October 21, 2020 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

A fraudulent postcard at HH

to Hitler Forgery Industry index | 2020 | to Droog Magazine

Lot 2057 on Hermann Historica auction A83r, October 23, 2020. Greetings from Prague from the Nazi top brass.


Introduction |Lot 2057 |

On October 23, 2020 auction house Hermann Historica in Grasbrunn (Bavaria, Germany) is to auction a postcard which is rather strange. It is addressed to a "Obstlt. Georg Bernhardt" in Vienna, and it carries signatures which looks like the signatures of top Nazis  Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Wilhelm Frick, Alfred Jodl and Heinrich Himmler.

According to the stamp print it was sent from Prague to Vienna on  March 18, 1939

The postcard itself is probably an authentic postcard from the Nazi period - such  cards were printed in a hugh number, and can anno 2020 be bought for a few euros.

But the signatures are in all likelihood fake - for Joseph Goebbels was   from March 15 to 18, 1939 in Berlin, according to his diary (Goebbels diary, 1923-1941, vol. 6, pages 287-292).  So, if one of the signatures is a forgery, then the others are likely to be forgeries too. 



As can be seen with the Hitler signature. On the left authentic Hitler signatures from 1937-1938 (source: Maser, 1971, page 484), on the right the one on the postcard. The differences are easy to spot. 

There's also another forgery indicator; the addressee,  Oberst-leutnant (Lieutenant-Colonel) Georg Bernhardt. This is an unfamiliar name in the literature. So why would the Nazi top brass send a card with only their signatures to an unimportant officer (if he existed at all) in Vienna?

So this card has all the characteristic of a forgery. Yet Hermann Historica is offering this card as authentic for €1,500. In our opinion this is Betrug, the German word for fraud.'

The Card

Lot 2057: "Multiple signed portrait postcard from Prague dated March 18, 1939 / Mehrfach signierte Portraitpostkarte aus Prag vom 18. März 1939."

Description by auctioneer:

"Photo postcard of the Otto Hoppe publishing house (Berlin), depicting Hitler in an open automobile. On the backside signatures made by Hitler, Frick, Göring, Jodl, Goebbels and Himmler, in ink. Special red stamp print in Czech: "Visit by the Führer and Reichskanzler on March 15 and 16, 1939. Post stamp dated March 18, 1939 and addressed to a Viennese Lieutenant-Colonel. The invasion of Czechoslowakia on March 15, 1939 ended its independent existence. Hitler travelled on the same day to Prague and declared on March 16 that the Reichsprotektorat Bohemia and Moravia formed part of the Third Reich."

"Fotopostkarte des Otto Hoppe Verlags Berlin mit Hitler in offenem Fahrzeug. Rückseitig eigenhändige Tintenautographen Hitlers, Fricks, Görings, Jodls, Goebbels und Himmlers. Roter Sonderstempel in Tschechisch "Besuch des Führers und Reichskanzlers am 15. u. 16. März 1939" vom "18.III.39". Frankiert, gelaufen und an einen Wiener Oberstleutnant adressiert. Der Einmarsch in die Tschechoslowakei am 15. März 1939 beendete deren eigenständige Existenz. Hitler reiste noch am selben Tag nach Prag und proklamierte am 16.3. das Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren als unmittelbares Reichsgebiet. Condition: II. 

Start price €1,500.”

© Compilation Bart FM Droog, 2020, with special thanks to Sven-Felix Kellerhoff for additional research.
Photos courtesy Hermann Historica.

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