SMGN-1257 Nazi SS Leather Document Folder likely from Dachau

This is just and insane find and new to the market! This was brought back from a US serviceman who had fought through Europe and was involved in the battle of the bulge and then had occupation duties. It was sold to us with the Vets 1911 holster, belt, Ike Jacket and a few bayonets. The folder is 40x30cm and constructed with high grade calf or doe skin. Very soft still and almost no texture. The folder is fully lined on the inside with the same leather with the exception of the main document pocket that is lined with a blue linen material. The folder opens up a second time showing a stiff card stock reenforced writing area with leather corner tabs that could securely hold documents. This area appears lightly used but the previous page that is leather bound shows wear to the leather, so i would assume the majority of the documents were taken in and out from that area. There are some scratches on the outside and also “DRELL”  inscribed on the outside. After some research I found that Philip Drell was the first photographer inside Dachau! He witnessed and documented the horrors. He also stayed in a house on SS Strauss where in his interview he says he “took some souvenirs”. We also know that the owner of the house was SS officer Max Schmid (t). Is this folder from his house? There is a good chance but there is no way to prove it at this time.  Im working on connecting Drell to the man who brought it back (or where it wound up anyway). Here is a fascinating interview with Philip Drell

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn507442

From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum= “Philip Drell, born in Chicago, IL in 1919, describes being a student at the Chicago Teacher’s College in September 1942 when he enlisted in the US Army; being assigned to the Special Motion Pictures Coverage Unit, which covered World War II news in Europe; covering the events in Normandy, France as well as the liberation of Paris; the unit’s leader, George Stevens, and the involvement of Irwin Shaw, Leicester Hemingway, and Ernest Hemingway; his unit convincing a German to go up in front of the French Chamber of Deputies waving a tablecloth, to convince the Nazi’s to surrender; taking pictures in Dachau concentration camp; the things he witnessed in Dachau; speaking with the S.S. guards and survivors; continuously taking pictures and shooting film because he was afraid he would miss something; the prisoners having a huge thanksgiving ceremony after the liberation; going back through Belgium to a displaced persons camp (he shares many of the photographs he took during his time in Europe); the camera he used; and returning to Paris then the US after a few months.”