Lot 4075

Description

Parchment with calligraphic text in black ink and light blue shading in the title "1. Urkunde" and the initial. Certification of the burial of (tr.) "the mortal remains of Heinrich I, sought by order of Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, then discovered and documented by SS Obersturmführer, in a stone sarcophagus" in the Heinrich Crypt of Quedlinburg Cathedral, dated "Quedlinburg am 2. Juli 1937". On the bottom right, a woven parchment ribbon with a copper seal box (the lid is missing), the red wax seal barely discernible, but designed in the style of the seal of Heinrich I. The certificate is signed by Heinrich Himmler, Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan and Joachim Albrecht Eggeling, SS Obergruppenführer Josias Erbprinz zu Waldeck, August Heissmeyer, Friedrich Jeckeln, Karl Selig (mayor of Quedlinburg), SS Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, Karl Wolff, Walter Schmitt, SS Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Jung, George Ebrecht, SS Hauptsturmführer Hermann Lehmann, Gunter D'Alquen (editor-in-chief of "Das Schwarze Korps") and SS Obersturmführer Dr. Rolf Höhne, who had been commissioned by Himmler to search for the mortal remains. Dimensions 50 x 40 cm. The document framed between perspex and hard board, then fixed with adhesive tape. An opening on the lower edge for the seal box and ribbon. Heinrich Himmler, who is said to have even regarded himself as the reincarnation of Heinrich I, saw in him the only true (tr.) "founder of the German people" and "Führer of one thousand years ago". It was therefore all the more important for Himmler to find the king's mortal remains, which had probably been moved or lost in Quedlinburg Cathedral during renovation work over the centuries, in order to re-inter him next to his wife, Queen Mathilde, according to his wishes. At the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the death of Heinrich I on 2 July 1936, Himmler held a speech in Quedlinburg, in which he elevated the king to a figure of mythical proportions, as the (tr.) "protagonist of a German Eastern orientation", claiming that the disappearance of Heinrich's remains was due to "the sinister, unquenchable hatred of political dignitaries". Dr. Rolf Höhne, head of the "Prehistory" department at the RSHA, was commissioned to find the mortal remains and, in June 1937, found a skull with a jewelled headdress. On 1 July 1937, the "Schwarze Korps" reported that the "examination of the bones has provided scientific evidence that the discovery made in the course of the excavations in the tomb crypt of Quedlinburg Cathedral is in fact the mortal remains of Heinrich I". Furthermore, the discovery of a tiered space with a stone sarcophagus in 1938 did not shake Himmler's belief that the "true" remains of Heinrich I had been found in 1937. He ordered the tiered space to be filled up again in 1940. To this day, the true location of the mortal remains of Heinrich I is unknown. It is assumed that the reburied tiered room may have been used as a repository for the sarcophagi of the king and queen during earlier reconstruction works at the Cathedral. Rolf Höhne had planned to publish his findings during the excavations of 1936. However, this was banned by Himmler as it "would unfortunately have exceeded all expectations in terms of negativity".

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