D-100 Incredibly Rare W-SS Wehrpass for Franz
Kessler Who Went From The LAH to the SS Paratroopers and Everything In Between
This has got to be one of the rarest books I've ever offered. The
wehrpass was issued to Franz Kessler on 31 October 1938 in Berlin-Lichterfelde.
Kessler was born on 23 September 1910 and was a butcher by profession. He had
one of the strangest military careers that I have ever heard of. On 19 January
1934, he was assigned to the 3rd Company of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler of
the SS Verfügungstruppe, making him one of the original members of Hitler’s
personal security battalion. At that time, only the best of the best were
selected to serve in this Unit and there is no doubt that he had constant
contact with Hitler throughout his service, which lasted more than four years,
ending on 31 October 1938 when he was released from the military duty as a
Rottenführer. After returning to civilian life for one year, he was called up
for service on 1 December 1939 and assigned to the 2nd Replacement Company of SS
Battalion “Deutschland”. On 15 March 1940, he transferred to the 1st Company
and on 13 August 1940, he was posted to the 1st Replacement Company of the same
battalion. On 15 November 1940, he was assigned to the Stab (Headquarters) of SS
Infantry Regiment 8. With this Unit, he did something terribly, terribly wrong
against the military code. He was reduced to the rank of Schütze (Private) and
assigned to another Waffen SS Unit (I cannot read the full name of the Unit
unfortunately) from 26 January – 10 April 1942 , which was obviously a form of
punishment. On 14 April 1942, he was briefly assigned to the
Nachschubkommandantur der Waffen SS Russland Mitte (Supply Headquarters of the
Waffen SS Central Russia), a Unit that fought against Partisans and was involved
in seizing the Russian harvest. These Units were ruthless and are mentioned in
the Nazi War Crimes records. On 26 January 1942 – 13 August 1943, he served
with the Arbeitsabteilung der Waffen SS (literally, Work Battalion of the Waffen
SS), which was an infamous Unit that carried out executions on the Eastern
Front. On 18 August 1943, Kessler was the assigned to the Bewährungsabteilung
der Waffen SS (Rehabilitation Battalion of the Waffen SS), which carried out
similar duties. On 11 November 1943, Kessler was assigned to the 2nd
Company of SS Fallschirmjäger Batallion (SS Paratrooper Battalion), which
received many of its personnel from rehabilitation Units and the SS
penitentiary. On 20 January 1944, he transferred to the 2nd
Feldausbildungskompanie (2nd Field Training Company), remaining with this Unit
through 4 February 1944. From 5 February – 2 April 1944, he was again assigned
to Bewährungsabteilung der of the Waffen SS. Still not having redeemed himself,
he was assigned to the Bewährungskompanie (Rehabilitation Company) of the
III./SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment 5 “Totenkopf” (IIIrd Battalion of SS
Panzer Grenadier Regiment 5 “Totenkopf”) and was wounded by a bullet on 26
May 1944. His punishment was still not over, and on the same day, he was posted
to the SS Bewährungsabteilung in Dublowitz. On 17 January 1945, Kessler finally
“redeemed” himself and was assigned to a regular Combat Command, serving
with the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division “Götz von Berlichingen”.
Qualified on the 98K rifle, light machine gun 13, Luger and hand grenade.
Wehrpass comes with an extra document stating that his Wehrpass is being
transferred from Dublowitz to SS Panzer Grenadier Ausbildungs und Ersatz
Batallion 17 (SS Panzer Grenadier Training and Replacement Battalion 17) of the
17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division “Götz von Berlichingen”. Kessler is not
listed on the German War Graves website, so I have to presume that he survived
the war. He never received any awards, obviously because he was assigned to many
Rehabilitation Units, which disqualified him from receiving awards. I copied his
existing records at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and will
provide them to the buyer. This is an extremely unique Wehrpass – certainly
one of a kind – for a soldier who went from the most elite Unit of the German
military, the LAH, to the bottom of the barrel and served with quite a variety
of Units.
$5,200.00
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Item D-100
