A 1935-1936 SA City of Neuss Mayor's Medal

Silvered copper, obverse illustrating a cross upon a circle, the cross bearing a downward-pointing SA dagger and fronted by the City of Neuss coat-of-arms, inscribed "OBERBÜRGERMEISTER" above and "STADT NEUSS" below, reverse illustrating a horse standing on its hind legs, with a swastika at the left and an SA insignia at the right, inscribed "WILHELM GELBERG" (The Mayor of Neuss) above and "SCHÜTZENKÖNIG 1935/36" below, 45.3 mm x 48 mm, lightly soiled original ribbon, very light contact, near extremely fine. Footnote: Wilhelm Eberhard Gelberg was born on December 7, 1894 in Foerde at Grevenbrück, the son of a master plumber. At the beginning of the First World War in 1914, he was a soldier and was later captured by British forces in 1917. After he was released from captivity in 1919, he became Sales Manager with the Luhnschen Soap Factory in Barmen and later with the Peter Cremer Soap and Glycerine Works in Dusseldorf. Gelberg joined the NSDAP in 1921, becoming leader of the Free Corps Wissmann in 1923 and remained so until 1924. From 1931 to 1933, he was leader of the Büdericher SA, then the Neuss SA in 1938 and held the position of Chief Constable of Krefeld-Uerdingen from 1933 to 1934. He assumed the position of Mayor of Neuss on April 1, 1934 and was to hold that office for four years, until March 31, 1938, also holding mayoralties during the latter part of this period in Wuppertal and Oberhausen. During the Second World War, Gelberg served as a Captain and Company Commander in the Army. During the campaign in the west, he died on June 5, 1940 while crossing the Oisekanal in France.