Germany, Third Reich. A Collection Of Photographs And Correspondence To Heribert Von Troll-Obergfell

This is an extensive collection of photographs and personal correspondence belong to Heribert von Troll-Obergfell, a counsellor to the German Legation in Zagreb from 1941 until 1943. Consisting of 42 photographs pasted to 28 card stock pages, the group includes photographs of von Troll-Obergfell at diplomatic events and parades, many of which depict him with Ante Pavelić, Poglavnik of the Independent State of Croatia. Other photographs depict events at the German Legation, where von Troll-Obergfell is seen alongside Croatian, Italian, and German officials, the latter including Ambassador Siegfried Kasche and Plenipotentiary General Edmund Glaise-Horstenau. The collection also includes two photographs, dated 1955, showing the former Legation in Zagreb, now part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The photographs are accompanied by a letter, dated 23 January 1943, addressed to von Troll-Obergfell from Field Marshal Slavko Kvaternik, a founding member of the Ustaša and Minister of the Armed Forces during the Second World War. In the letter, Kvaternik extends his best wishes to von Troll-Obergfell on his departure from his diplomatic post and thanks him for his services to Croatia. The letter measures 177 mm (w) x 235 mm (h) and is accompanied by its original envelope. The collection is in extremely fine condition.

Footnote: Heribert von Troll-Obergfell was one of a number of German officials in Croatia who raised the alarm about atrocities being committed by the Ustaša regime against the Serbian population of the Independent State of Croatia. Alongside the aforementioned Glaise-Horstenau, von Troll-Obergfell expressed concerns about deportations, forced conversions, and killings being committed by the Ustaša, and the two warned German officials that the potential for retaliation by Serbs threatened to undermine the stability of the German-allied Croatia. Ustaša authorities were unhappy about the interference of both von Troll-Obergfell and Glaise-Horstenau in Croatian internal affairs, and not coincidentally, both men departed from Croatia before the end of the war.