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May 24, 2022 -
updated June 9, 2022 The strange business of selling fakes, forgeries and other concoctions attributed to Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and other Nazi criminals.
Interview with Heinrich Hoffman
Watercolours of Hitler Heinrich Hoffmann, Party member no. 59, professor and millionaire by Hitler's grace, has to answer to the Munich tribunal for his twenty-five years of friendship with Hitler. When the "Presse Hoffmann," as the inhabitants of Munich knew him, had to identify photographs from the Nazi era before the Allied tribunal during the Nuremberg trial, he was living at liberty in a villa, where the other' key witnesses such as Gisevius, Diehls, Kesselring etc. also stayed during the time they were being interrogated. At the end of the trial he was handed over to the Germans, who imprisoned him in Munich. Here he is waiting for his trial, without American cigarettes, chewing gum and 2300 food-calories, but he is allowed to speak freely. He is proud to be one of the oldest and most loyal friends of Hitler, writes an employee of "Sie und Er." "Even in the very last months he used to have me over for tea every night at three o'clock, after he had finished his work," said the 62-year-old photographer, who is Baldur von Schirach's father-in-law. "We would usually talk about art, because in this respect Hitler was misunderstood. He really was an artist. I had a portfolio with seven watercolours of him, which proved his artistic talents, but an American officer bought this folder from me when I was arrested."[bold by DM] "Weren't you the one who introduced Eva Braun to Hitler?" "He first saw her in my shop, where she worked as an apprentice. He liked her and gave her two theatre tickets. Eva fell head over heels in love with him and thought it was a return engagement. But Hitler did not return for several months. When she later became friends with him, the situation remained the same. Eva passionate; Hitler platonic. When I once asked him why he did not marry and took an intelligent girl as his wife, Hitler answered: "I will never marry. Eva is what I need, nice and simple. A blue stocking would only interfere with my affairs and I don't want a Pompadour." Hoffmann admits that Hitler's mental faculties deteriorated sharply as a result of the many injections he received for insomnia and stomach pain. He could no longer bear to be contradicted, was petulant and unpredictable and his hands trembled. Hoffmann did not want to have anything to do with politics. "I did everything to warn Hitler against the excesses of anti-Semitism." He claimed that he had not made it a secret that he disagreed with party politics in many respects. "So why did you join the party back in 1920?" "For the sake of my profession," Hoffmann replied. "As an international press photographer, I had to have the opportunity to be present at the Party's meetings, speeches etc. My membership gave me much easier access." As proof of these somewhat unbelievable words, Hoffmann states that he did not actively participate in the November Putsch in Munich, but only took photographs which he sold throughout the world, including the United States. Meanwhile, Hoffmann is working on a time novel, which he will not have published as a historical work until after his death. "Although I have already received several
offers from American publishers," he declared with a
satisfied wink, "I cannot publish it for the time
being, because the book would compromise several
persons who have not yet been arrested by the
cleansing authorities. Hoffmann, de nazi-fotograaf. Nieuwe
Haarlemsche Courant, Haarlem, 07-02-1947. To top of page.
On the German blackmarket now one can find "ashtrays used personally by the Fuhrer" and wrist watches worn by him. At least 24 of these ashtrays, plus nine watches, were offered recently for prices ranging up to a thousand marks. Americans buy them without stopping to think that Hitler never smoked and did not care much for wrist watches. Genuine souvenirs from Hitler's collection are getting extremely scarce. His old apartment at 16 Prince Regent Place was loaded with various articles, but invading troops soon cleaned out the place. The apartment was used by Hitler before he became reichs-chancellor and, after that, infrequently on his trips to Munloh for party rallies. Now it is headquarters for the Bavarian Property Control Division assigned to take into custody all his property and that of the Nazi party. Arthur Moser, vice-president of the office,
occupies the room Hitler used once as a bedroom.
None of the original furniture is there. The rooms
have been repainted. When Moser established his headquarters, he said the souvenir hunters had been so thorough he "did not even find a light switch." Moser is trustee for approximately 25,000 pieces of property seized from the Nazis in Bavaria. The collection, he said, is worth from five to six billion marks (£150,000,000 to £180,000,000). In only two years' time, the people in the neighborhood seem to have forgotten Hitler ever lived there. The grey stone building has nothing unusual about it. The lot where Hitler kept his big black Mercedes still is used as a car park. Most of the time American Jeeps or small German cars are kept there. Twenty yards away the Prince Regent Theatre plays Hitler's favorite opera, Wagner's Die Valkyrie. But the theatre also presents now the works of Mendelssohn—a Jew.
Exchange rates / value of money, 1947 In the Netherlands 1 UK pound = 10.70 NL guilder 1 NL guilder = 0.09 UK pound (in decimals) 1 US dollar = 2.66 NL guilder 1 NL guilder = 0.38 US dollar 1 B frank = 0.16 NL guilder 1 NL guilder = 6.07 B frank 1 F frank = 0.0223 NL guilder 1 NL guilder = 44 F frank Black market price, Munich, July 1947. 1 UK pound = 33 mark 1 mark = 0,03 UK pound. Officële wisselkoersen. De
Heerenveensche Koerier. Leeuwarden,
08-10-1947. CPI Inflation Calculator – for US dollars.This inflation calculator uses official records published by the U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/ Convertisseur franc-euro. Pouvoir d'achat
de l'euro et du franc. Le
convertisseur franc-euro mesure l'érosion
monétaire due à l'inflation. Historischer Währungsrechner. Österreichische Nationalbank (Geldwertrechner). https://www.eurologisch.at/docroot/waehrungsrechner/#/ Value of the Guilder/Euro. International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam. http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php
Jérôme Blanc.
Pouvoirs et monnaie durant la seconde guerre
mondiale en France : la monnaie subordonnée au
politique. International conference on War, Money
and Finance, ” Monetary and Financial Structures:
The Impact of Political Unrests and Wars ”. , Jun
2008, Paris, Nanterre, France. Pages 6, 11, 12,
16-17, 21, 22. © Compilation Bart FM Droog, 2022. To top of page. |
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