Interesting matched grouping of four early postwar souvenir postcards devoted to the armored Mercedes-Benz limousine associated with Adolf Hitler and reportedly captured at Berchtesgaden in May 1945.
The set includes three photographic cards together with an informational card detailing the specifications and history attributed to the vehicle.
Two of the photographic postcards are titled “Hitler’s Genuine Armoured Car” and show the Mercedes on exhibition. Their printed captions state that the vehicle was captured at Berchtesgaden in May 1945 by the Free French Forces under the command of General Leclerc.
A particularly interesting third card is titled “Hitler and Goering (Life Size) Riding in Hitler’s Genuine Armoured Car” and depicts life-size figures displayed inside the vehicle. The caption additionally draws attention to apparent bullet marks in the window above Hitler’s figure. This photograph is especially evocative of the immediate postwar exhibition and souvenir culture surrounding captured Third Reich material.
The fourth card, “Data of Hitler’s Personal Armored Limousine,” provides contemporary claims concerning the Mercedes, including its weight, dimensions, armor protection, bulletproof glass, engine specifications and the statement “Captured May 7, 1945.”
The postcards were produced in the United States by Graphic Arts Co., Hamilton, Ohio, under the Krom-A-Tone name. They are therefore postwar souvenir postcards rather than Third Reich-period German postcards.
Although postwar, the grouping remains historically appealing because it documents how captured German material associated with the Nazi leadership was exhibited and marketed to the public shortly after WWII. Keeping the four related cards together also gives the group substantially better presentation and collector interest than selling the individual cards separately.
Condition: Very good overall condition with light age and handling wear. All four postcards remain unused and retain clean, legible imagery and printing.
Period: Post-WWII
Country of Production: United States
Publisher: Graphic Arts Co., Hamilton, Ohio
Series / Process: Krom-A-Tone
Type: Souvenir Photographic Postcard Set
Quantity: 4 Postcards
Subject: Armored Mercedes-Benz Limousine associated with Adolf Hitler
Historical Context: Capture / exhibition following the fall of the Third Reich
Location Referenced: Berchtesgaden, Germany
Date Referenced: May 1945
Postal Status: Unused
Originality: Original Period Postwar Souvenir Postcards
