Germany. A Wartime Letter from Sudetengau Leader Henlein to Ferdinand Porsche

Measuring 210x296mm, extremely fine condition with minimal scuffing, folding creases, and two punched holes. The letter was sent on June 15, 1944 from Reichenberg (present-day Liberec, Czech Republic) by the Gau Leader and Reich Governor of the Sudetengau, Konrad Henlein. The recipient is engineer Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the Porsche car company. Henlein invites Porsche to a presentation in the Reichenberg National Education Institute. The topic is “From the Volkswagen to the Panzer”. Henlein signed the picture in black ink.

Footnote:Konrad Henlein was born on May 6, 1898 in Maffersdorf (present-day district of Liberec). In 1931 he became the head of a gymnastics movement which he politicised. The organisation became the “Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront” (Sudeten German Home Front) in 1933 and the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party) in 1935. Henlein was in close contact with the NSDAP and facilitated the Sudeten Crisis that led to Germany annexing the Sudetenland in 1938. He then became Gau Leader of the Sudetengau and a member of the SS. In 1943 he was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer. He committed suicide as a prisoner of US forces on May 10, 1945.