USMBOOKS.com home page
For Sale on USMBOOKS.com
E-Mail USMBOOKS.com
USMBOOKS Order + Payment information
USMBOOKS.com

The images and the entire text used on this and all other USMBOOKS web pages are the copyrighted property of USM Inc.  Those images and the text may be used by others ONLY AFTER completion of a formal international licensing agreement and payment of a licensing fee! It is therefore, illegal for anyone to take any of the material found on USMBOOKS.com and use it for their own purposes without our written permission, irrespective of any excuse they may feel they have for doing so.

VERY RARE JANUARY 1941 ELITE GERMAN BOARDING SCHOOL
SCHULE SCHLOSS SALEM IM MEMORIAM BOOK

Text and images copyright © 2025 by USM, Inc.
The Foreword of the book mentions that the deaths of the fifteen men remembered in it are sad, but that the way they died should make everybody proud. The Foreword is followed by a page listing all Unsere Gefallenen in alphabetical order.

They are Joachim Drevermann, Hinrich Gebhard Elmenhorst, Dr. Hermann Freudenberg, Erik von Harbou, Albrecht Graf von Hohenau, Gerhard Knittel, Hellmut Krause, Rüdiger von Lettow-Vorbeck, Kurt Mühlhäuser, Henning von Oerßen, Robert Pummerer, RüdigerChristoph von Rautenstrauch, Dietrich Freiherr von Schaezler, Friedrich von Stumm, and Oberleutnant Werner Wieser.
Dietrich Freiherr von Schaezler, Oberleutnant der Luftwaffe
Schule Schloss Salem Kriegsnummer 26, Januar 1941
Right, Count Albrecht von Hohenau, Fahnenjunker in einem Panzer-Regiment who died at age 20 on 5 May 1940 in northern France.
Schule Schloss Salem, unsere Gefallenen 1941
The photo pages are on white glossy-finish paper, the biographies are on regular paper which has yellowed somewhat over the last 80+ years.
The boarding school was closed for a few years after World War II and today most students are German, but there are quite a large number of foreign students. They come from countries such as Switzerland, Spain, US, China, Russia, Korea, India, Canada, Australia and Italy.
Rüdiger von Lettow-Vorbeck, son of German East Africa hero General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
They include members of the Army, Kriegsmarine, Panzer-Regiment and Gebirgsjäger-Regiment soldiers, and a married meteorologist in the Luftwaffe. Some died on the battlefield, some in field hospitals. Several men came from noble families, some from military families, many were recipients of the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class.



Shown left is Rüdiger von Lettow-Vorbeck, son of German East Africa hero General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck whose nickname was “The Lion of Africa”. He died on 5 June 1940, south of Amiens in France at age 18.
Dr. Hermann Freudenberg, Luftwaffe meteorologist
Schule Schloss Salem In Memoriam January 1941
Fliegeroffizier Robert Pummerer starb für Führer und Grossdeutschland
Schule Schloss Salem is yet today a German boarding school for upper-class Germans that offers German Abitur and the International Baccalaureate (IB) degrees.  It was established in 1920 by Karl Reinhardt and Jewish educator Kurt Hahn with financial support of the Prince Max von Baden.

During the Third Reich Jewish teachers and students were expelled and by the fall of 1934, 94% of the students were members of the Hitler Youth. The school was run by educator and German World War I veteran Heinrich Blendinger until January 1944 when SS-Obersturmführer Walter Schmitt took it over.

Notable alumni include England’s Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Sofía of Spain, German food manufacturer Rudolf August Oetker (who turned the baking goods company Dr. Oetker into a multinational food conglomerate), Hans-Ulrich von Oertzen (involved in the failed 20 July 1944 plot to kill Adolf Hitler) as well as Berthold Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the oldest son of Nazi Officer and anti-Hitler conspirator Claus von Stauffenberg.
Below, details about Robert Pummerer, Oberleutnant
in einer Fliegertruppe, who died for the Führer
and Greater Germany.
Each deceased former student is nicely pictured (all but one in uniform) and has their date of birth, date of deathm family, service and other details printed below their photo.

Count Albrecht von Hohenau

The rare school memorial book Schule Schloss Salem that we offer for sale on this USMBOOKS web page is the next-to-the-last one published during World War II, Nr. 26 dated January 1941. It is an In Memoriam issue and contains informative biographies of former students who joined the Wehrmacht or the SS and died for the Führer and Fatherland.

Left, Oberleutnant der Luftwaffe Werner Wieser who attended Schule Schloss Salem from 1932-1935 before entering a Kriegs- und Kavallerieschule. As a Leutnant he participated in the invasion of Austria and Sudetenland, and later in the invasion of Poland and the West as well.
Right, Regierungsrat Dr. Hermann Freudenberg, Luftwaffe meteorologist who was lost in the Thames Estuary, 7 miles off Margate on 12 June 1940. He had been married since 4 September 1939 and at the time of his death served in Wettererkundungsstaffel 51. His body was never recovered.
Right, part of the write-up on Gerhard Knittel who finished his Abitur at Salem in 1935. He is described as a loyal comrade, who gave his heart to the National-Socialist Movement at an early age. He was a member of the SA and NSDAP and entered military service to help build up the new German Reich. He participated in the invasion of Austria and Sudetenland, was wounded in Poland . The 24 year old Leutnant in a Schützenregiment died in France on 13 June 1940 .

The young, spirited and exemplary officer will be missed by his fellow soldiers and officers, according to the Regimentskommandeur.

This 100% original, 6-1/2 x 9-3/8 inch, 40-page softcover example of the 1941 In Memoriam issues of Schule Schloss Salem was printed by Buchdruckerei Schober in Salem. It is very, very rare, complete and in very nice used condition. No odor.

Left, Oberleutnant zur See Hinrich Gebhard Elmenhorst, son of Korvettenkapitän Max Wolfram Elmenhorst, died at age 24 on 3 August 1940 when the U-25 he was serving on hit British mines in the Northsea.
Oberleutnant der Luftwaffe Werner Wieser
Gerhard Knittel, Leutnant in einem Schützenregiment

Also for sale on USMBOOKS.com, the WW2 'funeral cards' for a decorated Gebirgsjäger, a Luftwaffe Feldwebel and three brothers that died on the East Front .  We are happy to combine shipping of multiple purchases!

This rare 1941 In Memoriam issues of Schule Schloss Salem is for sale
for $275.00 delivered by Media Mail in the continental USA.
 
USM book #1416

   • IF you prefer faster and safer Priority Mail shipping with USPS Tracking add $9.00.
   • IF you wish to purchase highly recommended, but optional insurance, add $4.50.
   • We will be happy to ship abroad at additional cost, however foreign customers are
     responsible for any VAT payments, import duties & customs clearing fees. Please inquire.
Oberleutnant zur See Hinrich Gebhard Elmenhorst

SCHULE SCHLOSS SALEM
Nr. 26 JANUAR 1941

USM Rare Books & Third Reich collectibles