S.A. LEADERS PRESENTATION SILVER PLATTER TO ERNST ROHM, 1933

S.A. LEADERS PRESENTATION SILVER PLATTER TO ERNST ROHM, 1933
An incredible find, a sterling silver presentation platter bearing a dedication to S.A. leader ERNST ROHM (1887-1934) with the engraved facsimile signatures of 43 S.A.-Obergruppenfuhrers and S.A.-Gruppenfuhrers - many of whom would soon be murdered with their leader during the 'Night of the Long Knives' purge. The 23.5 x 18.75 in. platter bears a fluted edge and otherwise smooth surface. The presentation inscription reads: 'TO THE FIRST SOLDIER OF THE GERMAN FREEDOM MOVEMENT, TO THE BEST FRIEND, OUR PARAGON IN LOYALTY AND GRATITUDE CHRISTMAS IN THE YEAR OF VICTORY 1933' Above the inscription appears a 3 in. wide engraved S.A. emblem. Beneath appear the signatures of 43 top S.A. officers of whom we have been able to identify 32. Those marked with an asterisk (*) would, like their leader Ernst Rohm, meet death six months later in Hitler's purge of the S.A. to consolidate his power. Signatures identified include: ADOLF HEINZE BECKERLE (1902-1976), SA officer and diplomat who played a significant role in the Holocaust in Bulgaria; WILHELM BRUCKNER (1884–1954), Hitler's chief adjutant until October 1940, later a Heer colonel; GEORG VON DETTEN(*), who held an incriminating file on Goebbels; KARL ERNST(*) (1904-1934), SA-Gruppenfuhrer who, in early 1933, was the SA leader in Berlin. Hitler had stood as his best man; JOHANN BAPTIST FUCHS (1877-1938), SA-Obergruppenfuhrer; HANS HAYN(*) (1896-1934) Together with Albert Leo Schlageter , he carried out dynamite attacks on French facilities as the leader of a sabotage squad. Headed the Silesian SA and SA Group Saxony, the largest in the country, also a Reichstag member; ADOLF HUEHNLEIN (1881–1942), Leader of the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK); PETYER VON HEYDEBRECK(*), (1889-1934), Freikorps and SA leader, member of the Reichstag; DIETRICH VON JAGOW (1892-1945), naval officer, politician, SA Obergruppenfuhrer and diplomat; EMIL KETTERER (1883-1959), Olympic athlete, an ardent Nazi and SA-Obergruppenfuhrer. As a medical doctor, he was involved in approval and promotion of euthanasia under the Nazi regime; MANFRED VON KILLINGER(*) (1886-1944), naval officer, Freikorps leader, military writer and Nazi politician; ADOLF KOB, FRITZ VON KRAUSSER(*) (1888-1934), a member of the Reichstag and SA upper group leader; FRIEDRICH-WILHELM KRUGER (1894-1945), a high-ranking member of the SA and the SS, Higher SS and Police Leader in Poland, and in that capacity he organized and supervised numerous acts of crimes against humanity and had a major responsibility for the German genocide in Poland; 1894[1] – 10 May 1945) was a Nazi official and high-ranking member of the SA and the SS. Between 1939 and 1943 he was the Higher SS and Police Leader[2] in the General Government in German-occupied Poland, and in that capacity he organized and supervised numerous acts of crimes against humanity and had a major responsibility for the German genocide in Poland, KARL SIEGMUND LITZMANN (1893-1945), General Commissioner for Estonia during the German occupation; VIKTOR LUTZE (1890-1943), commander of the SA succeeding Ernst Rohm; MAX LUYKEN (1885-1945) head of the main education office of the SA leadership; OTTO MARXER, JOACHIM MEYER QUADE (1897-1939), SA Obergruppenfuhrer, ordered the 'Kristallnacht' destruction in Schleswig-Holstein.