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DR. JOSEF GOEBBELS & CROWN PRINCE WILHELM AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO
AN AUTHENTIC AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO OF NAZI
PROPAGANDA MINISTER DR. JOSEF GOEBBELS AND
GERMAN KRONPRINZ WILHELM VON PREUSSEN
The rare autographed photograph of Dr. Goebbels and
Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia is **SOLD**.
To see a book from Dr. Goebbels' private library, click HERE.
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This is a splendid professional photograph bearing a priceless pair of very important historic German autographs from Third Reich Germany: those of Reichsminister Dr. Josef Goebbels and Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, the oldest son of the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II.
The piece is a special 105 x 148 mm (4-1/8 x 5-7/8 inch) matt finish photograph (printed on photosensitive paper from a negative NOT printed by mechanical means) manufactured by publisher Hermann Wiechmann. It shows Crown Prince Wilhelm of the House of Hohenzollern and Dr. Josef Goebbels at coffee in animated conversation with a lady.
Der Kronprinz signed across his chest while Dr. Goebbels signed on his left arm, both in pen and ink.
Dr. Josef Goebbels was born in Rheydt, Germany near the Dutch border northwest of Köln (Cologne) in 1897. He was a bright student and because of a deformity of one foot and leg he was at the university while others his age fought at the front in World War I. He attended many universities but received his doctorate at Heidelberg.
Goebbels joined the Nazi Party in 1922 and through sheer competence rose rapidly to become the NSDAP Leader of Berlin-Brandenburg in 1926, Gauleiter in 1928 and Nazi member of the Reichstag in 1929. He was a tireless, innovative, gifted and courageous enemy of the very powerful communist party in the capital of Germany and Hitler was very impressed with him. So impressed, that he appointed Goebbels the NSDAP National Propaganda Leader in 1929 when he was only 32 years old. Goebbels’ drive brought life to the Führer Concept and a sense of drama to the functions, organizations and mass meetings of the party.
His most important position in the Hitler Cabinet of the German government was that of State Minister for National Community Clarification and Publicity (Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda). So feared was Goebbels by his enemies that every online and printed biography of Dr. Goebbels available today mocks him for his deformity rather than recognizing him for his genius.
Blondie, Hitler and Goebbels on the
Obersalzberg outside of Berchtesgaden.
Wilhelm, Kronprinz des Deutschen Reiches und von Preussen (full name: Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Augustus Ernst Hohenzollern of Prussia) was born in the Marmorpalais in Potsdam on 6 May 1882 and was the last Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire. He was the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Princess Augusta of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.
On 6 June 1905 he married married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They had four sons and two daughters. Their oldest son Wilhelm was killed in action in France in May 1940. Crown Prince Wilhelm was the older brother of August Wilhelm (Auwi) and five other siblings. During World War I he served in France.
Left, three generations: Kaiser Wilhelm II, Crown Prince Wilhelm and his son Wilhelm, who died in France in 1940. Right, a portrait of Kronprinz Wilhelm von Preussen, as sketched by artist Krotowski.
In November 1918, Kronprinz Wilhelm went into exile in the Netherlands with his father Kaiser Wilhelm II and officially renounced his rights to the throne, ending the 500 year dynasty of the House of Hohenzollern.
After negotiations, he returned to Germany in November 1923, dividing his time between Berlin, Potsdam and a country estate in Oels (Schlesien), keeping to his promise to stay out of politics. The residence in Potsdam was Schloss Cecilienhof (named for his wife Cecilie, built in the style of an English country manor between 1913 - 1917), where in 1945 the Potsdam Conference took place, attended by the heads of the Allied powers, including US President Truman, Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill.
Crown Prince Wilhelm knew Hermann Göring from his service in World War I and supported Adolf Hitler during the early years of the Nazi Movement. He believed, as did his younger brother Prince August Wilhelm (Auwi), that the Nazis would make Germany an organized country again, without socialist and communist influences.
At times Hitler also showed signs that he would reinstate the Hohenzollern monarchy. However, after the murder of former German Chancellor (and monarchy supporter) Kurt von Schleicher during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, Crown Prince Wilhelm retreated from public life.
Above, Adolf Hitler, Kronprinz Wilhelm von Preussen and Hermann Göring shown in a picture taken in Potsdam on 21 March 1933, Tag von Potsdam (also called Day of National Renewal). The official opening of German Parliament took place at the 18th century baroque Garnisonkirche in Potsdam as the Reichstag building in Berlin could not be used after the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933. The events in Potsdam (a historic city outside Berlin, for centuries the residence of German royalty) was carefully planned by Propaganda Minister Dr. Josef Goebbels to show a symbolic connection between the “Old” (conservative, traditional monarchy) and “New” (National Socialist) Germany. Photo from the collection of Ray & Josephine Cowdery.
During World War II Kronprinz Wilhelm lived at various family estates. In 1945, with the Red Army approaching, he left Schloss Cecilienhof in Potsdam and was later imprisoned by the French. As Hohenzollern family posssessions in Brandenburg had been confiscated by Soviet occupying forces, Kronprinz Wilhelm lived the rest of this life alone (he was separated from his wife) in a small house at Burg Hohenzollern bei Hechingen (Baden-Württemberg) where on 20 July 1951, at age 69, he died. He is buried in the St. Michaels-Bastei at Burg Hohenzollern.
Below, Crown Prince Wilhelm, a car aficionado, in a photo taken in Berlin by Court Photographer Bieber.
