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Important Historic Note
General Hermann Fegelein was a member of Adolf Hitler's entourage, and brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her sister, Gretl Braun. Hermann Fegelein was executed on April 28th, 1945 for treason, one day shy of becoming brother-in-law to Adolf Hitler himself through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun a day later on April 29th, 1945.
Hans Otto Georg Hermann
Fegelein (birth name) was born in
Ansbach, Bavaria to retired Lieutenant Officer
Hans Fegelein. As a young boy, he worked at his
father’s equestrian school in Munich, and became a
skilled horse rider, participating in jumping events.
This institute was made available as a meeting
place for the SS, as well as a training facility for the
equestrian units of the SA and SS as early as 1926.
Hermann would officially join the SA in 1930, and
transferred to the SS in 1933 working as an instructor
and quickly became the leader of the SS-Reitersturm, the SS
equestrian group based at the same administration started by Hermann’s father. Hermann took over his father’s administration in the mid-1930s. Hermann Fegelein oversaw preparation of the courses and facilities for the equestrian events of the Berlin Olympic Games, and himself even tried out for the German equestrian team although he was unable to make it past qualifying. On July 25th, 1937, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, by special order of the Oberabschnitt, created the Haupt-Reitschule Munchen (SS Main Riding School) in Munich and appointed Hermann Fegelein as its commander along with a promotion.
At the beginning of the invasion of Poland in September 1939, Hermann was in command of the SS Totenkopf Reiterstandarte (Death’s Head Horse Regiment), which arrived right after the end of the Polish Campaign and was split up into smaller groups assigned to support policing activities throughout the Poznan district. Upon
the German invasion of the Soviet Union beginning June 22nd, 1941, Hermann Fegelein was active on the Eastern Front with his unit, which suffered having to leave behind the majority of their horses due to exhaustion, although Hermann’s unit would continue on to capture the Osoweic Fortress on June 26th, 1941, earning him the Iron Cross, First Class, and ten of his men the Iron Cross, Second Class. After various operations carried out under orders from Himmler himself, some nicknamed “special tasks”, Hermann Fegelein’s luck ran out when
he was severely wounded on September 30th, 1943 during a defensive operation against a Soviet attack, and was subsequently awarded the German Cross in gold. At the beginning of 1944, Heinrich Himmler assigned Hermann Fegelein to Adolf Hitler’s headquarters staff as his liaison officer and representative of the SS. An included consignor supplied letter states, “Fegelein was nicknamed Heinrich Himmler’s ‘Golden Boy’. His boyish face and subservient attitude gained him considerable favour with Himmler, who treated him like a
son. Himmler granted him the best assignments, the best staff and generous budgets. When he was injured on the Russian front, Himmler brought him home to work in Hitler’s Staff as Himmler’s Adjutant and Representative of the Waffen SS.” Hermann Fegelein married Gretl Braun on June 3rd, 1944, of which Hitler, Himmler, and Martin Bormann acted as witnesses at the ceremony. On July 20th, 1944, Hermann was present at the failed attempt on Hitler’s life at the Wolf’s Lair headquarters, receiving a minor wound to his left thigh from the bomb blast. Hermann often showed people the photographs of the men who had been executed as a result of the failed assassination attempt. Just under a year later, nearing the war’s end, on April 27th, 1945, Hitler was notified that Fegelein was attempting to flee the country, and he was arraigned immediately before a court martial and sentenced to death for treason, with his execution taking place on April 28th, 1945, ironically one day before Adolf Hitler married his sister-in-law, Eva Braun, on April 29th, 1945, and two days before Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler’s joint death by suicide on April 30th, 1945.
CONDITION: Excellent, retaining 97% plus original Walther factory nickel finish, showing a few small
spots of surface corrosion around the engraved initials and on the butt, with crisp highly attractive factory engraving overall. The grips are also excellent, with a few light handling marks. Mechanically excellent. This early production factory presentation engraved Walther PP pistol, bearing “HF” initials, attributed to SS general Hermann Fegelein, nicknamed Heinrich Himmler’s “Golden Boy”, would make an excellent addition to any German military collection!
Estimate: 95,000 - 160,000
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