Germany, SS. An Anschluss Medal, with Award Document, to SS-Sturmbannführer Eberhard Freiherr von Künsberg

(Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938 mit Verleihungsurkunde). Constructed of silvered bronze, on loop for suspension from its period original ribbon, the obverse bearing two raised figures, one of which is clutching a flag and the other a length of broke chain, above a German national eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, the reverse bearing a central date of “13. MÄRZ 1938”, circumscribed by an inscription of “EIN VOLK, EIN REICH, EIN FÜHRER” (“ONE PEOPLE, ONE NATION, ONE LEADER”), unmarked, measuring 32.42 mm in diameter, accompanied by its original award document, constructed of off-white card stock with black ink, named to “SS-STURMBANNFÜHRER EBERHARD FREIHERRN VON KÜNSBERG”, issued in Berlin on 22 May 1939, certified by a facsimile signature of Otto Meissner, measuring 21 cm (w) x 30 cm (h), a complete set to a notable SS official in extremely fine condition.

Footnote: Eberhard Max Paul Freiherr von Künsberg was born on 2 September 1909 in Speyer. His parents were early supporters of the NSDAP, and registered him for service in its youth detachment (later to become the HJ) as early as 1921. He joined the NSDAP and SS in 1929, as member 132,008 and 1,552, respectively. After completing law school at the University of Munich, von Künsberg worked as a consultant in the foreign policy department of the NSDAP, and became involved in SS equestrian activities. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was involved in harvesting files from neutral and enemy diplomatic missions in Poland, and later fulfilled the same duties in Western Europe. His diplomatic missions later extended to collecting stolen works of art for shipment to Germany, as well as facilitating ethnographic studies in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, for eventual use in ethnic cleansing. Transferring to combat and anti-Partisan roles in the 1st Leibstandarte SS AH, and later the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer. It was during his time with the latter that von Künsberg disappeared during the Siege of Budapest in early-to-mid February 1945, although an unconfirmed sighting was reported in Pomerania in April. He was declared dead in absentia in 1949.