BACKGROUND: Artwork, as a propaganda tool, was widely used during the Third Reich and Hitler’s own humble artistic background also helped foster a general interest in German art. Many art exhibitions were held through-out German during the time period with the largest being held annually, ever summer from 1937 to 1944, at the German House of Art in Munich. As early as 1938 the OKW, Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, (High Command of the Armed Forces), actively began recruiting artists who were assigned to a units Propaganda Company along with photographers and journalists. By the end of the war almost two hundred war artists had served in the Wehrmacht. One of the most prolific, and as a result, one of the best known German war artists was Feldwebel Wolfgang Willrich. Willrich a WWI veteran, had volunteer for military service prior to the outbreak of WWII but had been rejected on the basis of his age, (42), and was assigned to Landwehr I as a trained reserve. Through his personal friendship with Erwin Rommel Willrich was able to secure a position in the OKH visual arts section of the Propaganda department. In this position Willrich painted and drew numerous personalities and regular soldiers in all branches of service through-out the war. Many pieces of his artwork were featured on assorted series of postcards developed by the "VDA, "Volksbund für das Deutschtum im Ausland", (National League for Germans Abroad), among others. The VDA was originally a pre-war organization formed to assist German nationals living in foreign countries and during the Third Reich era the VDA was taken over by the NSDAP and placed under the jurisdiction of the SS. In mid-1942 the OKH decided to have portraits of all the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross holders and Willrich was assigned the task. This example features Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine und Großadmiral, (Commander in Chief of the Navy and Grand Admiral), Dr. h.c. Erich Raeder. Born in April 1876 Raeder attended the naval Academy at Kiel at a young age reaching Officers rank and served on Emperor Wilhelm II’s yacht Hohenzollern prior to WWI. During WWI Raeder served in assorted capacities including Chief of staff for Franz von Hipper and participated in the battle of Jutland in May 1916. In the autumn of 1928 Raeder was appointed as Chef der Marineleitung, (Chief of the Naval Command) and in 1933 he was assigned as Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine, (Commander in Chief of the Navy). On April 1ST 1939 Raeder was promoted to the rank of Großadmiral and on September 30TH 1939 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. Raeder had considerable disagreements with Hitler through-out his tenure as Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine which came to a head on January 30TH 1943 when Hitler forced him to resign replacing him with Karl Dönitz. Captured by the Russians in Berlin in 1945 Raeder and was tried at Nuremberg where he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. On September 26TH 1955 Rader was released from prison on grounds of ill health and he died in Kiel on November 6TH 1960. These type of postcards were highly popular at the time and were often traded as sports celebrity cards of today are.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 5 3/4" x 3 7/8", light-weight cardstock, artwork postcard features a close up, profile of Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross holder, Großadmiral Dr. h.c. Erich Raeder wearing a service tunic. The visible uniform details include a breast eagle, sleeve rank stripes and Raeder’s Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. The artwork is a black and white uniform sketch with Raeder’s face in full color. The background features Willrich’s distinctive "W" initial cypher interspersed with the date, "1941". The reverse of the unused postcard has black printed Gothic script which includes the artists name, "W. Willrich", the subjects name with rank prefix, "Großadmiral Raeder ", along with additional printed script that includes, "VDA, "Volksbund für das Deutschtum im Ausland", (National League for Germans Abroad). The postcard was produced by the VDA, as number twelve in the "E" series of fund raising postcards.