This early portrait postcard of Ernst Graf zu Reventlow represents a fascinating document from the formative years of the National Socialist movement. The card originates from the renowned workshop of Heinrich Hoffmann's Photographic Studio in Munich, whose address is still listed on the card as Schellingstraße 50 – an address that Hoffmann vacated in October 1929. This definitively dates the postcard to before that time, most likely between 1927 and 1929.
Ernst Graf zu Reventlow (1869-1943) was a complex and controversial figure in German history of the early 20th century. Born into the ancient nobility of Schleswig-Holstein, he initially pursued a career as a naval officer before turning to writing and later to politics. As a journalist and publicist, Reventlow became known primarily for his pan-Germanic, antisemitic, and anti-British writings. He founded the German Völkisch Freedom Party in 1920 and moved within völkisch movement circles before gravitating toward the NSDAP .
The significance of this early postcard lies in its period of creation. In the late 1920s, the NSDAP was in a phase of transformation. After the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 and Hitler's subsequent imprisonment, the party reorganized and attempted to gain power through legal means. During this phase, established personalities like Reventlow, who were already known in völkisch circles before the NS era, played an important role in legitimizing the movement among conservative and nationalist circles.
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