I would appreciate the expertise of members of this forum regarding the authenticity of this signed Rommel letter and postcard. The letter is described as a reply (with enclosed signed postcard) to Fraulein Lotte Kuhn who wrote to Rommel to congratulate him on the Swords to the Knight's Cross. I do note that the Hoffmann portrait of Rommel does appear to show Rommel without the swords which would be internally consistent. The letter itself uses the accent grave in place of the umlaut. Would this be unusual to have been typed on a continental (?) typewriter than a specifically German one? And then there is the question of the two Rommel signatures.
-
-
Rommel Letter and Postcard
photos of letter: -
Rommel Letter and Postcard
Final photo of letter:Comment
-
Rommel letter
IMHO this is an original Rommel letter. It was not uncommon for the Germans in French North Africa to use functioning equipment (including typewriters) for the war effort. Therefore, they used French typewriters when necessary for personal and administrative use.
I've got several groups of personal letters on Rommel's command stationary that often (but not always) used French typewriters. With the change in command structure from Panzergrupppe Afrika to PanzerArmee Afrika on January 30 (1942) this letter makes further sense. The new PanzerArmee Afrika command letterhead was not yet available so they simply typed the new command on this letter.Comment
Comment