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BEER STEIN OWNED BY SS GUARDS AT FLOSSENBURG CONCENTRATION CAMP

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Militaria Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
BEER STEIN OWNED BY SS GUARDS AT FLOSSENBURG CONCENTRATION CAMP
A frightening reminder of SS-Totenkopf concentration camp guards' total inhumanity, a massive beer stein communally owned by concentration camp guards at Flossenburg, inscribed with a curse upon their Jewish victims. The pewter stein stands 9 3/4" tall and is 5" wide, with a lid which tilts back towards the handle. The stein bears the original owner's name engraved upon the top with the date "1828". The stein was thereafter acquired by the guards at Flossenburg who engraved the following in German about the upper lip: "Our Ancestors' Bloodline is Germany's Greatest Treasure!"" adding beneath: "Squad Property - 2./SS-Totenkopf-Sturmbann Flossenburg". At the front of the mug is a 2 1/2" dia. circle containing an image of a skull and crossbones with SS runes beneath. At bottom, the guards vindictively added in perverse rhyme: "Flames blazing and bright show the Jew mob Hell's fire!". The knob upon the top lid is slightly knocked askance, else very good. Three companies of SS guards were stationed at Flossenburg, located in Bavaria. Flossenburg held every type of prisoner, from Jews to Soviet P.O.W.s and homosexuals, and became a training center for woman guards. By the middle of the war, it had over one hundred sub-camps. Death rates climbed from starvation, sickness and executions, with total deaths reaching 30,000 by war's end. Forty-six staff members were tried for their crimes - all but five were found guilty, and fifteen were executed.