A Heinrich Himmler Signed SS Certificate of Oath-"Protocol on the swearing-in ceremony of SS Gruppenführer Wilhelm Keppler, as Keeper of the Blood and Life Law of the Schutzstaffel". Preprinted form with the oath, rank, name, and date "8. November 1936" written in ink. The lower edge with the handwritten ink signature "H. Himmler" in green indelible pencil in his capacity as Reichsfuhrer. The oath states in part `I oblige myself as Gruppenfuhrer of the SS, with the utmost of my ability, that regardless of the individual person or of the merits of his parents and ancestors, only candidates who fulfill the strictest requirements of the SS can be accepted in the Schutzstaffel and I will defend this even if it is about the repudiation of my own children or the children of my family. Furthermore, I obligate myself to watch that every year a quarter of the SS-candidates consist of men who aren't sons of SS soldiers. ´further saying `I swear these liabilities with the loyalty to our leader Adolf Hitler and with the honor of my ancestors - so help me God. With binder holes to the left border, not affecting the text or signature. Measures approximately 25cm x 29cm. Rare Document!
Wilhelm Karl Keppler (14 December 1882 – 13 June 1960) was a German businessman and one of Adolf Hitler's early financial backers. Introduced to Hitler by Heinrich Himmler, Keppler helped to finance the NSDAP and later served as one of Hitler's economic advisors. He joined the NSDAP in February 1927 as member #62,424. Hitler appointed him as the Party's economics adviser in December 1931. He was elected to the Reichstag on 5 March 1933, representing Baden, a position which he held to 1945. In July 1933 he was appointed Reich Commissioner for Economic Affairs (German: Kommissar für Wirtschaftsfragen). This position granted Keppler charge of all party organizations involved with economic policy. In October 1933, he was a founding member of Hans Frank's Academy for German Law and was named to its präsidium, or executive committee. To strengthen the Party's ties with business and industry, Keppler founded the Circle of Friends of the Economy (Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft, which is sometimes referred to as the "Keppler Circle"). Keppler joined the SS (#50,816) in August 1932 and founded the Circle of Friends of Heinrich Himmler, which was a continuation of the Keppler Circle. Considered weak and slow, Keppler's role was supplanted in 1936 by the Four-Year Plan. He served as a personal adviser to Hermann Göring on the Four-Year Plan. He was given a new title of "general expert of German raw and industrial materials". He went to Austria in 1938 to prepare the ground for Anschluss. He served as Secretary at the German Embassy in Vienna in 1938, Reich Commissioner in Austria from March to June 1938, then Reich Commissioner in Slovakia in 1939, and finally Reich Commissioner in Danzig in August 1939. Keppler became Secretary of State with special duties in the Foreign Office during World War II, during which he administered SS confiscated industries in Poland and Russia. On 30 January 1942 he became an honorary Obergruppenführer (General) of the SS. Keppler was sentenced to ten years in prison during the Ministries Trial on 14 April 1949. He was pardoned early on 1 February 1951 by the U.S. High Commission and released from prison. He died on 13 June 1960. Amazing and very scarce!