BACKGROUND: Although Hitler himself despised smoking the habit was firmly entrenched in Germany, as elsewhere, when he came into power. As with most other nations the German government levied a tax on all tobacco products sold as a source of revenue. The knowledge of the dangers of smoking was not nearly as widespread at the time and smoking was quite common although the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party), strongly discouraged females from smoking they still capitalized on smoking’s popularity among men. As an example of the governments involvement with the tobacco industry the "Sturm" cigarette company which manufactured Sturm, Trommler, and Alarm brands of cigarettes was owned by the SA, Sturm Abteilung, (Storm/Assault Detachment), and a popular brand of cigars were sold under the brand name, Generalfeldmarschall and utilized Herman Göring’s image in its marketing campaigns.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 3 1/4" x 3" x 1 1/4", unopened, mid-weight cardstock, fifty gram package of tobacco, with a silver tinfoil cover with tan and brown printed script that includes the quantity, "50 Gr.", the brand trade name that appears to be, "Wieimmer", and the manufacturer’s name and location, "Marschall’s St. Wendel". The package has additional printed script that extols the virtues of the tobacco. The package also has it’s original, glued on, paper tax label with green and white printed script and an embossed national eagle seal. The package appears to have had moisture damage resulting in wrinkles and spotting which makes the printed script difficult to read. The package appears to contain almost all of the original tobacco.

GRADE **1/2                             PRICE $27.00