droog magazine
HOME   

August 23, 2021, updated 23-08-2021.

The Hitler Forgery Industry

to Hitler Forgery Industry main page - to Droog Magazine

2014  |

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

12-09-2014: 1 fake Hitler in the USAa
24-11-2014: a presumably fake Hitler in Germany
                        sold for €130,000. 


Exchange rates / value of money 2014




12-09-2014: 1 fake Hitler in the USA

The American auction house Rock Island Auction sold a 'documented architectural watercolor' attributed to Hitler, depicting a castle, for $34,500.


The work measuring 25.5 cm x 14 cm, and signed 'A. Hitler '11' is said to originate from the collection of Gertraud 'Traudl' (Gertraud) Junge (1920-2002), a former secretary to Hitler.

The documents accompanying this painting consisted of two documents and photographs of Traudl Junge.


One document is a typewritten letter 'from' Traudl Junge, claiming that her husband (SS officer Hans Junge, killed in 1944) would have received the work from Hitler's servant Heinz Linge in the early 1940s. After a meeting with Dr. August Priesack, the latter is said to have authenticated the work. The letter is dated 19 April 1995.

 

The other document is a Certificate of Authenticity (CoA) by the notorious authenticity swindler August Priesack, dated 23.8.1982.

As the work is a plain fake (Hitler made no landscapes), then the accompanying documents must be of a fraudulent nature. To start with the Priesack document: Priesack authenticated everything, after being paid to do so. His CoAs have no value at all.

For the letter by Traudl Junge: she might have been bribed to write it, she might have herself tried to sell this fake or a forger might have composed it. Whatever was the case, it doesn't make the fake work more authentic.

Source

Lot 3448: Documented Architectural Watercolor Produced by Adolf Hitler. Rock Island Auction Company, Rock Island (IL, USA), 2014. [Gezien 04-07-2018].

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/62/3448/documented-architectural-watercolor-produced-by-adolf-hitler


To top of page.


24-11-2014: a presumably fake Hitler in Germany

Auction house Weidler in Nuremberg sold on November 24 2014 an alleged Hitler watercolor for €130,000.


Standesamt München, watercolor signed "A. Hitler", 28 x 22 cm. Click to enlarge.

The work, a depiction of “Standesamt München", was allegedly painted by Hitler in 1913 or 1914.

It is known that Hitler made at least some watercolors which looked very similar to the one auctioned by Weidler. Two of these are depicted in full color in a 1984 book. So, was the 2014 work a copy of the reproductions published in 1984? Or was it really an authentic one?

According to an invoice glued on the back of the work, two works titled “Altes Rathaus in Petersbergl” were sold in 1916 by the Munich art gallery Alois Baldauf, Schützenstraße 1, Munich, to a “Herr Wilhelm … [unreadable]” for 250 Reichsmark.

This Herr Wilhelm would have been the grandfather from the sellers. In an interview published in January 2014, one of the sellers told that her grandparents, who had lived in Thüringen, had bought the work in 1916. Only in 1941 they allegedly realized it was made by the Führer.

After the death of the grandparents the work was inherited by an aunt. After she died, about 2004, it was inherited by four of her cousins. According to the alleged granddaughter in 2014.  Who didn´t know anything about the second “Altes Rathaus”, that according to the invoice, was also bought by Herr Wilhelm.

Also another part of a document was glued on the back. Part of a typewritten letter, allegedly signed by Albert Bormann, chef of Rudolf Hess’s staff. But the upper part of this letter had been removed, so there’s no way to tell if this letter has any connection with the work it is glued on.

Click to enlarge.

According to the granddaughter, her grandparents, after discovering that Hitler’s signature was on the work, had sent a photo of the work to Albert Bormann, who then  replied that “the work” looked like an authentic Hitler, but that only physical research could prove if it was authentic or not.

TAZ, January 2014: “The grandparents, on the other hand, have no doubts after Bormann's letter. They want to donate the painting to their hometown and thus acquire lifelong residential rights. But this does not happen: the couple dies after the war. When the aunt later flees to West Germany, she hides the painting behind another painting. She cuts off the letterhead of the Bormann correspondence so that no one would think that the family had anything to do with the Nazis. The officials at the German-German border do not find the hidden painting. In her new home, the aunt stows it away in the cupboard.”

This rather incredible story must have happened somewhere between 1949 and 1989. In a time when alleged Hitler paintings were not very valuable. Why risk fleeing with a Hitler work? It doesn´t make sense.

It also doesn’t make sense that four separate cousins inherit one painting. Inheritances simply don´t work that way.

Alarm bells

Moreover, many Hitler forgeries are accompanied by trumped-up paperwork. Documents like the ones attached to this watercolor function as alarm bells.

As far as is known the 2014 Weidler has never been forensically researched. And therefore it must be regarded as a forgery, unless the authenticity is proven beyond any doubt.

TAZ reported too, in January 2014: “ A few years ago, the Bavarian Main State Archives (Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv) was donated a number of alleged Hitler paintings. The authenticity check took weeks: several experts examined the style, content and brushstrokes. The State Criminal Police Office used ultrasound to search for hidden layers or signatures in the paintings. Nothing. There is much to suggest that they are originals, but not everything. "As long as no one can be one hundred percent sure, we have to assume that they are forgeries," says Sylvia Krauss, who manages the estates in the archive.”

And so it is.


Sources

Anne Fromm.
Ein echter Hitler. TAZ, Berlin, 19-01-2014.
 https://taz.de/Nazi-Kunsterbe/!5050575/

Erneut wird Hitler-Aquarell in Nürnberg versteigert. Welt, Berlin, 05-11-2014.
https://www.welt.de/regionales/hessen/article134023518/Erneut-wird-Hitler-Aquarell-in-Nuernberg-versteigert.html

Sven Felix Kellerhoff. Ist angebotene Hitler-Aquarell eine Fälschung? Wellt, Berlin, 06-11-2014.
https://www.welt.de/geschichte/zweiter-weltkrieg/article134058622/Ist-angebotenes-Hitler-Aquarell-eine-Faelschung.html

Adolf Hitler watercolour painting fetches $185,000 at auction in Germany. ABC Net, Australia, 22-11-2014.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-23/adolf-hitler-watercolour-fetches-130000-euros-at-german-auction/5911758

Olaf Przybilla. Was aquarelle und Zeppelintribüne gemeinsam haben. Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munchen, 22-11-2014.
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/kunstauktion-in-nuernberg-hitler-unterm-hammer-1.2226312

Ishaan Tharoor. Hitler painted this watercolor, and someone may pay $60,000 for it. Washington Post, Washington, 18-11-2014.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/11/21/hitler-painted-this-watercolor-and-someone-may-pay-60000-for-it/

Isabel Lauer. Nürnberger Zeitung, Nürnberg, 24-11-2014.
https://www.nordbayern.de/region/nuernberg/hitler-aquarell-in-nurnberg-fur-130-000-euro-versteigert-1.4027149

DPA/AZ.
Hitler-Aquarell für 130.000 Euro versteigert: Ist das überhaupt erlaubt? Augsburger Allgemeine, Augsburg, 23-11-2014.
https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/bayern/Nuernberg-Hitler-Aquarell-fuer-130-000-Euro-versteigert-Ist-das-ueberhaupt-erlaubt-id32099027.html

See also:

Sven Felix Kellerhoff. 98 percent of 'Hitler's' painting are counterfeits. The Post Online, Amsterdam, 31-01-2019.
https://tpo.nl/2019/01/31/98-percent-of-hitlers-paintings-are-counterfeits/

Sven Felix Kellerhoff. Im Namen des „Führers“. Welt, Berlin, 08-02-2019.
https://www.welt.de/print/welt_kompakt/print_politik/article188443723/Im-Namen-des-Fuehrers.html

Jaap van den Born & Bart FM Droog. On the authenticity of the alleged Hitler watercolor. 'Standesamt München' Lot 4074, 79r. Auktion, Hermann Historica, May 24, 2019. Droog Magazine, Eenrum, 2019.
http://droog-mag.nl/hitler/2019/hh-2019-4074-standesamt.pdf



To top of page.



Exchange rates / value of money 2014

1 euro = 
1.37 US dollar.
1 US dollar = 0.73 euro.   
1 euro = 0.82 UK pound
1 UK pound = 1.22 euro
1 euro = 1.22 Swiss francs
1 Swiss franc =0.82 euro

Wisselkoersen archief ECB, 15-05-2014.

https://wisselkoers-euro.nl/archief-wisselkoersen/2014-05-15/


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


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


© Compilation Bart FM Droog, 2021.