Beschreibung:

[Autographs & Manuscripts] [WWII] [Nuremberg Trials] Collection of Signatures from the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials Collection of 18 signatures of Nuremberg defendants collected by a guard at the infamous War Crimes trials. The guard, John J. Pankosky, was a member of the U.S. Army's 26th Infantry Regiment who served as guards during the trials. Pankosky somewhat ingeniously used a tourist guide of the city, Nurnberg, by Charles W. Alexander, 1946, to collect, presumably surreptitiously, signatures of 18 of the defendants, found randomly throughout its pages. Quarter leather over illustrated paper-covered boards. Text block has come free of its case but is intact and whole. Also included in this lot is Pankosky's Service Identification card as well as his International Military Tribunal ID. Signatures include: 1. Karl Donitz (1891-1980), naval admiral who succeeded Hitler as President of Germany for a short time, was only sentenced to ten years. 2. Hans Frank (1900-1946), Hitler's personal lawyer and Governor-General in occupied Poland. Orchestrated movement of Jews into ghettos and helped set up concentration camps. 3. Wilhelm Frick (1877-1946), Reich Minister of the Interior, 1933-1943, and last governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. As Minister of the Interior, worked to take power from state governments and centralize it, shaped the Nazi party's racial politics-including forced sterilization and euthanasia-and worked on rearming Germany. 4. Walther Funk (1890-1960), Reich Minister for Economic Affairs, 1938-1945, and a State Secretary of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Also helped to seize Jewish property. 5. Hermann Goring (1893-1946), Hitler's second-in-command. 6. Alfred Jodl (1890-1946), Chief of Operations Staff of Armed Forces High Command. Was a signatory of the Commando Order, which stated that Allied soldiers-uniformed or not-would be killed upon capture. After Hitler's suicide, he was given the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and he signed the instruments of unconditional surrender as a proxy for Donitz. 7. Ernst Kaltenbrunner (1903-1946), general in the SS and the highest SS official at Nuremberg. Was the leader of the Austrian SS and helped to open the first Austrian concentration camp. He also led the RSHA, an intelligence agency under Heinrich Himmler. With other leaders, he conceived the plan to gas Jews, as well as a plan to castrate homosexuals. 8. Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946), Chief of the Armed Forces High Command and Hitler's military yes-man. For arranging the armistice with France he was awarded the Knight's Cross although he opposed the invasion in the first place. Also supported Donitz and signed the unconditional surrender at the second ceremony in Berlin that Stalin demanded. 9. Konstantin von Neurath (1873-1956), Foreign Minister of Germany, 1932-1938, helped undermine the Treaty of Versailles, and was Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia where he censored the press and curbed protests. Ultimately he was thought too lenient, and his powers were limited in 1941. 10. Franz von Papen (1879-1969), Chancellor of Germany in 1932, Vice-Chancellor, 1933-1934. While Chancellor, attempted unsuccessfully to become dictator then helped bring Hitler to power by pressuring Paul von Hindenburg. While Vice-Chancellor, was sidelined and attempted to form a German Catholic party, later tried to bring Hindenburg back. He angered Hitler and resigned after giving a speech urging the Nazi party to regulate itself. 11. Erich Raeder (1876-1960), naval Grand Admiral. After resigning in 1943, was replaced by Donitz. He felt the German navy unprepared for war, and while an invasion of Norway was disastrous, he was victorious in France and in some commerce raids. Encouraged the invasion of the United States following Pearl Harbor, but resigned after the Battle of the Barents Sea, which Hitler learned about from foreign papers. 12. Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893-1946), Foreign Minister of G