Oberleutnant d.Res Gerhard Türke (May 1, 1914 – November 21, 1991)

Gerhard Türke was born May 1st, 1914, in Heinersdorf, Kreis Lebus. From 1934 onwards he studied in Frankfurt to become a teacher and he started teaching in a Volksschule (people’s school) from 1936 onwards. October 17th, 1936, Türke fulfilled his mandatory military service in Infantry Regiment 29 after which he continued teaching in 1938. At the outbreak of WW 2 he was called up again and he participated in the campaign in the West. Together with his unit, he was deployed on the Eastern Front as part of the 6. Armee. Near Stalingrad, he participated in the battles with 3. Infanterie-Division (Motorisiert) and was named Chef of 3. Kompanie. Shortly before 6. Armee capitulated, he was promoted to Hauptmann der Reserve and flown out of the encirclement around Stalingrad. In Biarritz, France, he was named Commander I.Battalion/Grenadier-Regiment 29 (Motorisiert) and deployed near Nettuno in Italy. During the remainder of the war, he and his unit saw action on the Western Front until he, holding the rank of Major der Reserve, was made a POW in the Ruhr area. After WW 2, Türke returned to teaching and on July 10th, 1957, he was named headmaster of a Hauptschule in Gelsenkirchen and held this post up to his retirement in 1979. Gerhard Türke passed away on November 21st, 1991, in Gelsenkirchen. (From Traces of War)

Knights Cross of the Iron Cross formal award document issued to Oberleutnant d.Res Gerhard Türke on parchment with an integral blank front leaf, Führerhauptquartier, December 17, 1942. The ornately lettered document is executed in India ink and gold with a hand-inked signature of Adolf Hitler at the bottom. The parchment is just the slightest bit wavy, as is very common in such documents, but otherwise fine condition. Award documents for the Knight’s Cross are rare, even though Hitler granted over 7,000 of them. A severe backlog soon developed and, in the end, very few recipients of the award ever received their large formal award documents.

The document is part of a veteran bring-back that we proudly offer here for the very first time. The GI opted to bring 9 single formal documents in one red presentation leather folder (Mappe) which will be auctioned with Ratisbon’s through a couple of auctions.