A Letter by SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann

Measuring 20.9 x 29.5 cm; Date of item: 1943; Better than extremely fine. A signed letter by SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962), Prague, Oct 21st 1943. It is an answer to a letter by “comrade Schlüter”, possibly referring to lieutenant general Robert Schlüter (1892–1980), at this point in history holding the rank of major general and serving a brief time in the Führerreserve (officer’s reserve), before being named Commander of the 260th Infantry Division about two weeks after this letter. Adolf Eichmann was one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. He was captured by Mossad, Israel’s secret service, in Argentina in 1960, tried as a war criminal, and hanged in 1962. Robert Schlüter fought in WWI and was promoted to senior lieutenant. In WWII he went through several commanding positions before being wounded in a partisan attack and losing an arm. In 1945 he was captured by the Russians and spent 10 years as a prisoner of war before being released. Eichmann states that Schlüter’s letter arrived two days earlier and he is making a point of sending an immediate response. He sympathizes with Schlüter, who apparently has had a long journey, which reminds Eichmann of his need to often drive to Berlin, Vienna, or Budapest. His wife, he says, gives him the strength and energy he needs for his demanding job. He asks if Schlüter was allowed to bring his wife to Paris yet. He reminds his comrade about the difficulties of these undertakings, as there are people that will take the slightest chance to point out wrong-doings in the line of work to put obstacles in someone’s way. He mentions the “Mil. Befehlsh. Frankreich” (German-occupied France’s military commander) and his entourage as an example of such actions. At the time France’s military commander was General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel (1886–1944), who participated in the July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler and, when the plot failed, was hanged for high treason. Eichmann goes on to talk about the economic situation in the Czech protectorate, which in his eyes is better than that of the “old Reich”. He can get things in Prague that have not been available in Berlin for years. He attributes this to the work of Senior Group Leader Reinhard Heydrich, even though he hasn’t been alive for over a year at this point. He laments his death, saying how even better the situation could have been if Heydrich was still in control. Heydrich had tasked Eichmann with managing the logistics of the mass deporting of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in Eastern Europe. Heydrich was one of the main architects of the Holocaust, chairing the 1942 Wannsee Conference about the so-called Final Solution to the Jewish Question. He is regarded by many historians as one of the most ruthless Nazi officers in history. Hitler himself called him “the man with the iron heart”. He was assassinated in Prague on May 27th, 1942, by a British-trained team of Czech and Slovak soldiers in Operation Anthropoid, sent by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Eichmann mentions a pamphlet he has added to the letter called “Judentum und sein pol. Einfluß”, Judaism and its political influence. He describes it as very evocative and asks Schlüter to pass it around. He looks forward to hearing Schlüter’s opinion on the matter. Considering this, he says, it is astonishing, since it’s already the 5th year of the war, that the enemy still hasn’t managed to drive them to their knees. This last part sounds like a remark on the strength of the German people to triumph against all odds, attributed of course to their proposed superiority.