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SS-Standartenführer Gunter d’Alquen
Skorpion-Ost (Scorpion East) was the extremely obscure and secretive German SS propaganda unit that operated in Eastern Europe under SS-Standartenführer Gunter d'Alquen from 1941 to 1945. Few collectors and even fewer institutions such as museums, have ever heard of Skorpion-Ost. Among other things, SS Skorpion-Ost originated, designed, wrote multi-lingual text for, and manufactured leaflets, newspapers, and other printed propaganda in both Polish and Russian languages to try to lower the morale of the enemy and to try to induce enemy soldiers to surrender to the Wehrmacht and/or quit fighting and go home.
Skorpion-Ost propaganda leaflets
Since it was a top secret outfit and the small amount of information available about it is mostly in the German language, we will give a brief introduction here to familiarize people and provide historical background for people with an interest in this unique lot of 1944 Skorpion-Ost Flugblattmuster. As far as we are aware, there are no published books that reveal any significant part of the story of either Gunter d'Alquen or Skorpion-Ost in English or German.
Skorpion-Ost Flugblattmuster Dezember 1944
anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda leaflets, Davidstern
1944 Passierschein mit Hoheitszeichen
Stalin and the Jews are chasing you to your death!
Propagandakompanie 612 was part of the German 9th Army which had been active in the Soviet Union since 1941. By mid-December 1944, they were attached to the 46th Panzerkorps near Warsaw which had arrived in Poland after heavy fighting in the Ukraine. Men of the mobile "Skorpion-Ost" unit were embedded with Propagandakompanie 612 when the leaflets in this folio were produced. The goal of each of the propaganda pieces was to influence enemy fighters and to urge them to stop fighting against the Germans. Many of the leaflets have a Passierschein at the bottom (with Nazi eagle and swastika), guaranteeing safe passage for the bearer to the German side with texts such as "Remember, if you come to us voluntarily, you are our friend!", "Poles - don't die as Russian canon fodder!" and "Leave Stalin's Hell - return to freedom and peaceful work!"
Gunter d'Alquen was born in 1910 and at age 17 became a very early member of the Nazi Party, and in 1931, the SS. In the early 1930s he was already a political correspondent for the Nazi Party newspaper Völkischer Beobachter. Later, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler appointed him chief editor of the extremely anti-Semitic SS newspaper Das Schwarze Korps in March 1935. In September 1939, D'Alquen became a prominent SS-Kriegsberichter (SS war correspondent). He was appointed head of the propaganda formation SS-Standarte 'Kurt Eggers' named for Kurt Eggers, a SS war correspondent friend of d'Alquen, and editor of Das Schwarze Korps who was killed in action near Kharkov in 1943. SS-Standarte 'Kurt Eggers' was headquartered at the LSSAH Barracks in Berlin-Zehlendorf.

anti-Soviet Nazi propaganda
As head of the SS-Standarte 'Kurt Eggers', SS-Standartenführer d'Alquen was the Chef der Propagandatruppen der Deutschen Wehrmacht, meaning he was in charge of all propaganda to be utilized by units of the German Army, Navy, Air Force and Waffen-SS.*
SS Skorpion Ost propaganda leaflets, Poland December 1944
Waffen-SS war correspondent detachments served with all Waffen-SS combat units during campaigns in the west, in the Balkans and on the East Front. Many foreign volunteers became SS-Standarte 'Kurt Eggers' photographers, movie cameramen, broadcasters and writers, and most were well-educated and multilingual. Detachments within the Standarte were also formed to gather information in occupied or allied countries, and these sub-units were generally staffed by volunteers of the relevant nationality.
Skorpion-Ost Flugblattmuster Dezember 1944
SS Skorpion-Ost along with SS Skorpion-West were essential parts of Sonderunternehmen "Südstern" (Special Operations "Southern Star"), part of SS-Standarte 'Kurt Eggers' from early 1944 onward.

The extremely rare SS archival folio offered for sale on this USMBOOKS web page is probably unique; it is a 100% genuine Third Reich archival SS folio containing original examples (Muster in German) of the work of Skorpion-Ost tipped-in on printed pages with excellent German translations of the Polish or Russian texts involved. The folio is dated December 1944. We suspect these original examples of Flugblattmuster (leaflets thrown out of airplanes or fired in shells to land behind enemy lines) and newspapers were tipped into this folio and sent (or more likely taken) to a SS archive somewhere in Nazi Germany in December 1944 or January 1945 as a part of a permanent historical record of the unit's work in the East.

Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler
Why die for Stalin and the Jews in a foreign land?
December 1944 anti-Russian Skorpion Ost propaganda leaflet
December 1944 anti-Russian Skorpion Ost propaganda leaflet
Skorpion-Ost Flugblattmuster Dezember 1944
Nazi grenades, Nazi tanks
Nazis beating Stalin
These leaflets are often very anti-Semitic and describe Stalin's terror regime and its hundreds of thousands of victims, the horrible torture cellars of the NKWD, untrustworthy British leaders, American troops fleeing in panic, heavy Russian losses as a result of fighting the superior Wehrmacht ("Do you want to die like your comrades of the 47th and 70th Army?"), promising a good life and peace after defecting to the German side, choosing the destiny of your family, etc. There are "Lies of the Enemy", quotes from OKW reports guaranteeing fair treatment of Soviet POWs, alleged letters written by Russian and Polish defectors glorifying what was said to be the wonderful situation on the German side, translations of British magazines articles negatively describing what is in store for citizens of Soviet-occupied Poland, etc.

Russian text on a leaflet meant for White Russians of the 4th Schützen-Division translates as:

Comrades!
Cold, Hunger, nothing to smoke, strong German weapons.

Fight for Stalin, Fight for the Kochosen, Fight for the Jews, Fight for strange lands.

White Russians of the 4th Rifle Division, come to the German side! Or become a Partisan behind the lines of the Bolsheviks! Join the German side for a good life!

Many of the propaganda leaflets are particularly anti-Jewish in tone. For example, "Death in the snow on foreign soil - death for Stalin and his Jewish Clique" ,"Stalin and the Kremlin Jews", "The true face of Jewish enslavement", "The Jews in Moscow are disappointed that British attacks in the West did not force the German Army to withdraw troops from Poland and Hungary", "The Jews in Moscow promised you would be in Berlin by Christmas!", "Stalin and the Jews are chasing you to your death!" and "Enough! Join the fight against Bolshevik traitors and Jews!"
Many of the illustrations on the leaflets tend to be very anti-Jewish as well. For example Jews with big noses, and clothing with an oversized Davidstern or Star of David. They are graphic too - dead soldiers in the snow, hungry women and children, bloody axes, superior German soldiers, etc.
This unique and historic 9-¾ x 12-½ inch folio (still with its original Third Reich staples!) contains FORTY original Flugblätter, each with a printed Third Reich German translation of the Polish or Russian text. Each piece is marked Prop.-Einsatzführer 612 Unternehmen "Skorpion" or "Skorpion" 1. Einsatz-Komp. The last item in the folio is an actual example of an illegal 8-page 'underground' Polish newspaper Nowy Czas dated 21 December 1944 (shown above). It comes with a German translation as well, of course.
SS-Standartenführer Gunter d’Alquen
This extremely rare and historic folio is probably unique, and would make a fascinating book because the German texts are absolutely correct translations from the very difficult-to-translate Polish or Russian texts, making them easy to put into English. This rare book could easily be the basis for a scholarly study of the entire subject. The dozens of mostly two-sided sample leaflets would make superb illustrations for a book! This Skorpion-Ost archive could also be used as the basis for an advanced thesis in the history department at any competent university; or as a central feature in a large SS collection; or in a military or propaganda museum anywhere on earth. Where could you find another example?
* As a footnote, it should be of interest to many examining this USMBOOKS web page that Gunter d'Alquen (photo on the right for reference only) is still a fairly sketchy historical figure from World War II. Held for brief periods by both the Allies and the post-1945 German authorities, he was by the late 1950s a shareholder in a German weaving mill, and lived in relative obscurity until his death in May 1998.

Have a look at other original Third Reich SS material for sale on USMBOOKS.com.  We are happy to combine shipping to save you money!

This incredibly rare, late-war SS Skorpion-Ost propaganda material is
** SOLD **
 
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EXTREMELY RARE SS-SKORPION OST 1944 EAST FRONT
PROPAGANDA LEAFLET ARCHIVE FOLIO - UNIQUE

FORTY RARE GENUINE
1944 EAST FRONT
NAZI PROPAGANDA LEAFLETS IN THEIR ORIGINAL SKORPION OST
SS ARCHIVAL FOLIO
-
A ONE OF A KIND PIECE
OF WORLD WAR II
AND SS HISTORY!

USM Rare Books & Third Reich collectibles