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Historic hand-lettered sign, 10.25 x 8.25, formally naming “The Winston Club” in Berlin, signed in fountain pen by the prime minister during his visit on July 21, 1945, “Winston S. Churchill.” Accomplished on beige cardstock with a red border, the sign reads: “156 KURFURSTENDAMM BERLIN. A.W.S. NAAFI/EFI. This building is for the use of other ranks of the British & Imperial Troops and on the occasion of my visit to Berlin I have pleasure in naming it The Winston Club." In fine condition.
The sign commemorates Churchill’s formal opening of the Winston Club on Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm, a recreational facility established for enlisted members of the British and Imperial forces, following the British Victory Parade held in the conquered German capital. The ceremony came during Churchill’s visit to Berlin for the Potsdam Conference and only weeks after the end of the war in Europe. Addressing veterans of the famed 7th Armoured Division, the 'Desert Rats,' Churchill praised their remarkable wartime advance from North Africa into the heart of Germany, declaring: 'Dear Desert Rats! May your glory ever shine! May your laurels never fade! May the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war which you have made from Alamein, via the Baltic to Berlin never die!'
Accompanied by the text of Churchill’s remarks and printouts of contemporary photographs documenting the occasion, showing Churchill leaving the club after the ceremony, along with images from the Imperial War Museum and the Australian War Memorial showing him with troops outside the building and the club's exterior signage. A superb and highly visual Churchill artifact from occupied Berlin, signed at a moment of Allied triumph in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
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