January 23, 2021 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

The Hitler Forgery Industry

to Hitler Forgery Industry main page - to Droog Magazine

1988  | André Hüsken

Hanseatisches Auktionshaus für Historica Hüsken/Schäfer OHG, Hamburg, April 2, 1988.




This auction house presented in April 1988 five alleged but very fake Hitler watercolors as 'authentic Hitlers', titled:

Lot 169: Kaminzimmer
Lot 170: [title not known; houses]
Lot 171: Karlskirche, Wien
Lot 172: Der Hirsch am See
Lot 173: Die Burgruine

It is unknown if these works were sold. It is also unknown what happened to these works in the 21st century.  

Lot 169: "Kaminzimmer"


Click on image to enlarge.

Description by auctioneer: "Kaminzimmer" / "Fireplace room"; watercolor, between 1910-1912; 31,5 x 41 cm. In passepartout from 1941 Signed bottom right "Entwurf A. Hitler", stamped with "examination stamp "H.H" in a circle."12,000 DM.

Allegedly the third of Hitler's interior paintings, the other two allegedly being Price 146 and 268.  According to the auctioneer Hitler followed in this his 'big example' Rudolf von Alt - there exists however no evidence that Hitler was overly enthousiastic about this classic 19th century Austrian art painter. None of the believed to be authentic Hitler artworks has any any resemblance at all with Von Alt's works.

Price 146, an absolute fake Hitler.	Price 268, probably a fake Hitler.

Droog Magazine: The work resembles in nothing the believed to be authentic Hitlers. The stamp print is really odd: why stamp the front of a painting?


Lot 170: 





Description by auctioneer: "Watercolor, between 1910-1912; 44 x 34 cm. In modern passepartout. Signed bottom left "A. Hitler". On the back of the painting a part of a typewritten letter is attached, allegedly written by Hitler's half sister Angela, 1939. 10,000 DM.

Droog Magazine: The work at least resembles a bit the believed to be authentic Hitlers. But the attached letter is yet again an over the top forger's mistake, branding this work as a fake.


Lot 171: "Karlskirche, Wien"


Description by auctioneer: "Watercolor; 36,5 x 31 cm. In modern passepartout. 10,000 DM.

Droog Magazine: The work at least resembles a bit ae believed to be authentic Hitler. But it's clearly painted by a different hand.


Lot 172: "Der Hirsch am See"

Price 90 and 91; two absolute fake Hitlers. Click on the image to enlarge.

Description by auctioneer: "Der Hirsch am See" / "The deer at the lake"; watercolor, circa 1908; 14 x 9 cm. Signed bottom left "Adolf Hitler". 8,500 DM." Allegedly part of a series of other Hitler deer works from 1908 - see Price 90 and 91.

On the back is a part of a typewritten letter, allegedly written by Hitler's half sister Angela in 1941.

Droog Magazine: Resembles in nothing the believed to be authentic Hitlers. The works referred to in the description are oil paintings - definitely not made by Hitler.


Lot 173 - "Die Burgruine"

Description by auctioneer: "Die Burgruine" / "Castle ruins"; watercolor, undated; 30 x 24,5 cm. Signed bottom left "A. Hitler". Stamp print ("Prüfstempel) bottom right. "8,00 DM."

Droog Magazine: A fantasy work with a fantasy signature. The stamp print is really odd: why stamp the front of a painting? And why is the word on it spelled as "Geprüfs", when it should be "Geprüft" (examined)?  

Sources:

Auction catalog 1988

Rudolf von Alt. Artnet.com
http://www.artnet.com/artists/rudolf-von-alt/

Billy F. Price [= August Priesack and Peter Jahn]. Adolf Hitler als Maler und Zeichner. Ein Werkkatalog der Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und Architekturskizzen. Gallant Verlag, Zug, 1983. English title Adolf Hitler. The unknown artist, 1984.
Please note: this book is the birthplace of many Hitler myths; consists of concoctions and many depictions of forged Hitlers watercolors, oilpaintings, drawings and poems.
https://www.bartfmdroog.com/droog/niod/price.html

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André Hüsken (André Huesken)

The Hanseatisches Auktionshaus für Historica Hüsken/Schäfer OHG from 1988 is the direct predecessor of the Hamburg based Galerie d'Histoire André Hüsken, still active in 2021.

According to well informed sources from the Nazi Militaria community, this company and its owner André Hüsken have a long history of selling fake and forged Nazi objects as authentic. The above described alleged "authentic" Hitler watercolors are good examples of that.

Mr. Hüsken (born 1956) was, together the the Berlin Militaria dealer Herbert Bormann accused of fencing documents stolen from the Berlin Document Center by Alfred Darko, former manager of the photo department of the BDC. Mr. Darko was accused of stealing more than 4000 Nazi documents between 1983 and 1987 from the center. According to Darko, he did so, after he was incited by his chief, deputy director of the BDC, Wolfgang Eberhard. 

According to the presecution Mr. Hüsken was the first one to have realized the value of the stolen documents and allegedly earned quite a lot of money by selling them.

During the trial in 1989 Mr. Hüsken handed 780 stolen documents to the judge. Hüsken stated that he had bought these documents from a middle man in the UK.

We don't know (yet) how this trial ended.

Mr. Hüsken unfortunately didn't react to the questions we asked him in January 2021.

 

Sources

Karl-Heinz Janßen, Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff und Michael Sontheimer. Nazis for sale. Seit Jahren verschwinden NS-Akten aus dem Document Center. Zeit, Hamburg, 01-04-1988.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170418213305/http://www.zeit.de/1988/14/nazis-for-sale/komplettansicht

NN. NS-Akten-Hüter belastet Chefs. TAZ, Berlin, 06-12-1988.
https://taz.de/NS-Akten-Hueter-belastet-Chefs/!1829217/

J.G. NS-Akten zurückgekauft. TAZ, Berlin, 03-01-1989.
https://taz.de/NS-Akten-zurueckgekauft/!1827064/

Berlin Document Center. Bundesarchiv, Berlin, 2020.
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/DE/Content/Artikel/Ueber-uns/Aus-unserer-Arbeit/berlin-document-center.html

Galerie d'Histoire André Hüsken; Ballindamm 13, 20095 Hamburg, Germany
https://www.huesken.com/

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© Compilation Bart FM Droog, 2021.

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