JOSEPH STALIN His very rare signature on an autograph note to Defense Commissar Voroshilov on a 1936 report concerning a new military technology! Rare ANS: "J. Stalin" in Russian in light green pencil at upper left of first page of Typed DS by two officials, 2 pages, 8¼x11½. U.S.S.R., 1936 January 13. Headed: "Report". Stalin has written, in full: "To Comrade Voroshilov/What does this mean?" The report (not translated) concerns the discovery of an infrared detector with military applications. Untranslated notes in red and blue pencil at top of first page. JOSEPH STALIN (1879-1953) was General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party from 1922-1953. After Lenin's death in 1924, he eliminated his opposition and established himself as dictator. Stalin's "Great Purge" from 1936-1938 rid the Communist Party of all the people who had brought him to power. Soviet Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov estimated that more than 1.2 million party members (more than half the party) read more...

MUSSOLINI INSCRIBED A PHOTOGRAPH TO MARY PICKFORD!   BENITO MUSSOLINI. Large Photograph Mount inscribed and signed: "Alla Signora Mary Pikford/cordialmente/Roma 10 maggio 1926 Mussolini" in Italian. B/w, 15x22 overall, image 9½x15 (two surfaces). Photograph by V. Lavoisa, Roma. Water staining on "cordialmente" and "maggio" does not affect the inscription, just stains the surface it's written on. Mussolini is known to have been a fan of Mary Pickford which he has spelled "Pikford". According to Eileen Whitfield in Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood (1997), Pickford praised both Mussolini and Hitler. In the 1998 DVD Mary Pickford: A Life on Film, the filmmakers briefly mention Pickford's "momentary flirtation" with Mussolini's fascism. In 1923, Mussolini appeared in Samuel Goldwyn's film, The Eternal City. BENITO MUSSOLINI was Prime Minister of Italy from October 31, 1922 when he was asked by King Victor Emmanuel III to form a government, until July 25, 1943 when he was deposed. read more...

ON HIS FIRST FULL DAY AS PRIME MINISTER, CASTRO SIGNS A LAW SUSPENDING PAYMENT OF EXPENSES TO HIMSELF AND OTHER GOVERNMENT MINISTERS UNTIL THE GOALS OF THE REVOLUTION HAVE BEEN REACHED   FIDEL CASTRO and MANUEL URRUTIA. Important Typed DS: "Fidel Castro Ruz" as Prime Minister and "M Urrutia" as President, 1p, 10¾x14. El Palacio de la Presidencia, Havana, 1959 February 17. Countersigned by the Minister of the Treasury. In Spanish, not fully translated. Plus a cover page, on "Republic de Cuba/Presidencia" stationery, titled: "LAW No. 85/1959/that suspends the allocations for expenses of representation/and reimbursement for the Prime Minister and the Ministers of the/Government". Prime Minister Castro and President Urrutia sign this law which suspends expenses and reimbursements to government officials from March, 1959, "inasmuch as the Revolution was fought to eradicate unemployment and elevate the standard of one's life,...until those goals have been reached.... read more...

JOHANN VON GOETHE While working on the second part of Faust, the author praised an associate for taking care of his property with this handwritten and signed letter Autograph Letter Signed: "JW Goethe", 1p, 8x9¾. Weimar, 1830 September 25. In German, with translation. To an unnamed associate in nearby Jena, Germany. In full: "The duty that you, my esteemed person, currently superintend so successful is of such value for the properties transferred to my care in Jena that I have, in any case, the authority to support you out of supervisory funds. Besides the present salary, you will therefore receive twenty-five Saxonian Thaler for which you only need write me a simple receipt, without indication of the purpose. Use them with assurance and report to me further from time to time. With esteem and trust". At the time of this letter, Goethe (1749-1832) was immersed in the second part of the most profound and critically praised work of his literary career, the poetic masterpiece, Faust (Part I, 1808; Part II, 1832). read more...

FIDEL CASTRO and JUAN ORTA The Cuban dictator signed this 4¾x7 black and white photograph that includes a letter signed by his private secretary Photograph signed: "Fidel Castro/ Hab. Nov 19, 59" as Prime Minister. B/w, 4¾x7. Fine condition. Accompanied by TLS: "Juan Orta", Chief of the Prime Minister's Office, 1 page, 8½x10¾. On official letterhead. Havana, Cuba, 24 October, 1959 "Año de la Liberacion". To Eugenio Von Boeck, Chargé d'Affaires, Embassy of Bolivia, Montevideo, Uruguay. In Spanish, loosely translated: "On behalf of the Prime Minister, Dr. Fidel Castro, I am pleased to send you the photograph which you amicably requested in your letter dated the 15th of the current month." Date stamp in lower right corner. Lightly creased. Binder holes in left margin. Otherwise, fine condition. The letter is dated 26 days before the signature on the photo and was presumably forwarded to Castro to accompany it. On January 1, 1959, read more...

JOSEPH STALIN, KLIMENT VOROSHILOV, and KIRILL MERETSKOV With war looming in 1938, Stalin signs a key document reorganizing a Red Army recently beset by his devastating purges! Extremely rare! Document signed (in Cyrillic alphabet): "S", "K. Voroshilov", "K. Meretskov", 3 pages, 7½x12. Moscow, 1938 July 14. Initialed by Stalin on p1, countersigned by Voroshilov and Meretskov (as Secretary) on p3. Headed: "Top Secret Copy No 1 Protocol No 12 of the meeting of the Chief Council of War of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army". In Cyrillic script, with accompanying English translation. Decisions of a meeting held that day, attended by Stalin, Voroshilov, [Foreign Minister Vyacheslav] Molotov, and by five high-ranking army generals: [Efim] Shchadenko, [Boris] Shaposhnikov, [Aleksandr] Loktionov, [Dimitrii] Pavlov, and [Kirill] Meretskov (who also signed the document as Secretary). The document provides detailed instructions for reorganizing Soviet military commands in the Kiev Special read more...

CHAIM WEIZMANN Typed letter in Hebrew, signed as President of Israel, thanking a retiring Cabinet Minister, "my friend and dear teacher" Yehuda Leib Fishman (Maimon). TLS: "Chaim Weizmann" in Hebrew as President of Israel, 1 page, 6½x8¾. No place, 1951 October 8. On letterhead of the State of Israel to the Honorable Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fishman (Maimon). In Hebrew, translated. In full: "It is not a parable to tell you your honor, my friend and dear teacher, that I have the privilege to work with you for more than 20 years, and I recognize and respect your actions for more than 40 years. Today, when you leave the table of government, I tell you what is in my heart. I don't know anyone from the senior office of the Zionist Movement that awakens in me more honor in his beliefs than you." A carbon copy of this letter was sent to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Russian-born chemist and Zionist CHAIM WEIZMANN (1874-1952) was President of the World Zionist Organization (1920-1930, 1935-1946) read more...

AS CASTRO MOVES TO EMBRACE COMMUNISM, HE ACCEPTS THE RESIGNATION OF A FUTURE CRITIC UNWILLING TO FOLLOW THIS COURSE. FIDEL CASTRO and OSVALDO DORTICÓS. Document signed: "Fidel Castro" as Prime Minister, "Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado" as President, 1p, 8½x12¾. Havana, Cuba, 1960 January 22. In Spanish. Presidential Decree No. 2358, accepting the resignation of Dr. Julio Garceran de Vall y Souza, administrator of laws for the Supreme Justice Court. Also signed by the Minister of Justice. Impressed with official seals of office over each signature. On January 1, 1959, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista fled the country, and FIDEL CASTRO, who had led a guerrilla struggle against the former leader, took over as Premier. He would hold this title he until 1976, when he became President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. Although Castro's Marxist-Leninist principles and alignment with the former Soviet Union isolated Cuba in the Western Hemisphere and antagonized the United States, his regime has outlasted its former Soviet patron. read more...

FRITZ SAUCKEL These incredibly rare documents are a handwritten, dated and signed account of Nazi Germany's forced labor and mass deportation operations by Germany's chief of slave labor recruitment. They were written by Sauckel for his lawyer during his trial before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremburg after World War II. They are important documentation of the 20th century's worst war and of some of the worst atrocities ever recorded in human history. They are also a typical example of the defense used by many defendants in the postwar Nuremberg trials: they were only following orders. This defense failed to sway Sauckel's tribunal; he was found guilty of war crimes and later hanged. Historically Important Autograph Manuscript signed twice (at top of first page and at bottom of last page): "Fritz Sauckel", in pencil, as war crimes defendant, 26 pages, 8x10½. IN GERMAN WITH 1945 ENGLISH TRANSLATION WITH FOOTNOTES AND COMMENTS. Nuremburg [Germany], 1945 July 15. This text was provided by Sauckel to his attorney as a means of fully describing the organization of the forced labor department, and Sauckel's duties and responsibilities. read more...