Soldbuch issued as Oberst on 01.09.1939 by the Staff of Luftflottenkommando 2, with excellent uniform photograph, unit assignments: Staff Kampfgruppe 55, Luftzeuggruppe 4, Luftzeuggruppe Staff, Luftzeuggruppe 17, Luftzeugstab AOK10, Luftzeugkommando Rom, Kar... 514. Current responsible replacement unit: Fl.Ausb.Rgt.61, Fl.Ersat-Batll.IV, Fl.Ers.Batl.XVII. Decorations: Medal in Commemoration of 13 March 1938, Medal in Commemoration of 1 October 1938, Clasp to the Iron Cross II. Class, War Merit Cross I. Class with Swords, Wound Badge in Silver. First page was glued in later, pages 3 and 4 are loose, several interior pages have been reinforced, condition 3-
Also includes 1 photograph from his time before the British War Tribunal.

Flight blouse as private purchase item, made of lightweight fabric (for summer), complete with all insignia. Fabric of blue gabardine. Breast eagle and collar tabs in hand-embroidered metallic thread execution, surrounding golden piping, collar tabs machine-sewn. Shoulder boards with loops, the general's braid in silver/gold on white cloth backing. On the chest, loops for one large medal bar and for 4 stick pins. Interior with gray silk lining, at the neck with tailor's label "Josef Andrysek Wien IV / 50", interior pocket with owner's label "Gen.Lt.K.Mählzer 12.12.1943". Sleeve length 70 cm, chest circumference 112 cm, back length 77 cm, minor moth damage, condition 2

Mälzer entered the Saxon Army as an officer cadet in 1914, before the outbreak of World War I. That same year he was awarded the Iron Cross II. and I. Class. He also completed pilot training during the war. After the war's end, he was accepted into the Reichswehr as a Leutnant and initially served as platoon leader of the 4th Motor Transport Battalion. In 1923/24 he completed training at the Artillery School Jüterbog. Promoted to Oberleutnant in 1925, he became battery commander with the 4th Artillery Regiment. Between 1928 and 1933 he was assigned to study at the Technical University Charlottenburg, where he earned a diploma engineer degree in 1933. Subsequently he was seconded to the Reich War Ministry.

In 1934 Mälzer transferred to the newly reorganized Luftwaffe. He taught briefly at the Technical School in Jüterbog and was among the first instructors at the new Luftkriegsschule II in Berlin-Gatow. In 1937, by then holding the rank of Oberstleutnant, he became commander of Kampfgeschwader 255 and the Luftwaffe base Landsberg am Lech.

At the beginning of World War II, Mälzer was assigned to the staff of Luftflotte 2. During the French campaign, Mälzer became commander of the flight detachment of Luftgaukommando Belgien-Nordfrankreich in Brussels on 28 May 1940. Promoted to Generalmajor in 1941, he was department head in the Reich Air Ministry in 1942/43 and became commander of Sanitäts-Flugbereitschaft 17 in Vienna in September 1943. Promoted to Generalleutnant on 1 October 1943, he was transferred on 30 October 1943 as city commandant to Rome. In this capacity he was subordinate to Eberhard von Mackensen.

In this capacity he was one of those responsible for the massacre in the Ardeatine Caves. Since Rome was considered an open city, decision-making authority over reprisal measures following attacks on German soldiers rested with the Wehrmacht commanders, namely Mälzer, Mackensen and Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. The commander of the Security Police and SD in Rome, Herbert Kappler, was subordinate to Mälzer. After the attack on Via Rasella on 23 March 1944 against the Police Regiment “Bozen”, Mälzer, who had been described by Mackensen on another occasion as a “confused mind”, ordered upon his arrival at the scene that the block of buildings on Via Rasella be blown up. However, the officer who received this order prohibited the demolition in the name of Field Marshal Kesselring.[1] Together with Kappler and Kesselring, Mälzer decided, allegedly to execute a Führer order, on the execution of ten hostages for each killed German. In total, 335 Italian civilians, including 75 Jewish hostages, were killed on 24 March 1944.

Mälzer was charged for this war crime together with Mackensen before a British military tribunal in Italy in November 1946 and sentenced to death. Already in September 1946, an American military tribunal had sentenced Mälzer to ten years imprisonment for the public display of prisoners of war during a parade in Rome on 2 February 1944, a sentence that was reduced to three years. On 29 June 1947, Mälzer and Mackensen were granted clemency to life imprisonment. The British justified this on the grounds that Kesselring had not been sentenced to death before an Italian court. Mackensen and Mälzer served their sentences from 1947 in Werl Prison. While Mackensen was released in October 1952, Mälzer died while still in prison. His funeral was transformed by the Association of German Soldiers into a solidarity demonstration, which was also joined by the German Red Cross, the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten, the FDP and Die Falken.

488586

The Fliegerbluse and Soldbuch of Generalleutnant Kurt Mälzer – Artifacts of a Convicted War Criminal

This grouping of a Luftwaffe Fliegerbluse (flight blouse) and Soldbuch (paybook) belonged to Generalleutnant Kurt Mälzer (2 August 1894 – 24 March 1952), a senior Luftwaffe officer who served as Stadtkommandant (Military Commandant) of Rome and was convicted for his role in one of the most notorious war crimes committed in Italy during the Second World War. Together, these two items trace the trajectory of a military career that ended in a death sentence, commuted to life imprisonment.

The Soldbuch – A Career in Miniature

The Soldbuch was issued on 1 September 1939 – the opening day of the war – by the Stab Luftflottenkommando 2 (Staff of Air Fleet Command 2) to the then-Oberst (Colonel) Kurt Mälzer. Standard Wehrmacht regulations required every soldier and officer to carry this combined paybook and identity document in the tunic pocket at all times. The small, pocket-sized book with a leather cover contains a uniform photograph and records Mälzer’s successive unit assignments, including Stab Kampfgruppe 55, Luftzeuggruppe 4, Luftzeuggruppe Stab, Luftzeuggruppe 17, Luftzeugstab AOK10, and Luftzeugkommando Rom. The awards section records the Medal for the Annexation of Austria (13 March 1938), the Medal for the Annexation of the Sudetenland (1 October 1938), the 1939 Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class, the War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords, and the Wound Badge in Silver.

The document shows considerable wear consistent with years of field service: the first page has been re-glued, pages 3 and 4 are detached, and several interior pages have been reinforced.

The Fliegerbluse – A General’s Tailored Tunic

The Fliegerbluse is a privately commissioned garment made from lightweight blue gabardine, designed for summer wear in southern climates – specifically for Mälzer’s posting in Rome from October 1943 onward. It was produced by the Viennese tailor Josef Andrysek (Wien IV), whose label appears inside the neck. The inner pocket carries an owner’s label reading “Gen.Lt.K.Mählzer 12.12.1943”, dating the garment to just weeks after Mälzer’s arrival in Rome.

The blouse displays the hallmarks of a Luftwaffe general officer’s uniform: the breast eagle and collar patches are hand-embroidered in metallic thread, the gold twisted cord (Generalsgeflecht) runs around the collar, and the shoulder boards feature silver and gold general’s braid on white cloth backing, attached by loops for removal. Loops on the chest accommodate a large medal ribbon bar and four pin badges. The interior is lined with grey silk. Originally designed for wear in the confined spaces of aircraft cockpits, the Fliegerbluse had become standard service dress across all Luftwaffe branches by mid-war. Senior officers frequently commissioned private tailors rather than relying on issue garments, and this example, with its hand-embroidered insignia and silk lining, is characteristic of that practice.

Military Career

Kurt Mälzer entered the army as a Fahnenjunker (officer cadet) in 1914 and received both classes of the Iron Cross that same year. He completed pilot training during the First World War. After 1918, he remained in the Reichswehr as a Leutnant, serving as a platoon leader in the 4th Motor Transport Battalion. He trained at the Artillery School in Jüterbog in 1923–24 and was promoted to Oberleutnant in 1925, becoming a battery commander in the 4th Artillery Regiment. Between 1928 and 1933, he studied at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg, earning a degree as Diplom-Ingenieur (graduate engineer) in 1933.

In 1934, Mälzer transferred to the newly forming Luftwaffe. He taught at the Technical School in Jüterbog and was among the first instructors at the new Luftkriegsschule II in Berlin-Gatow. By 1937, holding the rank of Oberstleutnant, he commanded Kampfgeschwader 255 and the Luftwaffe base at Landsberg am Lech. At the outbreak of war, he was attached to the staff of Luftflotte 2. During the Fall of France, he assumed command of the flight readiness section of the Luftgau Command Belgium-Northern France in Brussels on 28 May 1940. Promoted to Generalmajor in 1941, he headed a department in the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (Reich Air Ministry) in 1942–43 before briefly commanding the Sanitäts-Flugbereitschaft 17 in Vienna. On 1 October 1943, he was promoted to Generalleutnant, and on 30 October 1943 he was posted to Rome as Stadtkommandant, subordinate to Generaloberst Eberhard von Mackensen and Feldmarschall Albert Kesselring.

The Ardeatine Caves Massacre

As Military Commandant of Rome, Mälzer bore direct responsibility for the Ardeatine Caves Massacre of 24 March 1944. The previous day, Italian partisans attacked a column of German SS police in the Via Rasella, killing 32 men. Mälzer, upon arriving at the scene, initially ordered the entire city block surrounding the Via Rasella to be demolished by explosives – an order that was countermanded by a subordinate officer acting in Kesselring’s name. Together with SS-Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler, Commander of the Security Police and SD in Rome who was subordinate to Mälzer, a reprisal at a ratio of ten to one was ordered, invoking a directive from Hitler. On 24 March 1944, 335 Italian civilians, political prisoners, and Jews were taken to the Ardeatine Caves on the outskirts of Rome and shot.

Trial, Conviction, and Death

Following the liberation of Rome in June 1944, Mälzer was captured and faced two separate trials. In September 1946, a U.S. Military Commission in Florence sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment – subsequently reduced to three years on appeal – for parading Allied prisoners of war through Rome on 2 February 1944, in violation of the Geneva Convention. On 30 November 1946, a British military court in Rome sentenced both Mälzer and Mackensen to death for the Ardeatine Massacre. On 29 June 1947, both death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, the British citing the fact that Kesselring’s sentence had also been reduced.

Mälzer served his sentence at Werl Prison in Germany, where he died on 24 March 1952 – the eighth anniversary of the massacre. He was buried at the Parkfriedhof Werl. His funeral was transformed into a solidarity rally by the Verband deutscher Soldaten (Association of German Soldiers), attracting over 1,000 mourners, with participation by the German Red Cross, the Stahlhelm (League of Front Soldiers), the FDP, and Die Falken. Meanwhile, Mackensen was released from custody in October 1952. The Ardeatine Caves site was designated a national memorial and mausoleum in 1949 and remains a place of remembrance to this day. Mälzer was later portrayed by actor Leo McKern in the 1973 film Massacre in Rome, directed by George Pan Cosmatos.

For the collector, this grouping represents a pairing of exceptional historical significance: a Soldbuch issued on the first day of the war and a general’s tailored tunic from the final months before one of the most documented atrocities of the Italian campaign. Together they form a direct material link to a figure at the intersection of military command and criminal responsibility.