Of The Copper Beeches Volume IV (July to Dec. 1892) Article 'A Day with Dr. Conan Doyle' with Photos of him, his wife, his house and his study Adventure XIII. - The Adventure Of Silver Blaze Volume V (Jan. to June 1893) Adventure XIV - The Adventure Of The Cardboard Box Adventure XV. - The Adventure Of The Yellow Face Adventure XVI. - The Adventure Of The Stockbroker'Clerk Adventure XVII. - The Adventure Of The "GLORIA SCOTT" Adventure XVIII. - The Adventure Of The Musgrave Ritual Adventure XIX. - The Adventure Of The Reigate Squire Volume VI (July to Dec. 1893) Adventure XX. - The Adventure Of The Crooked Man Adventure XXI. - The Adventure Of The Resident Patient Adventure XXII. - The Adventure Of The Greek Interpreter Adventure XXIII. - The Adventure Of The Naval Treaty Adventure XXIV. - The Adventure Of The Final Problem There are many other interesting factual articles in addition to fictional short stories and series of different authors in these books. One example: "Towards The North Pole" by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen.

Plus, Volume III contains the first publication of Rudyard Kipling's short story "The Lost Legion." Volume IV contains the first English translation of Jules Verne's short horror story "Frritt-Flacc" as "Dr. Trifulgas."

If one wanted experience and read of the Victorian way of life in England, this is by far the best way to uncover it. The Sherlock Holmes stories are just a fraction of what they contain. Hundreds of wonderful stories and details of exploration, by dozens of highly rated Victorian authors, thus, thousands of unrivalled hours of pleasure awaits the next owner/s of these incredible books.

Books are in very good condition. Some light wear The bindings are very nice and some areas of foxing on the paper. A very rare collectable set of the first appearance of these famous stories. Hard to find in this nice condition. All articles are richly illustrated.

"Outside of a dog, man's best friend is a book. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
— GROUCHO MARX  read more

Code: 25194

SOLD

Another Fabulous Christmas Gift Idea. A Superb Pair of Regency Silhouette Portraits of a Scottish Lady and Gentleman, Possibly by George Atkins

Another Fabulous Christmas Gift Idea. A Superb Pair of Regency Silhouette Portraits of a Scottish Lady and Gentleman, Possibly by George Atkins

Circa 1815 to 1830 British School. The gentleman is holding his fouling piece, and wearing a kilt. The lady is holding what appears to be her prayer book. Both silhouettes are hand cut black paper aplied to an off-white card backing, emphasized with gold shadow highlights. Original Regency rosewood frames. A silhouette is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouette is usually presented on a light background, usually white, or none at all. The more expensive versions could have a gold highlight such as these have. The silhouette differs from an outline, which depicts the edge of an object in a linear form, while a silhouette appears as a solid shape. Silhouette images may be created in any visual artistic media, but were first used to describe pieces of cut paper, which were then stuck to a backing in a contrasting colour, and often framed.

Cutting portraits, generally in profile, from black card became popular in the mid-18th century, though the term silhouette was seldom used until the early decades of the 19th century, and the tradition has continued under this name into the 21st century. They represented an effective alternative to the portrait miniature, and skilled specialist artists could cut a high-quality bust portrait, by far the most common style, in a matter of minutes, working purely by eye. Other artists, especially from about 1790, drew an outline on paper, then painted it in, which could be equally quick.

From its original graphic meaning, the term silhouette has been extended to describe the sight or representation of a person, object or scene that is backlit, and appears dark against a lighter background. Anything that appears this way, for example, a figure standing backlit in a doorway, may be described as "in silhouette". Because a silhouette emphasises the outline, the word has also been used in the fields of fashion and fitness to describe the shape of a person's body or the shape created by wearing clothing of a particular style or period. 10.5 x 12.5 inches framed. Picture in the gallery of a drawing a Silhouette by Johann Rudolph Schellenberg (1740?1806). Light staining to the gentlemans white backing paper.  read more

Code: 23078

595.00 GBP

What a Superb Antique Christmas Gift Idea. A Pair of Simply Delightful Original Victorian Royal Mail Coaching Prints in Fine Rosewood Veneer Frames

What a Superb Antique Christmas Gift Idea. A Pair of Simply Delightful Original Victorian Royal Mail Coaching Prints in Fine Rosewood Veneer Frames

With their original and super old retailer's labels of the most distinguished Arthur Ackerman Gallery of Fine Arts, 191 Regent St. London, W. A charming pair of original Victorian coloured prints in fine quality frames. 6.75 inches x 8.75 inches framed In the 18th century travel was hazardous to all. Highwaymen stalked the roads and those leading into London were said to be ‘infested’ with robbers. Romantic tales of masked, gallant gentleman were far from the truth: highwaymen were ruthless and deadly.
On 4 December 1775, a Norwich stagecoach was attacked by a gang of seven highwaymen. The guard shot three robbers before being killed and the coach robbed. Richard ‘Dick’ Turpin, a famous highwayman of the time, was known to torture his victims and would even kill one of his companions to aid his own escape.

‘… recommending the Guarding of all the Horse Mails, as a measure of national importance to which the Public in some degree conceived themselves entitled…’

Francis Freeling, Resident Surveyor, 14th March 1796
A plan was written to guard all horse mails, which included the arming of all guards. In doing so the Post Office would not only secure the vast property conveyed by horse, but also save the expenses incurred in prosecuting a robber. Furthermore, it would maintain regularity of service and eliminate what was seen as a disgrace to both the Office and to the nation.

Surveyors observed that the revenue lost to robbery was twice the sum it would cost to guard the mail: it was the obvious choice. In 1784, John Palmer introduced the first mail coach from Bristol to London. This faster and well-armed postal service proved to be a great deterrent to robbers, as they risked being shot or, if caught, tried and hanged. The first recorded robbery of a mail coach did not occur until 25 July 1786.

A letter to joint Postmaster Generals asking for the establishment of a regional mail coach was signed by over 100 people, whose businesses had been damaged due to the frequency of robberies. Mail coaches were a better way of securing the post’s safe passage, though there are a few recorded instances of attempted robberies even of them.

In January 1816, an Enniskillen coach was attacked and robbed by a gang of 14 men who had barricaded the road. The guards fired off all of their ammunition but the mail bags and weapons were all stolen. the Mail Guard was issued with a a pair of flintlock pistols  read more

Code: 16969

375.00 GBP

A Very Good WW2 1942 German Infantry Fur Backed Tornistor Back-Pack

A Very Good WW2 1942 German Infantry Fur Backed Tornistor Back-Pack

In very good condition overall, maker stamped and dated 1942 by Lunschloss. This cowhide-covered rucksack was known as the Tornister 34 (developed in 1934) and was later fitted with new style straps in 1939. As the war progressed the design was simplified for economical and practical reasons so the cowhide cover was eliminated making these packs especially scarce on today's collector market.

The M39 has one vertical loop with quick release sewn at the bottom of the front flap for retaining the A-frame and comes with or without carrying straps. Troops that were isssued infantry Y-straps received the version without carrying straps (replaced by two hooks), while troops with no Y-straps received the version with carrying straps.
All of them were produced with a fur front flap (and some without fur) and it was called "Affe" in the German Army  read more

Code: 22105

295.00 GBP

A Fine Edo Period 17th Cent. Samurai Armour Gosuko, Dangae dou Part Suit of Armour. Shown With A Kabuto For Display Only, {Kabuto Now Sold}

A Fine Edo Period 17th Cent. Samurai Armour Gosuko, Dangae dou Part Suit of Armour. Shown With A Kabuto For Display Only, {Kabuto Now Sold}

17th century body armour {kabuto helmet sold seperately} comprising full a cuirass {do}, of front and back plates, constructed of iron plates over lacquered and fully laced, and linked with chain mail.
Dangae dou (dō) meaning "step-changing" is a Japanese (samurai) chest armor that is a combination of two or more other styles. The main part of the dou (dō) may be an okegawa dou (dō), but the bottom two lames are laced (kebiki or sugake) instead of riveted or vice versa, or an armour is laced in sugake but the tateage and bottom lames are in kebiki.

Plus, steel chain mail and armour plate arm defences, inner lined with blue green material. The kabuto we show in photos 4 and 5, would compliment it beautifully, and for sale separately {code number 24030}.

During the Heian period (794-1185), the Japanese cuirass evolved into the more familiar style of armour worn by the samurai known as the dou or do. Japanese armour makers started to use leather (nerigawa) and lacquer was used to weather proof the armor parts. By the end of the Heian period the Japanese cuirass had arrived at the shape recognized as being distinctly samurai. Leather and or iron scales were used to construct samurai armours, with leather and eventually silk lace used to connect the individual scales (kozane) which these cuirasses were now being made from.

In the 16th century Japan began trading with Europe during what would become known as the Nanban trade. Samurai acquired European armour including the cuirass and comb morion which they modified and combined with domestic armour as it provided better protection from the newly introduced matchlock muskets known as Tanegashima. The introduction of the tanegashima by the Portuguese in 1543 changed the nature of warfare in Japan causing the Japanese armour makers to change the design of their armours from the centuries-old lamellar armours to plate armour constructed from iron and steel plates which was called tosei gusoku (new armours). Bullet resistant armours were developed called tameshi gusoku or (bullet tested) allowing samurai to continue wearing their armour despite the use of firearms. Please note the helmet is not with the armour. The silk lacing on the breast and back plate is 400 years old and very frayed throughout.

In Japan the term samurai evolved over several centuries

In Japanese, they are usually referred to as bushi (武士,) or buke (武家). According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning 'to wait upon', 'accompany persons' in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean 'those who serve in close attendance to the nobility', the Japanese term saburai being the nominal form of the verb." According to Wilson, an early reference to the word samurai appears in the Kokin Wakashū (905–914), the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the 10th century.

Originally, the word samurai referred to anyone who served the emperor, the imperial family, or the imperial court nobility, even in a non-military capacity.It was not until the 17th century that the term gradually became a title for military servants of warrior families, so that, according to Michael Wert, "a warrior of elite stature in pre-seventeenth-century Japan would have been insulted to be called a 'samurai'".

In modern usage, bushi is often used as a synonym for samurai  read more

Code: 20178

2850.00 GBP

A Very Good Victorian 19th Century Royal Artillery Officer's Pouch

A Very Good Victorian 19th Century Royal Artillery Officer's Pouch

Patent leather with gilt badge of an artillery cannon. A cross belt is two connected straps worn across the body to distribute the weight of loads, carried at the hip, across the shoulders and trunk. It is similar to two shoulder belts joined with a single buckle at the center of the chest. The cross belt was predominantly used from the 1700s (American Revolutionary War) to the 1840s they were not part of a soldier's equipment in the American Civil War and Anglo-Zulu War/First Boer War.

For most line infantry, skirmishers, light infantry, grenadiers and guard regiments during much of Europe's Age of Gunpowder, either a cross belt or two shoulder belts were worn.citation needed One configuration for the belts would be the cartridge box on the right hip and sword scabbard on the left. Such equipment would be attached to the belt at its lowest point, where it rests on the hip. Officers almost never carried muskets or rifles, so they typically wore only one shoulder belt, such as for the pistol cartridge box or for a sabre scabbard. As officers were often aristocratic and used many independent symbols for their family, rank, and command, their uniforms and gear organisation could be highly variable.

For British infantry, the cross belt had a metal belt plate with the regiment of the soldier inscribed on it  read more

Code: 22427

245.00 GBP

Very Rare Circa 1700’s Japanese Nagasaki Emigre Sword Maker. A ‘Sawasa’ Naval Hanger A Japanese Hangar in The European Style, For a Senior Officer of the Dutch East India Company ( the VOC). A VOC Naval Captain of A So Called ‘Black Ship’

Very Rare Circa 1700’s Japanese Nagasaki Emigre Sword Maker. A ‘Sawasa’ Naval Hanger A Japanese Hangar in The European Style, For a Senior Officer of the Dutch East India Company ( the VOC). A VOC Naval Captain of A So Called ‘Black Ship’

Made by Japanese emigre samurai sword koshirae makers and artisans, after 1639, by exiled Japanese sword fitting craftsmen working in Batavia, for a VOA Naval Admiral or Captain, likely a permitted trading black ship voyaging to the trading post at the Nagasaki island Dejima.

The Black Ships (in Japanese: 黒船, romanized: kurofune, Edo period term) were the names given to Portuguese and Dutch merchant ships,

In 1543, Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa to Nagasaki. The large carracks engaged in this trade had the hull painted black with pitch, and the term came to represent all Western vessels. In 1639, after suppressing a rebellion blamed on the influence of Christian thought, the ruling Tokugawa shogunate retreated into an isolationist policy, the Sakoku. During this "locked state", contact with Japan by Westerners was restricted to Dutch traders on Dejima island at Nagasaki.

European hanger swords were the weapon of choice for senior maritime officers employed by the Dutch East India Company VOC , in fact by all senior naval officers at the time, including notorious pirates such as Edward Teach, aka ‘Blackbeard’. The hilt and fittings of this sword were probably added to the European blade by Japanese émigrés in the Dutch colony of Batavia (Jakarta).

They were made using the sawasa technique of gilded copper alloy with black shakudo detailing. Japanese samegawa grip {giant rayskin}, with a vertical panel, engraved with an exotic bird in front of two Indonesian mosque temple domes.
The level of workmanship suggests that the sword belonged to a high-ranking company official.
A fine and jolly rare Japanese export Sawasa hunting hanger. It features a straight blade with a double-edged tip and wide fuller, flanked by a narrow groove near the spine. In the base of the fuller on either side are a running stag and a boar, both prized hunting animals, and French motto of honour.
Sometimes referred to as 'Tonkinese chiseled work', these 18th century export wares became highly sought after, such as this 18th century Sawasa sword

The desiring incorporates a single shell-guard, chased and gilded in high relief against a blackened fish-roe shakudo ground, chisseled with reclining Eros with his bow and quiver. the hilt quilon block is chisseled on one sade by a collared hunting hound and tiger to the other side. The knuckle bow is chisseled with the figure of a turbanned Jakartan figure. the pommel is chisseled with a stag, and the quillon end is a stag hoof, and a covering in panels of Japanese samegawa {giant rayskin}. Overall the hilt is decorated with a combination of artistic styles of the Dutch East Indies, and Europe, made by Japanese emigre artistry with japanese samegawa binding, finished in a mixture of shakudo and gilt.
This sword is a beauty in a superb state of preservation.
Sawasa is the Japanese name given to objects made by Asian artisans, adopting European models combined with Japanese and Chinese materials and decorative motifs. This decoration consists of refined gilt relief and engraving on a lustrous lacquered surface. Sawasa wares are the result of cultural interaction between Asia and Europe. As a consequence of global trade in the 17th century, mutual interest arose in the peculiarities of each other’s culture. The Dutch and other Europeans brought rare objects back from their travels which whetted the appetite for exotic rarities. The earliest Sawasa objects are sword and hanger hilts and tobacco boxes ordered in Japan from Batavia, now Jakarta. Sawasa demonstrates not only the intercontinental commercial connections created by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) but also mutual cultural influences between Europe and Asia.

The decoration of the fittings are of the Japanese export style, in the European manner, but with fine and typical Japanese influences for a black ship naval captain of the VOC, in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth centuries, a style of metalwork known as sawasa that was produced for the Dutch East India Company in and around Nagasaki. Following Japan’s closed country (sakoku) edicts, from around 1639, exiled Japanese sword fitting craftsmen began working in Batavia, where the market for sawasa was a profitable one. The idea of sawasa was that objects made from a copper alloy were given gilt relief decoration with black lacquered highlights to achieve the appearance of shakudō. The extensive metalwork here resembles shakudō, but is likely to be sawasa with highlights in gold. The ground is covered with fine punch marks in a pattern resembling fish roe (nanako), although the punch marks are not completely uniform. The wooden hilt is covered on each side with panels of brass alloy, over Japanese samegawa giant ray skin and once overlaid with gold leaf;
Blade is engraved, on both sides, Ne me Tirez pas sans Raisons.. Ne me Remette point sans Honneur
Do not shoot me without reason do not hand me over without honour.

The hilt and blade is exceptionally sound and great condition, but with all the due appropriate age and surface wear from the past three hundred years

Picture in the gallery, a Japanese woodblock print, of a 17th century Dutch East India Co. vessel trading in Japan, a so-called Black Ship.

Another example of a Sawasa sword sold last May 24 for £14,080. It was a small sword, with an engraved blade. the engraving on that sword looks incredibly like it was created by the same hand as ours. Although the gilt on that small sword was mostly near perfect, where ours is not perfect.

For reference;

Sawasa – Japanese Export Art in Black and Gold 1650-1800 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us.

See Bas Kist et al, Sawasa Japanese export art in black and gold 1650-1800, exhibition catalogue, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 28 November 1998 - 28 February 1999, pp. 53-54, A.13.1 - A.14.1 (illustrated)

For a related example formerly in the collection of the late A.R. Dufty F.S.A., past Master of the Armouries, H.M. Tower of London, see Christie's South Kensington, Antique Arms and Armour, 15 July 1998, lot 28  read more

Code: 25524

2450.00 GBP

A German 'Wedding Gift' Presentation Grade Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Published in 1939.  Presentation & Personally Signed by Dr. Wiard Bronleewe Burgomeister & SA District Leader of Peine

A German 'Wedding Gift' Presentation Grade Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Published in 1939. Presentation & Personally Signed by Dr. Wiard Bronleewe Burgomeister & SA District Leader of Peine

Presented for the wedding of Kurt Wachholz to Margarete gebr. Vogt after some research apparently Kurt Wachholz was a German SS-Hauptscharführer who died by execution after capture in around 1969 in East Germany

Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf Wedding Edition, being an excellent condition example with cream hardboard covers having gilt tooled town emblem and the spine being blue leather covered with gilt tooled details. Inside page with printed page and inked details from the local official and dated 14th 1939, just six weeks after the start of WW2. Published by the official publisher of the NSDAP. The book also bears a facsimile signature of Adolf Hitler beneath his photograph, on the inside frontispiece, and the signed presentation certificate to the marrying couple from the Burgomeister. Originally when SS men were married the book may have been contained in a carved wooden SS box, some surviving boxes do exist but their definitive connection to the Wedding presentation Mein Kampf is unrecorded.

Leather bound with cream covers. Given just six weeks after the beginning of WW2 by the Burgermiester Dr. Wiard Bronleewe of Peine. Bearing the state crest of arms of Piene on the front cover. Condition very good to excellent. Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") is an autobiographical manifesto by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. The book was edited by the former Hieronymite friar Bernhard Stempfle, who was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives.

Hitler began dictating the book to his deputy Rudolf Hess while imprisoned for what he considered to be "political crimes" following his failed Putsch in Munich in November 1923. Although Hitler received many visitors initially, he soon devoted himself entirely to the book. As he continued, Hitler realized that it would have to be a two-volume work, with the first volume scheduled for release in early 1925. The governor of Landsberg noted at the time that "he Hitler hopes the book will run into many editions, thus enabling him to fulfill his financial obligations and to defray the expenses incurred at the time of his trial."

The lawyer Dr. Wiard Bronleewe joined the NSDAP in 1933 at the age of 36. Four years later he was appointed First Deputy Mayor of the city of Peine. After Mayor Erich Krüger was killed in an accident on a trip to the battlefields of the First World War, he took over his office. In addition, he was a member of the NSDAP district leadership in Peine as district office manager for local politics.

In his dual role as mayor, who was able to make all important decisions independently according to the "Führer principle", and member of the NSDAP district leadership, he was responsible for implementing the increasingly radical National Socialist policy during the war years. He played a particularly important role in the persecution of the Jewish community. In 1941 he planned to "level the Jewish cemetery and make it available to the public". His knowledge of the finality of the deportation of the Jewish population is shown by the fact that in early 1942 he coordinated the process of "distributing Jewish housing".

His behavior at the end of the war is controversial, when negotiations with the Americans succeeded in surrendering Peine without a fight and thus saving it from a feared bombing. Some reports describe him as a rather passive participant who had to be pressured to surrender the city, while others see him as the driving force of events, a view that he himself promoted.

Deposed by the Allies in 1945, he became active again in political parties and various associations in 1947, including the German Party. Bronleewe was a member of the Peine City Council again in 1952; after lengthy disputes, including legal ones, over his NSDAP past, he was able to become a city councillor and thus deputy city director in 1954. As a department head, he headed the legal department and social affairs. In 1957, he was promoted to senior city councillor. He retired in 1962 and lived in Peine until his death in 1976. Bronleewe's rapid rise to prominence in Peine politics and administration after 1945 is exemplary of the rapid integration of former NSDAP members, even when they had held leading positions of responsibility.

Photo in the gallery of Mayor Dr. Wiard Bronleewe giving a speech in front of the Peine town hall, 1940. in his full SA political leader uniform.

Another photo in the gallery of Kurt Wachholz in the uniform of SS-Hauptscharführer.

We also have another 'Mein Kampf', a regular English Edition, 'My Struggle' published by Hurst and Bracket Ltd. London, in 1938/9. Please enquire for details  read more

Code: 25521

SOLD