November 13, 2020 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

The Hitler Forgery Industry

to Hitler Forgery Industry main page - to Droog Magazine

1953  | Objects |  Certificates of Authenticity

The strange business of selling fakes, forgeries and other concoctions attributed to Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and other Nazi criminals.

Introduction

In the direct post war period there was very little interest in objects or documents originating from or belonging to high ranking Nazi's. Cars excluded.

---

Goering's car attracts interest in London
Souvenir collector exhibits her for charitable purposes.

A heavy, neglected, gray-green car, which once left shock and dismay behind, stands now lonely on a London car market, reports A.P. from London. Germans - and people from war-occupied Europe - once knew the car very well when it raced past with "Nazi chief" Hermann Goering proudly in the back seat. But they wouldn't recognize him now, now that bulletproof windows are strewn with bullet scratches, the muffle work has been shaved off and the cushions are battered.

The car - a moving fortress whose doors and floor were covered with steel plates - was recently auctioned for around $ 3,000 in the property of Raymond Way, a London car dealer who likes to buy up infamous and famous cars and buy them. for charitable purposes.

The Goering car, found after the war by British soldiers in a messy enemy car park in Schleswig Holstein, was originally the property of the Union of Families of Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen, a charity of war veterans who raised about one and a half million guilders by displaying the vehicle all over the country. Way immediately had collection boxes attached to the door knobs and displayed the vehicle in his sample room for the benefit of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

The idea of ​​buying world history in the form of cars came to Way last summer when he read that the palatial Canadian-built Buick used by the Duke of Windsor at the time of his abdication - now 15 years ago - would be auctioned. He bought the cart for just £ 425 and has raised over £ 4000 for charitable purposes. He also has in his collection a closed car, which belonged to Winston Churchill when he was Lord of the Admiralty at the start of the Second World War; also the light car owned by the missing British Foreign Office diplomat Donald MacLean and a car that once belonged to Eva Braun, who was said to have married Hitler in the last days of the war.

Way tells that the Duke of Windsor's carriage, who used it with his wife on their honeymoon on the continent, is the best of his collection. This car is in excellent condition and is packed with useful devices, such as a handheld microphone to speak with the driver, a soundproof rear compartment, window shutters that are operated with a push button, picnic equipment and a writing table.

Goerings auto trekt te Londen belangstelling. Algemeen Handelsblad, Amsterdam, 15-01-1953.
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBNRC01:000042567:mpeg21:a0060


No money for Mein Kampf

BIRMINGHAM. 10th of July. In Birmingham today an attempt was made to auction Hitler's own copy of Mein Kampf ', but the 200 art dealers who attended the auction made no bid for the 'Nazi Bible'. The leather-bound book with gold lock had a reverse of at least £ 4,000 (40,000 guilders) However, when the auctioneer mentioned this price, it turned out that that nobody was interested. The book will now be sold privately. One of the peculiarities of Hitler's copy is that it has a large number of blood stains. The explanation for this is that it was used in the taking of the oath of allegiance by Nazi officers, who signed their oath with blood. A British officer found the copy in the Chancellery in Berlin shortly after the war and smuggled it to England, where he sold it to a variety artist. Two months ago, the latter transferred "Mein Kampf" to a leather manufacturer again. who finally put it up for auction. - (Reuter)

(Droog Magazine: this blood stained Mein Kampf was in all likelihood a post war contraption. The variety artist in the provenance story points to that)

Geen geld voor “Mein Kampf”. De Telegraaf, Amsterdam, 11-07-1953.

https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:110585758:mpeg21:a0198

Buitenland. Het Vaderland, 's-Gravenhage, 11-07-1953.

https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMKB19:000832060:mpeg21:a00026

---

Exchanges rates / value of money 1950

1 NL guilder = 0,94 D-mark
1 D-mark = 1,06 NL guilder.
1 US dollar = 3,77 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 0,27 US dollar.
1 UK pound = 10,64 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 0,09 UK pound

Value of the Guilder/Euro. [Calculation with inflation correction].
International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.
http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php
See also: Inflation corrector
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/

© Compilation Bart FM Droog, 2020.

---