Interesting postcard-type photo depicting the presentations of the Ritterkreuz to Léon Degrelle, Hauptsturmfuhrer der Reserve, SS-Sturmbrigade "Wallonie", and of the Swords to the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves to Herbert Otto Gille, SS Gruppenfuhrer und Generalleutnant der Waffen SS, commander of 5th SS Panzer Division, "Wiking".  These awards were gazetted on 20 February, 1944 in connection with a number of meritorious actions on the part of Gille and Dégrelle in connection with operations around and breakout from the Cherrasky Pocket (Gille was something of an expert on breakouts).  

Among the interesting points about this photo is the simple fact that Hitler made the presentation personally.  By this stage of the war, he seldom made medal presentations.  More usually, such a presentation would have been made by a lesser Nazi paladin - often Himmler, who is present here along with his representative to the Fuhrer's Headquarters, Hermann Fegelein.  Also, the photo is clearly captioned, and stamped "Hoffmann Presse", confirming that it is a product of the studio of Hitler's all-but-official photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann.  Best regards, JR.

"Wiking" Knight's Cross presentation ceremony.

Charred corpses of Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, Minister for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, most loyal member of Hitler's inner circle, and of his wife, Magda.  Having procured the murder of their children earlier in the day (with the help of the Fuhrer's dentists, who supplied the poison), Joseph and Magda committed suicide, in somewhat uncertain circumstances, on the evening of 1 May, 1945 - 70 years ago today - with the Soviets literally at the gates.  The SS attempted, according to their instructions, to incinerate the bodies using petrol as an accelerant.  There was not enough petrol available to complete the job.

A thought occurs - if the SS in the Bunker had had the services of some of their organization's experts in cremation, from the death camps, they might have done a better job ... JR.

Dr Paul Joseph Goebbels.

Adolf Hitler with the "Discobolus Palombara", a fine 1st century A.D. full-size copy in marble of the famed Greek sculptor Myron's original bronze of the 5th century B.C., now (like so many original classical Greek statues) lost.  The "Discobolus" was one of the most admired sculptures of the ancient world, and copies of somewhat varying quality, and in a range of scales and media, survive from the Roman period.

Hitler greatly admired this statue - he may have seen it first when visiting Rome - and very much wished to purchase it.  This did not prove straightforward - the Italian Arts ministry and artistic community in general opposed the sale.  However, "raisons d'état" eventually prevailed; Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano engineered the sale of the statue to Hitler in 1938, over the objections of his outraged colleague Arts Minister, for five million lire.  The "Discobolus Palombara" was subsequently displayed in the Glypothek, Munich.  It eventually returned to Italy in 1948, and is now the property of Italy's National Museum at Rome.  It is displayed, very appropriately, in the Baths of Diocletian.  Best regards, JR.  PS - I will refrain from commenting in any way on the current state of Greco-German relations ... JR.

