Stein of the Day

This half-liter stein is a post-war creation celebrating Hans-Ulrich Rudel, a Stuka dive bomber pilot who was the most highly decorated German of World War II. He was one of only 27 men to be awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds and the only one to be awarded the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.
Rudel flew 2,530 combat missions and destroyed a claimed 2,000 targets, including 800 vehicles, 519 tanks, 150 artillery pieces, a destroyer, two cruisers, a Soviet battleship, 70 landing craft, four armored trains, several bridges and nine aircraft shot down.
After the war, he lived in Argentina, returning to West Germany in 1953 to become a leading member of the Neo Nazi German Reich Party. He was also a consultant in the development of the U.S. Air Force’s A-10 Warthog, the most effective tank-killing aircraft in the world. He died in 1982 at the age of 66.
The stein is one of a series created memorializing several German military heroes.