Droog Magazine. Investigations

droog magazine

HOME

October 21, 2020 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

Schroeder 'Hitlers' at HH?

to Hitler Forgery Industry index | 2020 | to Droog Magazine

Lot 2050 on Hermann Historica auction A83r, October 23, 2020. The amateurish stamp print and wrong dating betray it as a forgery

Introduction | Christa Schroeder |

Lot 2050 | Lot 2051 | Conclusion |

On October 23, 2020 auction house Hermann Historica in Grasbrunn (Bavaria, Germany) is to auction two double sided cards with alleged Hitlers sketches. These cards would originate from Hitler's former secretary Christa Schroeder, who confessed posthumously to have “saved” (= stolen) a number of alleged Hitler sketches from the Berghof, on April 26, 1945.

She stated that it were about 100 sketches, of which, according to her, 50 were later stolen by captain Bernhard (alias Albert Zoller), the French intelligence officer with whom she had cooperated in 1948 on a book about Hitler. The remaining 50 she had sold to dr. Henry Picker, a former Nazi officer, known from his versions of Hitler's Tabletalk.

The auction house states as provenance only “Christa Schroeder”, which is odd, as one would expect that at least Bernhard or Picker as previous owners would be mentioned too. By naming only “Christa Schroeder”, there's a hughe gap in the provenance story, which makes the authenticity of these sketches questionable.

The dating and the Schroeder signature on the card are highly dubious too, as she gained possession of these sketches on April 26, 1945, and not on April 24, as is written on the card. The stamp print on the card is even more dubious. It is not made with a professional stamp, but with a self produced stamp, from a stamp box with loose letters. The 's' is applied with a separate stamp.

This raises the question why anobody would damage an authentic Hitler sketch by polluting it with an amateurish stamp print? The most logical answer is that only forgers would do so, to “upgrade” their products.

In the past five years more alleged Hitler sketches on cards with similar stamp prints and in similar passepartouts have surfaced. As far as is known none of these sketches have ever been forensically researched, and all are presented with an uncheckable provenance story. This means that all such cards are to be considered as forgeries.

Herman Historica unfortunately did not respond to our questions.

The Cards

Lot 2050: "Portrait sketches by Hitler from the high treason trial 1924 / Portraitskizzen Hitlers aus dem Hochverrats-Prozess 1924"

Description by auctioneer: “Two sketches in black and blue ink on clear carton. Double sided. On one side two heads and a stamp print “Original Adolf Hitlers”, handwritten signature and dated “24.4.1945” – Christa Schroeder. On the other side four heads. On the passepartout, bottom left, is a handwritten explanatory text: “Studies of people present at Hitler's trial at the Volksgericht in Munich( February 26 / April 1, 1924) in Munich 1919/1920”. The opening in the passepartout measures 13,5 x 8 cm. Dimension of passepartout 30 x 21 cm.

The Reichsgericht in Leipzig was the responsible court for the high treason trial, Bavaria however refused [to hand over Hitler] and presented the case to the Volksgericht of the Landgericht Munich, which was a clear violation of the law.

Provenance: Christa Schroeder (1908-1984), from 1933 until 1945 private secretary of Hitler.

Start price €2,000.”

Comparison of two sketches on lot 5020 with an two on an authentic Christa Schroeder "Hitler".

On the left two sketches with 100% Christa Schroeder provenance; on the right two sketches from lot 5020. As the Schroeder sketches were published in 1949 a forger could have used these as an example. More (alleged) similar Hitler sketches were published in Price (1983). As the whereabouts of the original Schroeder sketches and the sketches depicted in Price are unknown, proper comparison is impossible.

Lot 2051: "Portrait sketches by Hitler from members of the DAP 1919/20 / Portraitskizzen Hitlers von Mitgliedern der DAP 1919/20"

Description by auctioneer: “Two sketches in pencil on clear carton. Double sided. On one side five heads and a stamp print “Original Adolf Hitlers”, handwritten signature and dated “24.4.1945” – Christa Schroeder. On the other side four heads. On the passepartout,bottom left, is a handwritten explanatory text:
"9 heads of members of the 'Deutsche Arbeiter partei' 1919/1920". The opening in the passepartout measures 13,5 x 8 cm. Dimension of passepartout 30 x 21 cm.

Provenance: Christa Schroeder (1908-1984), from 1933 until 1945 private secretary of Hitler.

Start price: € 2,000."

Conclusion

The strange stamp prints and the wrong datings on the cards are very strong forgery indicators. And so is the gap in the provenance story. Who made these sketches is therefore unknown. The attribution to Hitler is based on no evidence at al, and can be considered as Betrug, the German word for fraud.

Sources

Albert Zoller. Douze ans auprès d'Hitler. René Julliard, Paris, [1949].

Albert Zoller. Hitler privat. Erlebnisbericht seiner Geheimsekretärin. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf, 1949. 240 Seiten mit einige Bildtafeln.
Albert Zoller. Twaalf jaar bij Hitler. Confidenties van een particulier secretaresse. Verzameld en bewerkt door Albert Zoller. Met vele voor het eerst uitgegeven foto's en afbeeldingen van tekening van Hitler zelf. D.A. Daamen's Uitgeversmaatschappij N.V., 's-Gravenhage, MCML [1950].

Christa Schroeder. Er war mein Chef. Aus dem Nachlaß der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler. Herbig, München, 1985. Pages 213, 215-216.
https://archive.org/details/SchroederChrista1985-ErWarMeinChef/
English (abridged) translation: He was my chief. The memoirs of Adolf Hitler's secretary. Introduction by Roger Moorhouse. Translation by Geoffrey Brooks. Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley, 2009.

Julius Schaub. In Hitlers Schatten. Erinnerungen und Aufzeichnungen des persönlichen Adjudanten und Vertrauten 1925-1945, hergestellt von Olaf Rose, 2. durchges. Aufl., Stegen/Ammersee, 2010, pages 302-308.

Jaap van den Born and Bart FM Droog. The secretary's collection. Droog Magazine, Eenrum, 18-10-2020
https://www.droog-mag.nl/hitler/christa-schroeder/christa-schroeder-the-secretary-s-hitler-collection.pdf