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Reichsminister Dr.-Ing. E.H.W. Ohnesorge is not a household name, even among some advanced Third Reich collectors. However, Wilhelm Ohnesorge (8 June 1872 – 1 February 1962) was one of Chancellor Adolf Hitler's German Cabinet members and Reichsminister of Post and Communications (Reichsverkehrs- und Reichspostminister). He was Nazi Party member number 42, founded the first NSDAP branch outside Bavaria (in Dortmund), and was a very close friend of Adolf Hitler and recipient of the Gold Nazi Party badge. He was also friends with Hitler's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann with whom Ohnesorge worked to establish the system by which Hitler was paid a royalty for each time his likeness was used on a German postage stamp.

According to the book "Inside the Third Reich" by Albert Speer, Ohnesorge, who had studied Physics in Kiel and Berlin, was also involved in top secret research and development of a German atomic bomb. Famous German researcher, applied physicist and inventor Manfred von Ardenne wrote in his memoirs that he did secret high-frequency radio research ordered by Reichsminister Ohnesorge and the Reichspostministerium.

This was done at the Forschungsanstalt der Deutschen Reichspost, a special secret research facility called the Hakeburg south-west of Berlin, set-up by Ohnesorge and funded by the Reichspostministerium.

Using the work of some of Ohnesorge's many research engineers, English telephone traffic was descrambled early in 1942. This matter was brought to the attention of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler at the time and discussed in a letter Ohnesorge sent him on 6 June 1944 (we show it below for reference). New wiretapping and deciphering techniques developed by Ohnesorge's engineers made it possible to listen in on scrambled transatlantic telephone traffic between the USA and England by the summer of 1943. Ohnesorge's organization was similar in many respects of what the American NSA has been to the American government in recent years - very secretive.

Other very technical and top secret scientific research was used for military communications and navigation, which greatly benefitted the Wehrmacht during the war. In February 1943 plans for a Communications Regiment, Nachrichtenregiment Ohnesorge were begun.

Offered on this USMBOOKS web page are a lot of two condolence letters sent to Käthe Dick on Helmholtzstrasse 53 in Berlin regarding the death of her nephew Postinspektor Heinz Bergmann.

The first letter we show above is on the embossed letterhead of Reichspostminister Dr. Wilhelm Ohnesorge showing his official address on Leipzigerstrasse 15 in Berlin, just down the street from Adolf Hitler's Reichschancellery and Hermann Göring's Air Ministry.

Ohnesorge writes that Postinspektor Heinz Bergmann died on 21 June 1942 while serving the Führer and German Nation during the "War that was forced upon us." He assured Bergmann's aunt Frau Käthe Dick that the death of the faithful and beloved Deutsche Reichspost employee would not be forgotten. Ohnesorge hand-signed this condolence letter below his "Heil Hitler!" closing. It is uncertain what Bergmann did for the Reichspost but it was without doubt some sort of very secret business to warrant a condolence letter like this one from Hitler's friend and one of the very highest ranking Nazis (cabinet minister) in all of the Third Reich.

The original high-quality 5-3/8 x 8-1/8 inch envelope in which this letter was sent on 28 July 1942 is embossed with an eagle and swastika in the lower left corner. Note it simply says "Reichspostminister" in the upper left hand corner, no return address, no postage. Only a cabinet minister could have done this sort of thing.

We were unable to find out anything about Postinspektor Heinz Bergmann, but the mystery only gets deeper as his aunt Käthe Dick also received a handwritten condolence letter from the another very high-ranking person in the Deutsche Reichspost, the President of the Reichpostdirektion Berlin!

The handwritten letter dated 11 July 1942 was mailed in another Postsache envelope, this one bearing the Nazi eagle and swastika stamp number 2 of the Reichpostdirektion Berlin on the back. While the message is about the same as the message from Reichsminister Dr. Ohnesorge, we can't read the signature, and we can't find any reference to who the President of the Reichpostdirektion Berlin might have been in the middle of 1942. There is only his signature, but we can't decipher anything but the first word Dr. There is also nothing in this letter that would indicate the nature of the important position held by Postinspektor Bergmann or the cause of his war-related death. We suspect that Bergmann was working for Ohnesorge's secret research facility, Forschungsanstalt der Deutschen Reichspost, and thus his job and identity was a well-guarded secret.

A pair of very rare Third Reich autographs on top-secret subject matter.