Thanks Peter!
Have been conducting additional research and may have identified the unknown signature as "Otto Hamann." A Dr. Otto Hamann served as HJ Gebietsführer for Berlin for an unknown period beginning in late 1943. Any additional information regarding Otto Hamann would be most appreciated!
Many thanks in advance - Lance O. Adams ......
Lance, you are right and, a little late, here are some more information for you.
Gebietsführer Otto Hamann was born on May 23, 1916 in Berlin. Since December 1, 1935 he was a member of the NSDAP (membership number 3.706.571).
In 1933 he became leader of the Bann Tempelhof in the HJ-Gebiet Berlin. In 1938 he was Oberführer and in August 1938 he was entrusted with the provisional management of the staff in the HJ-Gebietsführung Berlin. He got promoted to Hauptbannführer and became staff leader in November 1938. In November 4, 1942 he became leader of the HJ-Gebiet Berlin (pic dates from this period) and in November 1943 he got promoted to Gebietsführer.
In the last days of war Otto Hamann had set up the Hitler Youth Regiment "Berlin" as part of the Third Row of the Volkssturm. His deputy was BDM Gebietsmädelführerin Gisela Hermann, she was responsible for all of the relief efforts in Berlin and took care of all the relief work that was necessary for this regiment.
In his role, Otto Hamann had to maintain constant contact with the Reichsjugendführer Artur Axmann. Artur Axmann and his adjutant Gerd Weltzin carried out reconnaissance in the vicinity of his office. When they were on a reconnaissance patrol to Charlottenburg Palace, they came under fire on the edge of the palace park. No one was wounded, Axmann immediately went to the Führerbunker and reported the new position of the Soviets in the palace park at the briefing. A short time later, Otto Hamann and Giesela Hermann reported back to Axmann's command post at Wilhelmstrasse 64. They exchanged their experiences and Axmann, who was personally friends with both of them, said goodbye and wished them luck. When the two left the command post, they were seriously wounded by a grenade on Wilhelmstrasse.
Artur Axmann visited the two in the Reich Chancellery emergency hospital, which was overcrowded with wounded. Gisela Hermann had been hit by 13 grenade fragments and Otto Hamann's leg was torn to pieces. Artur Axmann said that Otto Hamann's thigh turned black and that he died of gas gangrene a short time later on May 1, 1945, next to Gisela Hermann. Otto Hamann was buried in the garden of the Reich Chancellery and later reburied, his current grave is in Berlin Neukölln.
After Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide on April 30, 1945, SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Günsche handed over both of Adolf Hitler's pistols (a 7.65 and a 6.35mm) to Artur Axmann. The breakout from the Führerbunker in Berlin was scheduled to take place the next day at 23:00.
In the afternoon on May 1, 1945 Axmann accompanied SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke to the upper bunker, where the troop leaders were gathered, including the French from the Charlemagne Division. Mohnke gave final instructions for the breakout. Afterwards, Artur Axmann went to the Reich Chancellery's emergency hospital once more to say goodbye to Gisela Hermann. They could not take her with them because she was not fit to be transported. The Soviets were already close and at the end Axmann gave Gisela Hermann Hitler's 6.35 mm pistol. When Artur Axmann returned to the bunker, everything was ready for the breakout. At the appointed time, about 30 hours after Hitler's death, they started the breakout.
Gisela Hermann survived, was transferred and treated in a Russian hospital. BDM girls who recognized their former leader also worked in this hospital. They came up with a plan and kidnapped Gisela Hermann. She was taken to the Elbe in a wheelchair and ferried across by boat. In an Allied questionnaire, she truthfully stated her BDM function and was arrested. She was imprisoned in Staumühle and I think it was in 1947 when she met Artur Axmann there by chance.
Regards,
Stephan
