A Wartime Signed Photo Of Reich Minister For Agriculture And Ss-Obergruppenführer Herbert Backe

A photo, measuring 180x129mm, very fine condition, minor discolouration and intermittent warping. It shows Herbert Backe awarding a decoration to a civilian.

Footnote: Herbert Friedrich Wilhelm Backe (1896–1947) was born in Batumi, Georgia, which at the time was under Russian control. His father had been a Prussian officer who left the military and became a merchant. When the First World War began, Backe was interned due to being a Prussian citizen. This experience led to his anti-communist stance later in life. With the help of the Swedish Red Cross, Backe managed to move to Germany in 1918, where he studied agronomics. He was an early believer in national socialism, joining the SA in 1922 and the NSDAP in 1925 (membership no. 22,766). In 1933 he joined the SS (membership no. 87,882). That same year, Backe became Secretary of State in the Reich Ministry for Food and Agriculture. He enjoyed a rise in ranks both in the SS and in his political career. In late 1937, he had already made it to SS-Brigadeführer. In late 1942, he reached his highest position in the organisation, being promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer. That same year he became acting Minister of Agriculture in 1942 and then official Minister in 1944. However, Backe had already been the de facto superior technocrat in his ministry since 1936. Additionally, the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, Alfred Rosenberg, made Backe Secretary of State for the Reich Commissariat Ukraine. This enabled Backe to implement his so-called Hunger Plan, the deliberate starvation of the Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian slavic people in favour of the Germans and the Wehrmacht, to whom the confiscated food went instead. This led to more than 4 million people dying between 1941 and 1944. After the war, Backe was arrested and committed suicide for fear of being extradited to Russia.