CHRISTMAS GREETING CARD SENT TO ALBERT SPEER BY ADOLF HITLER IN 1943

This item is a type set Christmas card, printed on off white colored, heavy card stock, which was sent from the Private Chancellery office in 1943 to Reichsminister Albert Speer. The card bears a golden party eagle in the upper left corner under which is printed the name ADOLF HITLER in block letters. Both the eagle and name have been embossed into the card with gold colored ink that can be clearly felt to have a "raised" surface by simply running a finger over them, which confirms that this item was originally printed as a piece of blank stationery before the text of the Christmas greeting was added at a later time.

While it is impossible to be certain, the signature of Der Fuhrer which appears on the card does not appear to have been hand signed, but rather was probably affixed by use of a process known as auto pen transfer, which the Reich Chancellery staff often utilized for the production of Der Fuhrer's signature on award documents, and a variety of other items owing to the simple time and opportunity that would be necessary for Der Fuhrer to hand sign the hundreds of cards, letters and documents that would otherwise come across his desk on a weekly basis.

As an aside, this practice was to be put into general use by Dr. Gobbels after 1942 as part of his effort to maintain the morale of the German people and address day to day political and social requirements, while Der Fuhrer was more and more often away at the front with little or no time available to deal with such mundane, but important issues. The injuries sustained by Der Fuhrer from the failed 20 July 1944 attempt on his life, particularly the shaking of his right arm, further served to exacerbate the need for the use of this process to help maintain the image of a dynamic leader, not unlike the fact that no photographs of President Roosevelt in a wheel chair were ever released by the While House during World War II for fear of their effect on public morale and the overall image of the U.S. government war effort.

In keeping with the post war recollections of his intimate secretaries such as Frau Christian, Frau Winter and Frau Junge, this eventually resulted in the development of a practice where Der Fuhrer from his headquarters in either East Prussia or France, would engage in long hours of dictation, with approved text in select bulk mailing or public circumstances being transmitted to Dr. Gobbels in Berlin, who would subsequently oversee the preparation and distribution of such items, most often through use of the Auto Pen Signature Transfer Process.

Shown LEFT is a greatly enlarged view of Der Fuhrer's signature as it appears on this Christmas Card from 1944. While believed to be affixed by auto pen, the signature completely comports in all ways to that known to be used by Der Fuhrer during the 1943/44 period, prior to his subsequent wounding in the 20 July 1944 attack on his life at Rastenberg.

In furtherance to this, a close review of surviving documents proves that Der Fuhrer's signature changed several times during his career from the year 1919 to 1945. Moreover, the approximate year of any particular signature can be accurately determined in this manner.