Germany, Ss. A Promotion Recommendation For Ss-Sturmbannführer Dr. Gustav Schlotterer

A letter, measuring 209x296mm, near extremely fine condition with light fraying, folding crease, and two punched holes. It was sent on behalf of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD (Security Service) to the SS Personnel Main Department on May 7, 1941. The sender inquires if the Reichsführer-SS would approve the back-dated promotions of Ministerialdirigent (head of a ministry section) SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Gustav Schlotterer, SS Leader in the Staff of the SS Personnel Main Department, to SS-Obersturmbannführer, dated to April 20, 1939, to SS-Standartenführer, dated to January 30, 1940, and to SS-Oberführer, dated to April 20, 1941. The document is signed by an SS-Sturmbannführer, the name is indecipherable. The letter is then forwarded to the Personal Staff of Reichsführer-SS Himmler with the note that the SS Personnel Main Department supports this recommendation and asks to be told the decision of Himmler as soon as possible. The document is dated to May 13, 1941 and signed in blue ink by an SS-Gruppenführer, his name could be Schmitt.

Footnote: Dr. Gustav Schlotterer (1906–1989) joined the NSDAP in 1923. He worked as a financial editor for the NS magazine “Hamburger Tageblatt”, beginning in 1931. In 1933, he became president of the Agency for Economics in Hamburg. As such, he was very successful in dispossessing Jewish businesses. In 1935, Schlotterer went to Berlin to become assistant head of the Reich Economy Ministry. He joined the SS in 1937, reaching his highest rank, SS-Oberführer, in 1944. Since 1940, Schlotterer worked as a head of a ministry section in leading the
department for the Eastern Territories of the Reich Economy Ministry. He administered the assets of the conquered Soviet republics. Schlotterer had become one of the leading members of the Reich Economy Ministry and the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.