Vrooom vrooom ! Here come the binoculars of the FIS(S)A President Balestre ! !

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Binocular...n/133392477919

For the unaware collector, Jean-Marie Balestre worked before the war for the LICA (Ligue Internationale des Droits de l'Homme), then after the 1940 defeat he started to become a politically oriented collaborator, before being one of the first volunteers in the... French Waffen-SS, in which he became a Sonderführer at the HQ of the Ersatzkommando Frankreich der Waffen-SS, until he got... arrested by the Sipo-SD in May 1944, mainly for selling SS Ausweise to the parisian underworld (and maybe... preparing the bombing of... the Ersatzkommando Frankreich HQ).
The D-Day landing saved his life, as he was sent to the SS penal camp of Danzig-Matzkau.
He survived the war, and was able to get some certificates of convenience from Jews and Resistants, getting French honors for his "acts of resistance" [sic !].

After the war he will become the "master" of the Formula One, as the President of the FISA (Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile) from 1978 to 1991 and President of the FIA (Fédération Internationale Automobile) from 1985 up to 1993.

A incredible French 272-page book was recently published by Olivier Pigoreau : "Son âme au diable" explaining all the tricks used by Balestre to always get away from problems, a real master in flipping his jacket.

https://www.amazon.fr/Son-âme-diable.../dp/2956983709

The SS collar tab on the front cover is actually the one of Balestre, taken for a propaganda serie of pictures in the roof of the Ersatzkommando Frankreich in August 1943). The full picture was published in "Reportages De Guerre N°17" (article by Olivier Pigoreau).

I'm including another picture of Jean-Marie Balestre in his SS uniform...

Therefore you can easily understand that this pair of binoculars can't be the one of Balestre, who was roting, from fall 1944 up to the Liberation, in the SS concentration camp system...

See You

Vince

[JustinS]

Very interesting! The book sounds like a good read.

[Gary Symonds]

Thanks, for that information, knew nothing about this man.

[scotty1418]

Without even doing all that excellent research, I think it's very easy to tell from the engraving that these are a joke...

[Mike TM]

+1

without even doing all that excellent research, i think it's very easy to tell from the engraving that these are a joke...

[Jeff V]

Without even doing all that excellent research, I think it's very easy to tell from the engraving that these are a joke...

Amen. But it is always nice to see Vince's great research!

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

i believe that Nazis had lasers used to mark their binoculars and communicate with their base on the Moon.

The seller was contacted less than 5 hours after the start of the sale to inform him that his item was a joke, and to date he didn't reply to me.

See You

Vince