Summer Auction 2019 Sale 76
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/30/2019
A very fine association Waffen-SS presentation piece, a silver cigarette case, 2 3/4" x 3 3/4", bearing the inscription "Zur Erinnerung an unseren Kampf un Sieg um Charkow Meinem tapferen Kurt Meyer" ("In Memory of our Fight and Victory Over Kharkov, my Brave Kurt Meyer"), with the engraved signature "Sepp Dietrich". Below this presentation an applied silver monogram depicting the initials "L A H" for the unit to which both officers belonged, the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". The interior bears several Russian silver hallmarks. Shows some tarnish overall, with the elastic bands used to secure the cigarettes within absent, else very good. JOSEF "SEPP" DIETRICH (1892-1966) commanded the LSSAH throughout World War II, and was convicted of war crimes for his complicity in the Malmedy Massacre. KURT "PANZER" MEYER (1910-1961) commanded the LSSAH's reconnaissance battalion during the Third Battle of Kharkov in 1943, referenced here, during which his men massacred more than eight hundred civilians. Meyer was later given command of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" and served in Normandy, during which men under his command carried out the Ascq and Ardenne Abbey massacres.
Reserve