A Large Document Group With Important Signatures To German Red Cross Officer Generaloberarzt Ludwig Ruidisch

A protective post war album housing an excellent document collection containing of pre-war and wartime documents, many with original signatures of high ranking officials. With 12 original and well preserved official documents as well as several photos, this fine group consists of the following:

A promotion certificate to DRK Generalführer (lower General rank) (210x297mm, near mint) to DRK Oberstführer Ruidisch, effective November 9, 1942. It is dated to September 23, 1942 and signed in black ink by the head of the DRK, SS Brigadeführer Ernst-Robert Grawitz (1899–1945).

A promotion certificate to DRK Oberstführer (highest Officer rank, just below the General ranks) (210x296mm, extremely fine) to DRK Oberfeldführer Ruidisch. It is dated to April 20, 1939 and signed in blue ink by the head of the DRK, SS Brigadeführer Ernst-Robert Grawitz (1899–1945). The accompanying letter to the promotion certificate (208x296mm, extremely fine), It is dated to April 19, 1939 and signed in black ink by a DRK Hauptführer, his name could be Sperling.

A promotion certificate to DRK Oberfeldführer (second highest Officer rank) (209x297mm, extremely fine) to retired Generaloberarzt (medical officer, Lieutenant General equivalent) Ruidisch. The document is dated to November 14, 1938 and carries a facsimile of head of the DRK, SS Brigadeführer Ernst-Robert Grawitz (1899–1945). The accompanying letter to the promotion certificate (209x295mm, extremely fine), dated to November 18, 1938 and signed in black ink by a DRK Hauptführer, his name could be Sperling.

An appointment letter (208x297mm, near extremely fine) to retired Generalstabsarzt (medical officer, Deputy General equivalent) Ruidisch, telling him that he has been appointed to the Staff of DRK district office VII. The document is dated to November 11, 1938 and signed on behalf of the DRK Landesführer VII, the signature is indecipherable.

A Merit Cross of the German Red Cross Decoration certificate (209x295mm, extremely fine) to retired Generaloberarzt (medical officer, Lieutenant General equivalent) Ruidisch. The document is dated to August 30, 1938 and signed in blue ink by DRK leader of district VII (Munich), SS Brigadeführer and DRK Generalhauptführer Walter Schultze (1894–1979). The additional notes in pencil are indecipherable.

A War Merit Cross 2nd Class certificate (208x296mm, extremely fine) to Ruidisch, dated to Berlin on January 30, 1944. The document carries facsimiles of both A.H. and Chief of the Presidential Chancellery of the Führer and Chancellor, Otto Meissner (1880–1953).

A Social Welfare Decoration 3rd Grade certificate (212x295mm, near mint) to Ruidisch, dated to Berlin on April 16, 1942. The document carries facsimiles of both A.H. and Chief of the Presidential Chancellery of the Führer and Chancellor, Otto Meissner (1880–1953).

A congratulatory letter from the Police President of the city of Augsburg (210x297mm, near extremely fine) to Generaloberarzt (medical officer, Lieutenant General equivalent) Ruidisch on account of him being awarded the Air Raid Protection Decoration 2nd Grade for his services as leading Air Raid Protection physician. The document is dated to February 18, 1941 and signed in black ink by the police president and SS Brigadeführer, Friedrich Wilhelm Starck (1891–1968). The additional notes in pencil are indecipherable. Another congratulatory letter for the same event (175x224mm, extremely fine), dated to February 20, 1941.

A Long Service certificate (210x297mm, extremely fine), stating that the Kreiskolonnenführer (district group leader) of the district group detachment of the German Red Cross in Augsburg (Bavaria), Dr. Ludwig Ruidisch earned the right to wear the decoration braid due to serving for five years. The document is dated to November 28, 1935 and carries a facsimile of the Territorial Delegate of Voluntary Nursing in Bavaria, the name is indecipherable, but could be Schram.

A photo of A.H. (85x125mm, near extremely fine), taken at the 5th Nuremberg Rally in 1935.

Another picture of a Nazi rally (136x85mm, extremely fine), showing the Alps in the background.

A photo of a First War memorial (90x139mm, extremely fine condition), taken in March 1940 on Heldengedenktag (Memory of Heroes Day).

A photo of A.H. with a little girl (131x180mm, near very fine).

An article cut out from a newspaper (196x266mm, better than very fine) on occasion of Ruidisch’s 70th birthday, titled “A military surgeon of outstanding merit”, including a biography.

Footnote: Ludwig Ruidisch was born in 1868. He began his military service in 1893 as a military surgeon in the 17th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. In 1900 and 1901, Ruidisch served in China as a member of the 4th East Asian Infantry Regiment during the boxer rebellion and was therefore awarded with the China Medal of Imperial Germany. Before the outbreak of the First War, he was the regiment’s chief medical officer in several regiments. During the First War, Ruidisch started out as the chief medical officer of Bavarian Field Military Hospital 8, before being appointed chief medical officer of the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division. Ruidisch was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross. In 1920, his active military service ended and he returned to his home in Augsburg, Bavaria to work in a private practice for the next ten years. He then became the chief physician of the Augsburg volunteer fire brigade and also began working for the German Red Cross. Ruidisch was officially retired in 1934. Nevertheless, he kept working for the DRK. His successful path in the organisation is outlined by the documents in this collection and doesn’t need to be repeated here. However, Ruidisch’s dedicated commitment throughout the war exhausted him and depleted his life force. At the end of the war, he was already in his late 70s, yet he never stepped down to enjoy his well-earned retirement. The hardships of the aftermath of the war only exacerbated his health’s decline. Ruidisch died not long after, in 1946.