[Above: Viktor Lutze (December 28, 1890 - May 2, 1943).]

[Above: Viktor Lutze, with Rudolf Hess behind him, beside Wilhelm Brückner (Adolf Hitler's chief adjutant until October 1940 when he joined the Wehrmacht), October 31, 1931 (Halloween).]

[Above: Wilhelm Brückner was an incredibly handsome and suave guy!]

[Above: Postcard of Wilhelm Brückner.]

[Above: An early picture of Lutze (right) with Adolf Hitler and Carl Röver (left of Hitler), Oldenburg, 1931.]

[Above: Another shot from the day above, Lutze is in the background to the right of Carl Röver, Oldenburg, 1931.]

[Above: Behind Adolf Hitler is Viktor Lutze (far right) with Ernst Röhm (center) and NSKK leader Adolf Hühnlein (left).]

[Above: Viktor Lutze is on the right.]

[Above: This shows 'Der Führer in Braunschweig 1931'. Viktor Lutze is on the right.]

[Above: Lutze behind Adolf Hitler, who is gripping the holy Blood Flag.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze autographed and inscribed photograph.]

[Above: Autographed Lutze postcard.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Viktor Lutze, Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler, with thousands of SA men watching. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Viktor Lutze greeting mountain (Gebirgsjäger) soldiers. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Viktor Lutze (2nd from right) with Joseph Goebbels and others. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: A cool-looking picture of Viktor Lutze with soldiers at a camp. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Viktor Lutze with others in a potato field inspecting cut-open potatoes. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Viktor Lutze, from the set above, a few moments later.]

[Above: During a visit to the SA Gruppe Alpenland Lutze stopped to lay a wreath at the grave of Adolf Hitler's parents, Klara and Alois, in Leonding near Linz.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze with Adolf Hitler before thousands of SA men. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Viktor Lutze is seen here shaking hands with Adolf Hitler.]

[Above: Adolf Hitler sits in the new Volkswagen while Ferdinand Porsche and Robert Ley stand next to the door. Lutze's arm is in a sling here.]

[Above: Another autographed card.]

[Above: Lutze is to the right of Adolf Hitler.]

[Above: Lutze is on the far left.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze is standing next to Rudolf Hess, front row, second from left. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Lutze is to the right of Adolf Hitler.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze reads the names of dead National Socialist martyrs, Reich Party Day, 1937. Jakob Grimminger holds the holy Blood Flag behind him. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Lutze is in the center.]

[Above: Lutze is second from the right.]

[Above: A shooting competition in the snow. Lutze is leaning over next to the shooter.]

[Above: Lutze is on the far left.]

[Above: Lutze enjoying a giant goblet of... wine?]

[Above: Viktor Lutze, Adolf Hitler and Leni Riefenstahl.]

[Above: From left to right: Field-marshal Erhard Milch, Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler and Viktor Lutze.]

[Above: From left to right: Viktor Lutze (second from left), Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess and Julius Streicher, Nuremberg.]

[Above: From left to right: Heinrich Himmler, Viktor Lutze, Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess and Julius Streicher at the Luitpold Hall (Luitpoldhalle). Click to enlarge!]

[Above: From left to right: Joseph Goebbels, Robert Ley, Heinrich Himmler, Viktor Lutze, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler and Julius Streicher at the opening ceremonies of the 1938 Reich Party Day, Luitpold Hall (Luitpoldhalle). Nuremberg.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze gives Joseph Goebbels a birthday present, 1936.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze (second from left) standing beside Admiral Karl Dönitz, Lorient, Brittany/France, October 1941, courtesy of the Bundesarchiv.]

[Above: Second photo of that above.]

[Above: Massive 1934 Reichs Party Day and a huge gathering of SA and SS men.]

[Above: Second photo of that above. In the center is Adolf Hitler, to the left is Heinrich Himmler and on the right is our man Viktor Lutze. Lutze organizaed this monstrous gathering of SA as a showing of loyalty to Adolf Hitler.]

[Above: From left to right is Heinrich Himmler, Viktor Lutze and of course, Adolf Hitler.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze shakes the hand of Adolf Hitler.]

[Above: Meeting of the Reich Leaders in Munich: Viktor Lutze, Reich Inspector and Deputy Reich Organization Leader Rudolf Schmeer, Walther Darré, Mayor Karl Fiehler, Hans Frank and Joseph Goebbels, 1935.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze (left) and a Luftwaffe officer.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze (left) stands before a field marshal (note the man before him is holding a field marshal baton.]

[Above: The outrageously cool German field marshal baton.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze (far left). It looks like the highlights of this picture have been drawn by a news agency to help it show up better in print.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze (far left). The leaders of the movement march on November 9, 1938. November 9 is the holy date of the Putsch and the 16 martyrs.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze visits the new Italian settlements in Libya. To Lutze's right is Luigi Russo, an Italian Fascist politician and civil servant, who served as Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of the Kingdom of Italy from 1939 to 1943. They are inspecting ranks of Askaris (native soldiers) in Nalut.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze with Italian officers.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze standing beside Italian diplomat Gian Ciano. But what makes this photo special are the SA Feldherrenhalle daggers on the men to the right! Very, very rare, so rare that for years many in the collector community thought they were prototypes. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: Viktor Lutze receives a presentation SA Feldherrenhalle dagger! If you look closely it is engraved specially for Lutze. Also note, the man in front of him is wearing a Feldherrenhalle gorget around his next.]

[Above: Feldherrenhalle gorget .]

[Above: Viktor Lutze (left) standing next to Benito Mussolini. Here is a close-up of his presentation SA Feldherrenhalle dagger. You must understand how sought after, coveted and ultra rare this dagger is, a dagger of this type sold for almost ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS some years back at an auction!]

[Above: Viktor Lutze's incredible daggers and collar tabs! On the left is the SA Feldherrenhalle dagger and on the right is an SA High Leader's dagger. Excuse me while I pick my tongue off the floor! Incredible...]

[Above: This is Inge Lutze, Viktor Lutze's daughter. Tragically, she died in a car accident which also took the life of her father on May 2, 1943.]

[Above: Funeral procession (on the way to Lehrter Bahnhof) for Gauleiter Carl Röver. (from left) Frick, Rosenberg, Ley, Himmler, Lutze and Schirach.]

[Above: Lutze on the cover of the Illustrierter Beobachter (Illustrated Observer), April 7, 1934.]

[Above: Lutze on the cover of the Illustrierter Beobachter (Illustrated Observer), May 13, 1943.]

[Above: Lutze in a 1936 issue of the Illustrierter Beobachter (Illustrated Observer).]

[Above: Lutze (far left) beside Alfred Rosenberg in the Illustrierter Beobachter (Illustrated Observer).]

[Above: A signed sketch of Lutze. Click to enlarge!]

[Above: A signed sketch of Lutze.]

[Above: Viktor Lutze on the page of a calendar. Lutze's birthday is December 28th.]

[Above: Wow... this is incredible. A December 28th 1939 hand-drawn birthday card to Viktor Lutze on his 49th birthday, from his men. This 11X16 inches, this card is huge! Click to enlarge and see the inside of the card!]

[Above: Here is an early Viktor Lutze document dated December 23, 1935, sent to Führer der SA-Gruppe Nordsee Gruppenführer Böhmcker. It's on thick, parchment-like paper and the eagle is embossed. It says:

'Frohe Weihnacht und ein gesundes Kampfjahr 1936'

(Merry Christmas and a healthy fighting year 1936).]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: Heinrich Böhmcker (July 22, 1896 - June 16, 1944).]

On May 1, 1943 Lutze and his entire family were in a terrible car accident. He died the next day in emergency surgery. Worse still, his beloved daughter Inge died in the accident, and his younger son was badly injured. Lutze's death no doubt left a hole in the Third Reich, which would never be filled. He was beloved by Adolf Hitler and even had a state funeral inside the Reich Chancellery on May 7, 1943. Adolf Hitler even attended and spoke at the funeral, which due to the war's severity, was a rarity. The great Old Fighter, who had taken a broken SA and healed it, who was loyal and dedicated until his last day, was posthumously awarded the highest award of the Nazi Party, the German Order, 1st Class. One of only eleven confirmed recipients of this blessed award.

The following is Adolf Hitler's Oration at the Funeral of SA leader Viktor Lutze, on May 7, 1943, in the Reich Chancellery...

      "In a time when the war demands of our Volk the painful sacrifice of so many men, women, and regrettably even children, it takes a particularly heavy toll of blood from our National Socialist Party. There are members and sympathizers of our movement in all formations of the army, navy, Luftwaffe, and Waffen SS, and they fulfill their duty in an exemplary fashion. From the National Socialist Reichstag to the higher age groups of the Hitler Youth, the numbers of our movement’s dead represent a far higher percentage of the total than the average of the rest of the Volk.

      Alas, the war not only claims our men and women, it also brings truly saddening misfortune. It is particularly tragic for me to have to witness almost every year how the one or other irreplaceable fighter, coworker, and fellow designer of our new Reich is called to join the flock of those whom the poet of the National Socialist revolutionary song has accompany us in spirit. After the plane crash that took the unforgettable and irreplaceable party comrade Dr. Todt from us, it is a car crash this time that robs the SA of its chief of staff and me personally of a man who was always loyally attached to me.

      What can be said about the life story of this old National Socialist fighter has been said by the speaker before me, who was one of his oldest friends. I met the SA Führer Viktor Lutze for the first time in Westphalia in 1925–1926. Since then I have become attached to him and his family not only through the common fight but also in a profound personal friendship. Nevertheless, on this day, I wish to commemorate primarily the man who unconditionally tied his own destiny to mine, who throughout the years was such a loyal and unshakable comrade in arms for me that, in a most bitter and painful hour, I felt I could entrust the leadership of my SA to him, as the most competent man.

      As one of my most staunch supporters, he fulfilled his mission and developed the SA into an instrument which was capable of carrying out all the great tasks which I set for it in the course of the year.

      My SA chief of staff, Viktor Lutze, was a soldier all his life. Because of this way of thinking, he had the fervent desire to be allowed to go to the front himself, a request which he made to me and which I was unable to grant.

      Nevertheless he has now died in a manner which puts a manly end to his life as a National Socialist.

      I want to express my profound gratitude to you, my dear Lutze, before the movement, the SA, and the entire German Volk, for your loyal fight. From the mighty struggle, in the midst of which we find ourselves today and to which you so richly contributed through your life’s work, will one day emerge the goal which once led us to each other and for which we fought over many decades in a sacred faith and with the greatest devotion: the Greater German Reich, secured by its own power against its enemies and supported by a true Volksgemeinschaft! In the annals of history, the name of Chief of Staff Viktor Lutze will live on eternally as one of the founders of the new Reich.

      My dear Mrs. Lutze, you have my heartfelt sympathy on the death of your husband and your child. I wish both your sons a speedy recovery.

      I believe that I cannot secure a worthier future significance for the highest medal that our party can award than by awarding it to the first pioneers of the new Reich and, thus, to the deceased. Through this, it is ennobled for all those who will one day have the honor of bearing it while alive."

[Above: During the funeral Adolf Hitler offers condolences to Viktor Lutze's widow Paula.]

[Above: A grim Adolf Hitler sit next to Viktor Lutze's widow, on her right is Joseph Goebbels. Pay special attention to the partial picture on the wall...]

[Above: Here is a color picture of the design of birds on the wall. This location is called the Mosaic Hall, inside the Reich Chancellery. These birds are actually a mosaic. Reinhard Heydrich also had a funeral here, after his assassination in 1942.]

[Above: Adolf Hitler pays his last respects to his friend and comrade Viktor Lutze.]

[Above: Here is a better look at the Mosaic Hall... magical, like a hall to Valhalla. Could some place made by man be so beautiful?]

[Above: Funeral procession for Viktor Lutze. (from left) Frick, Reichsleiter Amann, Ley, Himmler, Keitel and Rosenberg.]

[Above: A commemorative postal cancel honoring Lutze 'Deutschland muss leben - Und wenn wir sterben müssen' (Germany must live - And even if we must die).]

[Above: Part of Viktor Lutze's funeral sash.]

[Above: One of the great tragedies of the Third Reich. 'Stabschef Viktor Lutze gestorben' (Chief of Staff Viktor Lutze died) and 'Wir senken die Standarten' (We lower the standards - a standard is a flag used in a ceremony or parade. Standards were lowered as a sign of mourning, but not so low that they touched the ground), May 3, 1943.]

[Above: German-Ukrainian newspaper from May 1943 With Lutze's death on the cover. It says:
'Wochenzeitung
für ukrainische Arbeiter aus
dem General-Gouvernement

(Weekly newspaper
for Ukrainian workers from
the General Government).]

'Only Lutze, the chief of staff of the SA, I spoke to more often. He and his wife were also among the old National Socialists who had started out in the west of the Reich under the most difficult circumstances. In the time of the Röhm revolt, Lutze had warned the Führer as SA-Obergruppenführer and had been a man of clean, distinguished thinking all his life...

When Lutze drove in the car with his family to Berlin, he and his daughter had a fatal accident on the highway. Thus ended a life loyal to his people and empire; a generous, chivalrous-thinking nature had gone from us...'
--Alfred Rosenberg, from the book 'Letzte Aufzeichnungen' (Last Records), Nürnberg, 1945-1946.

[Above: Here are women making the SA Standarte of Victor Lutze.]

[Above: Here is a car pennant of Victor Lutze similar to the one the girls made above.]

[Above: Another look at the car pennant.]

  • Click here to see a video montage of Victor Lutze

  • Click here to see a video of Victor Lutze's funeral, procession and burial