HORNREICH COLLECTION of U.S. & World Medal Plaques
Artist Unascertained

Owner Comments:

Medal, Plaque, 1969, Bronze, Germany. KURT A. BECHER, BREMEN 1949-1969. This was a plaque used or awarded to a famous, or infamous, WWII figure. Kurt Andreas Ernst Becher (12 September 1909 – 8 August 1995) was an SS Untersturmführer (lieutenant) and later a Standartenführer (colonel) who was Commissar of all German concentration camps, and Chief of the Economic Department of the SS Command in Hungary during the German occupation in 1944. He is best known for having traded Jewish lives for money during the Holocaust. Despite this, after the war, Becher became a prosperous businessman[1] in Bremen. He was the president of many corporations, including the Cologne-Handel Gesellschaft, which did extensive business with the Israeli government.[14] By 1960 he was one of the wealthiest men in West Germany,[14] with estimated assets of US$30 million.[15] He came to public attention once again in 1961 when he served as a witness for the prosecution during the trial in Jerusalem of SS officer Adolf Eichmann.[16] He provided his testimony from his home in Germany, because he was unwilling to travel to Israel. Plaquette is 80mm x 60mm.