October 14, 2022 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

A fake Hitler for $250,000

or: a very greedy swindler

to Hitler Forgery Industry index | 2022 | to Droog Magazine

 
Bizarre Hitler scam in Berlin

Dutch version (on Reporters Online)

Bizarre Hitler scam in Berlin

Some stories write themselves. Like this one, which is also so bizarre that if your reporter hadn't experienced it himself, he wouldn't believe it. What is the case?

In September 2022, several European militaria dealers received a message from one Holger Kuhn, who claims to be an art consultant from Berlin and who, according to himself, also specializes in works by Picasso and Monet, among others.

He claims to have acquired a 100% genuine Hitler watercolor from 1913 “by coincidence”, which he wants to sell privately for $250,000. If the trader can bring him into contact with a buyer, he may charge a premium for this.

A British militaria dealer replies to Kuhn that he must be crazy to demand such an insanely high price. Another dealer, from the Netherlands, doesn't trust the 'offer' and contacts your reporter – who happens to be one of the few Hitler art and Hitler forgeries experts in the world.

An obvious fake

A glance at the photo of the work reveals that it is a fake Hitler, not even a forgery, because it bears no resemblance to the "watercolours" (paintings in watercolor) painted in 1910 -1914 by the young Hitler in Vienna and Munich.

At the time, Hitler only made cityscapes – this work is a mountain landscape with a farm. The signature is fake. And: the history of this work, according to the documents shown by Kuhn, does not go back further than 1999.

The "evidence" document compiled by Kuhn that would prove the authenticity of the work is nothing but a mix of a few bits of truth with a lot of concoctions – a typical swindler's trick.

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Prof. dr. August Priesack

The strangest thing about this is that Kuhn used the investigation about August Priesack published by Jaap van den Born and your reporter, to build his concoctions upon. Priesack, a retired history teacher and old Nazi, made from the early 1970s to the early 1990s a lot of money issueing fraudulent certificates of authenticity to fake Hitlers watercolours and sketches. Priesack has entered the history books for his role in marketing the false Hitler diaries in 1978-1982.

Left: original still, published on Droog Magazine in 2019. Right: copy of that still used by Kuhn for his swindle scheme.

Kuhn “upgraded” his scam talk with a still made by your reporter from a Dutch TV program from 1992. A still that has only been published in the aforementioned publication about Priesack, which shows what kind of swindler Priesack was. A publication that Holger Kuhn is familiar with, but that didn't stop him from claiming that Priesack was the only Hitler art expert recognized by the German government. Which is absolute nonsense.

The Dutch militaria dealer informs Holger Kuhn that he believes the work is counterfeit, but that he knows someone who is interested in the work. He gives Kuhn my first name and email address.

Bizarre Scam Attempt

To my surprise, Kuhn contacts me. Apparently he thinks I'm a buyer. But the bizarre thing is that he didn't do any checks on me. A simple search on Google, in any language, for my name plus Hitler's will immediately reveal who and what I am.

Beside that, he must know my name as he used information and the still from Priesack from Droog Magazine for his concoctions about the provenance.

He invites me to study the work with my own eyes. He also gives details about how I should transfer the $250,000 to him: “I do not accept cash”.

Coincidentally, I have to be in Spandau (a district of Berlin) on October 11 for a book launch. I notify him that I have a gap in my agenda on Wednesday morning, October 12, and that I can then view the work.

Kuhn agrees. At 11:00 am I am welcome, with my “art advisor” – a role that retired journalist Jan Oosterdijk, who accompanies me on my trip to Spandau, would initially play.

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Torstrasse, Berlin

In his emails Kuhn constantly mentions the address “Torstrasse [house number], 10119 Berlin”. He is indeed listed there in an online business directory. Consultation of Google Street View shows that there is a shop/company at the address mentioned that has something to do with art.

I then consult with Sven Felix Kellerhoff, the history-specialized Welt editor who has been describing the trade in fake Hitler objects for a decade. He advises me to contact Hans-Wilhelm Saure from Bild: an experienced investigative journalist who knows Berlin well. This story has little to do with history: it is a contemporary and rather absurd crime story – very suitable for Bild. Saure will accompany me on the visit to Kuhn's premises. The plan is to let Kuhn incriminate himself as much as is possible and then, through some critical questions and comments, expose him as the con man that he is.

I also inform the Berlin police three times about the sale planned by Kuhn. However, this doesn't lead to any action by the police, yet.

Grolmanstrasse, Berlin

Then, shortly before I leave for Berlin, Kuhn reports that the meeting will be moved from Torstrasse to an apartment on Grolmanstrasse. He doesn't explain why this has to be done at a different location. He asks me – by email – to sign a document in which I declare that after purchasing the work I will not use it for prohibited propagandistic purposes. I “sign” that document, on which my name is not mentioned, with a photo of the signature of SA-Obergruppenführer Otto Herzog, and send it to him. Kuhn doesn't recognize that the signature is somewhat odd.

October 11, 2022 – Hans-Wilhem Saure calls me. The address provided by Kuhn is in the middle of a Berlin neighborhood dominated by criminal clans. He thinks it is too dangerous to enter an apartment in that area, especially if we want to unmask a con man on the spot and we have no security guarantees. Saure is a Berliner and knows the city.

I inform Kuhn that upon further consideration I do not agree with the new address and that we will show up at the originally agreed address at the agreed time.

Then Hans-Wilhelm sends me pictures of the entrance to the building on Torstrasse. Kuhn's “Kunsthandel” turns out not to be located in the business premises on the ground floor visible on Google Street View. He lives in an apartment elsewhere in the building. I decide to call off the meeting altogether and ask Kuhn why he wants to deceive me.

Kuhn's response consists of several Whatsapp messages with excuses, supported by photos of a table filled with chocolates, waiting for us in a kitschy house.

Then, after we didn't check in at the suspicious address, he sends a photo of salad dishes, cookies, chocolates and coffee cups, with this text: “Coffee by myself” and a sad smiley face.

Shortly afterwards he emails: “(…) Honestly my family knows the whole upper industrial circle in Holland. But not even once we had a disappoint like that in our live.”

Back in the Netherlands

At that moment I'm in the car, somewhere between Berlin and the Netherlands. Once back home I ask him these questions via e-mail: why did he approach me in the first place? Did he really not know that I am a journalist and specialized in forgeries of Hitler? And what was he planning to do with us in that seedy apartment?

These questions remain unanswered for the time being. Instead he answered:

"All information sent to you is primarily confidential and non-public. I do not give permission for publication. Mitte and Charlottenburg [the neighborhoods in which these streets are located - Droog] are two of the best neighborhoods in Berlin. Because I also know that I have to protect myself, I do not own the painting. [I am] an art dealer acting for the owner. If you publish anything or threaten me in any way, I will report you to the police and hold you liable for any damage."

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Appendixes

1. The document that Holger Kuhn sent to militaria dealers and possible buyers.
2. The correspondence between Holger Kuhn, the militaria dealer from the Netherlands, Bart FM Droog, and correspondence between the British militaria dealer and Droog.
3.  A short report on the auction house Berliner Auktionshaus für Geschichte, which traded the work in 1999. A well-informed source told us about this auction house, touted by Kuhn: “It is anything but a “most accredited German auction house”. Their so-called experts are untraceable and unknown and their auction catalogs contain inferior junk and a lot of repro that other auction houses don't want to auction."
4. A transcript of the 1992 Dutch TV program, briefly featured by August Priesack, on pages 61-64 of this document.

©  Bart FM Droog, 2022.
Photos of interiors - courtesy Holger Kuhn.

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