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January 26, 2021 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

 The Hitler Forgery Industry

to Hitler Forgery Industry main page - to Droog Magazine

1976  


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

Introduction


In the 1970's the trade in Nazi militaria intensified, and thus the activities of forgers and shady dealers and auctioneers. The German forger Konrad Kujau flooded the market with fake Hitlers: oil paintings, watercolors, drawings and sketches and even poetry.

Content

Three 'Hitlers' at Graf Klenau (April 24, 1976)
Hitler painting sold (October 1976)
DDR-Hitler auctioned in Connecticut (October 31, 1976)

Exchange rates / value of money 1976



Three 'Hitlers' at Graf Klenau (April 24, 1976)

The Munich based auction house Graf Klenau offered at auction 117/118, April 24, 1976, three alleged Hitler watercolors: 'Hofbräuhaus' (Munich, 1913), 'Johanneskirche und Asamhaus' (Munic, 1913) and 'Schotten Thor' (Vienna, ca. 1911). All three works were accompanied by Certificates of Authenticity (CoA) issued by Dr. Heinrich Fuchs from Vienna, dated February 24, 1976.


The 'Hofbrauhaüs' and the 'Schotten Thor' look very similar to works with the same title, stored in the Uffize Gallery in Florence, 'Schottentor' (Florence 2) and 'Hofbräuhaus' (Florence 17). At closer look some minor differences can be spotted on the 'Schottentor' versions.


The 1976 versions couldn't be post war copies of the Florence version, as only in 1984 color reproduction of these works were published. So they must have been made before 1945. Which means that the works auctioned in 1976 must  be copies, or the Florence Hitlers are copies, or that all are copies of the same originals, or that the works sold in 1976 were in fact the originals. Without proper forensic research of all these works the truth will remain unknown.


The issuer of the CoAs, dr Heinrich Fuchs, has issued in the 1970s and 1980s more CoAs to alleged Hitlers – most of which were obvious fakes.

Sources
Catalog 117./118.Auktion, Graf Klenau, München, 24-04-1976. Page124
Jaap van den Born & Bart FM Droog. List of lists. ist of watercolors, oil paintings, drawings and sketches allegedly madeby Adolf Hitler and known to be in existence before May 1945. Bureau Droog, Nijmegen/Eenrum, version 1.3, 20-05-20220.

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Hitler painting sold (October, 1976)

MUNICH, Sun, AAP. — A 1916 painting by Adolf Hitler. "The Town By The River"; has been sold to a West German collector by a Munich "postal auction for $U.S.3200 (K2490).

A silver service which belonged to Marshal Hermann Goering- who led the Nazi German Air Force, also fetched nearly $U.S.2500 (K2000) amid continued interest in the Hitler era.

[Droog Magazine: the painting was in all likiliood a forgery, as the description is atypical of the thought to be authentic Hitlers. The auction house might be the notorious Munich based Graf Klenau, later rebaptized in Hermann Historica]

Hitler painting sold. Papua New Guinea Post Courier, Port Moresby, 01-11-1976.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article250568093



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DDR-Hitler auctioned in Connecticut (October 31, 1976)
 
On October 30 and 31, 1976, Eastern Dutchess Auction Gallery from Wingdale, New York, with Goodale Associates as auctioneers, sold a watercolor attributed to Hitler. This happened at Sweetbrier Farm, Easton (Connecticut).


The watercolor was a version of the Munich 'Hofbräuhaus', that looked very similar to the other versions of 'Hofbräuhaus' attributed to Hitler, yet with some minor differences.


This work has a very special history, not known until late 2020, when the German historian Jan Scheunemann revealed that this particular work was confiscated shortly after the war by the Soviets, then stored in an East German museum, and was sold by the DDR in 1975 for 5000 D-Mark via a middle man to a New York auction house (Eastern Dutchess), whose auctioneer Bernie Goodale bought the work.


The middle man was the Austrian Peter Jahn, who was then regarded as an expert on Hitler's artworks. That he was in reality a notorious art swindler, who had at the time already issued numerous fraudulent CoAs to obviously fake Hitlers, was not known until 2017.


In 1976, at the Connecticut auction, the work was allegedly bought by a bipolar mother of a female American antiques dealer, for “a fortune”. The daughter sold the work in 2001 for an unknown amount to an American of Jewish descent, who anno 2021 still owns the work.

If this work is authentic or a commissioned Hauptarchiv der NSDAP-copy is yet unknown.


Sources:

Jan Scheu­ne­mann: Bo­den­re­form – Son­derak­ti­on Leip­zig – Müh­len­beck-Connec­ti­on. Die „kom­mer­zi­el­le Ver­wer­tung“ von Mu­se­ums­be­stän­den in der DDR. Fachkonferenz "'VEB Kunst' - Kulturgutentzug und Handel in der DDR" (digital), [November 30], 2020.

https://www.kulturgutverluste.de/Content/01_Stiftung/DE/Veranstaltungsnachlese/2020/2020-11-30_Herbstkonferenz-VEB-Kunst-Kulturgutentzug-Handel-DDR.html

Jan Scheunemann. E-mails to Bart FM Droog, 13-12-2020; 04-01-2021 and 05-01-2021.

Present owner. E-mails to Bart FM Droog, 09-01-2021 and 24-01-2021.



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Exchange rates / value of money 1976

1 D-mark = 1,02 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 0,98 D-mark
1 US dollar = 2,67 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 0,37 US dollar
1 UK pound = 5,42 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 0,18 UK pound
1 B-franc =  0,07 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 14,28 B-franc
1 F-franc = 0,60 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 1,66 F franc
1 Swiss franc = 1,02 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 0,98 Swiss franc
1 A schilling = 0,14 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 7,14 A-schilling
1 DK kron = 0,43 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 2,32 DK kron 
1 S kron = 0,48 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 2,08 kron
1 E peseta = 0,04 NL guilder
1 NL guilder = 25 E peseta

Wisselkoersen - Amsterdam. Het Parool, Amsterdam, 07-01-1976.
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010840502:mpeg21:a0278

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.
https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/2417794


Value of the Guilder/Euro. International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.
http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php

© Compilation Bart FM Droog, 2020-2021.