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AUTHENTIC 1941-42 REICHSFÜHRER-SS, GESTAPO & REICHSSTATTHALTER WIEN CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING A JEWISH WWI OFFICER WHO REQUESTED TO BE EXEMPTED FROM WEARING A STAR OF DAVID AND HAVING TO ADD THE MIDDLE NAME ISRAEL TO HIS IDs

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This is very interesting and historical 1941 and 1942 correspondence between the office of Der Reichsführer-SS und Chef der deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern (Heinrich Himmler, Head of the Nazi Police) on Prinz Albrechtstraße in Berlin, the Reichstatthalter and police authorities in Vienna, the second largest city in Adolf Hitler’s Greater Germany. It is about a 67 year old World War I veteran, a Jewish man named Eduard Israel Leitner of Vienna, born 23 March 1874, who was married to an aryan woman and had no children.

THE THIRD LETTER in this Eduard Israel Leitner archival lot (shown above) is dated 4 March 1942. It originated at Von Schirach’s Reichstatthalter office at Ballhausplatz 2 and was sent to the Head of Police in Vienna on Schottenring 11. The text shows that Leitner had contacted the Kanzlei des Führers der NSDAP to request that his military service in World War I (Generalmajor a.D.!) would be taken into consideration for Leitner’s request for an exemption to the legal requirement of the use of a Jewish middle name on his IDs and his wearing of a yellow Star of David.

The last paragraph of this letter shows that Major General Eduard Israel Leitner’s requests WERE DENIED.

Very rare, 100% original correspondence regarding regulations resulting from the Nürnberg Racial Laws of 1935. With punch holes, and rescued years ago from the original city archives of Vienna. See picture below for additional provenance.

On 16 October 1941 Leitner had sent Reichsführer-SS Himmler a letter in which he requested to be exempted from wearing the obligatory Judenstern or Star of David on his clothing, which became a requirement of the law on 19 September 1941. He had also requested to be exempted from having to add the obligatory middle name “Israel” to his identity documents, which thereby automatically identified him as a Jew.

Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler denied both Generalmajor a.D. Leitner’s requests in his response letter of 29 December 1941 (shown above). However, Himmler said that if Leitner would contact the Kanzlei des Führers der NSDAP in Vienna about an exemption, and they agreed that his war service would make a difference, his requests might be granted.

The letter of 29 December 1941 was over the name of a Himmler proxy at the Interior Ministry named Eichmann, who requested that the office of the Reichstatthalter of Vienna (Baldur von Schirach) as well as the President of Police in Vienna be notified about this matter.