19 x 24 in. Pressed metal sign painted in yellow with warnings written in German (displays corrosion commensurate with age and wear). Provenance: Bonhams New York, 13 April 2010, sale 17778 lot 1010.

The Peenemünde Army Research Center was one of five military testing sites established in Nazi Germany in 1937. The focus of its research centered primarily on rockets and advanced weaponry, and the facility employed Wernher von Braun as the HVP technical director and Major-General Walter Dornberger as military leader of the V-2 rocket program. Much of the infamous site was destroyed by fleeing Nazis as the Soviet Army advanced, with only the power station, airport, and railroad tracks remaining in operation after the war. The United States government later utilized much of the research carried out at Peenemünde as it developed its space and military rocketry programs. This sign is identical to one currently on display at the Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum.

Translation: "Boundary of the Test Site. Wrongful appropriation of munitions or munition components is punishable under the Criminal Code as offences against either § 291 R.St.G.B. or as a theft or embezzlement offence (in the case of soldiers, as military theft or military embezzlement, according to § 138 M.St.G.B.). Minister of War."