2 Piece Lot of PANZER COLONEL ERNST-WILHELM HOFFMAN's KNIGHTS CROSS WITH OAK LEAF CLUSTER AND HEINRICH HOFFMAN PRESENTATION PHOTO

HEINRICH HOFFMAN PRESENTATION PHOTOGRAPH

Equally as rare as the Knight's Cross itself is the Heinrich Hoffman photograph of its presentation by Der Fuhrer to Colonel Hoffman at Obersaltzberg on 20 June 1944.

The photo is an original, high quality black and white shot which is six and three quarters inches (6 3/4") long by five and one quarter inches (5 1/4") high.

While barley visible in this scan, there is a small blue ink "X" appearing over the head of Colonel Hoffman (Fifth from the right). Given the importance of the occasion, it can only be assumed that each recipient of an award would also receive a personal photo of himself with Der Fuhrer as a keepsake.

Consistent with this supposition, and with the extensive remarks on the reverse of the photo, it is probable that this "X" was placed there by Heinrich Hoffman to help him insure that he gave each individual photo, with markings, to the right person.

As an aside, I have had the opportunity to see examples of Heinrich Hoffman's handwriting on previous occasions and have no doubt, based on this experience, that he is the person who annotated the reverse of this very rare photograph.

In furtherance to this, Professor Hoffman is known to have consistently been the sole photographer desired by Der Fuhrer to be present on occasions like this. Moreover, he had his own numbering and filing system, to avoid any errors, which he personally maintained in all circumstances where photos of Der Fuhrer were taken by his studio.

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