versie: 22 december 2017 - NIOD-begin | beginpagina Droog



Forgers and collectors

Chapter 9

Commented version

From: Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics

Frederic Spotts, 2002


138 - About Price and the the dismissal of Hitler-the-painter
139 - Hitler-the-painter
140 - Reinhold Hanisch
141 - Reinhold Hanisch, Konrad Heiden, Jacques Weiss
142 - Reinhold Hanisch, Jacob Altenberg, Otto Kallir
143 - Tracing 'Hitlers' in Vienna, 1938-1939
144 - Peter Jahn, Konrad Kujau
145 - Konrad Kujau's image of Hitler-the-simple-man
146 - Konrad Kujau, exhibition 1936
147 - Konrad Kujau, August Priesack

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Page 138

notes

For more on the Florence exhibition, see:
http://www.bartfmdroog.com/droog/niod/florence.html
For more on Price's book, see:
http://www.bartfmdroog.com/droog/niod/price.html

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Page 139

notes


Indeed Russian soldiers found a sketchbook with watercolors in Hitlers desk in the Reichskanzlei in 1945. That book is kept in the Special Archive in Moscow. Yet it is unknown if the unsigned paintings in it are painted by Hitler. They have never been investigated by experts.

See: Echoes of Exile. Moscow Archives and the Arts in Paris 1933-1956. Editor Ines Rotermund-Reynard. De Gruyter, Berlin / Munich / Boston, 2015. Pages 67-69: Lifting the veil on Moscow’s Secret Archives. Vladimir Koratayev, deputy director of the Special Archive in Moscow is interviewed by Kerstin Holm, Moscow Correspondent of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Page 140

notes


Adolf Hitler 1931-1935. Pictures from the life of the Fuhrer. Original title: Adolf Hitler, Bilder aus dem Leben des Führer (1936). In the 1978 American reprint one painting from the Munich period and four from he First World War are depicted. It are these works: Courtyard of the old Residency (Munich); Unterstand in Fournes; Ardoye; Klosterruine; Haus mit weissem Zaun.
See: http://www.bartfmdroog.com/droog/niod/hitler-authentieke-werken.html#ew
and: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk1xgXYmr90

Prime source on the Altenberg-story on this page is Price. In Price (p. 264, Price-294):

It says this work has a written statement by Jacob Altenberg, that he bought this watercolor from Hitler in 1912. Date of this supposed statement: 1935 - which makes no sense at all.

"Altenberg later sold the two to a dealer in Munich for 1100 marks"- that must have been a representative of the NSDAP Hauptarchiv. The widow of Altenberg declared after the war that her husband possessed in 1938 still two early Hitler paintings, which he had to 'sell' to the Hauptarchiv. Normally the Hauptarchiv paid 2000 Reichsmark per painting, but, as Altenberg was a jew, he was forced to accept the lower sum.
Brigitte Hamann.  Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship. Translation T. Thornton. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999. Note 33.

See also: Franz Josef Gangelmayer. Das Parteiarchivwesen der NSDAP. Rekonstruktionsversuch des Gauarchivs der NSDAP-Wien. Dissertation. Wien im Oktober 2010. Page 85-86.
http://othes.univie.ac.at/12247/1/2010-10-09_0300622.pdf

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Page 141

notes



On the Feiler case (page 140 and 141): Hanisch stood on trial in July 1933, for the forgery bought by Franz Feiler and spotted by Hitler. This was reported in several Austrian and Dutch newspapers. What the verdict was is unknown. If the verdict doesn't show up in later police files, the most likely explanation would be that Hanisch was acquitted.

Hitler als Aquarellmaler. Österreichisches Abendblatt, 05-07-1933.
http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=oab&datum=19330705&seite=5&
zoom=33&query= %22hanisch%22%2B%22hitler%22&ref=anno-search
Was Hitler schilder? De Tijd, 12-07-1933.
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010535381:mpeg21:a0144

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Page 142

notes


Jakob Altenberg's name was spelled as Jacob Altenberg, with a 'c'.

Otto Kallir (1894-1978), a jewish art dealer, owner of the Neue Galerie, had urged - according to his grandchildren - Hanisch to write his memories, and smuggled these out of Austria. Yet he did do business with representatives of Hitler, just before the Anschluss.

We don't know why Otto Kallir choose in 1936 to testify against Reinhold Hanisch. Fact is he did so.

"Zufällig wurde Kallir mit Reinhold Hanisch, einem frühen Genossen Hitlers bekannt, aber Bilder Hitlers – echte oder gefälschte – verkaufte er nie. [note 26]

[note 26:] Hanisch arbeitete als Restaurateur in der Neuen Galerie. Als er begann, von seiner frühen Freundschaft mit Hitler zu erzählen, bat ihn Kallir, seine Erinnerungen aufzuschreiben. Unter großer Gefahr konnte dieses außerordentlich wichtige historische Dokument aus Österreich ins Ausland gebracht werden. Außerdem kaufte Kallir Hanisch einige sogennante “Hitler Aquarelle” ab, als historische Kuriositäten, die er sofort nach dem Anschluß verbrannte.

Die Hitler Biographin Brigitte Hamann prüfte eine Kopie des Hanisch Manuskripts, fand es authentisch, aber größtenteils Kopie eines früheren Manuskripts. Sie meint, die Hitler Aquarelle waren wahrscheinlich Fälschungen."

Jane und John Kallir (New York) & Evamarie Kallir (Wien). Willibald Plöchl und Otto Kallir. [Eigen beheer?]. ca. 2007.
https://www.doew.at/cms/download/1041m/kallir.pdf

See also: Gillian Reagan. Dealer with the Devil. The Observer, 09-11-2007.
http://observer.com/2007/09/dealer-with-the-devil/
http://observer.com/2007/09/dealer-with-the-devil/2/
http://observer.com/2007/09/dealer-with-the-devil/3/
Jonathan Petropoulos. Curt Valentin and otto Kallir. The experiences and Significance of Two Dealers. [Eigen beheer], 01-12-2009. Page 12-13.
https://artstolenfromfritzgrunbaum.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/working-paper-petropolous-valentin-kallir-vienna-2009.pdf

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Page 143

notes

Page 143 is mainly based on a mix of concoctions by Peter Jahn and August Priesack and of what really happened in 1938-1939, as is recorderd in official files.
The NSDAP Hauptarchive was a very inefficient organization. It employed no art experts in the tracing of the Hitler watercolors.

See also: Franz Josef Gangelmayer. Das Parteiarchivwesen der NSDAP. Rekonstruktionsversuch des Gauarchivs der NSDAP-Wien. Dissertation. Wien im Oktober 2010
http://othes.univie.ac.at/12247/1/2010-10-09_0300622.pdf

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Page 144

notes

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Page 145

notes

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Page 146

notes

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Pages 147

notes

What Spotts remarks on Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924 is not quite right. Indeed, the compilers of that work were fooled by Kujau forgeriers, but these were all small notes, of no influence what so ever. As far as is known, all these forgeries have been identified.
See: http://www.bartfmdroog.com/droog/dd/hitler_samtliche_aufzeichnungen.html

Regarding August Priesack: we now know that he was not an innocent bystander. He was one on the main actors in the Hitler forgery circuit, ca. 1978-1992.

Regarding Spotts' estimation on the amount of forgeries in Price's book: our estimation is that at least 90 percent of the depicted paintings in it are forgeries.

See: http://www.bartfmdroog.com/droog/niod/price.html


Source: Frederic Spotts. Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics. Arrow Books, 2002. Chapter 9.

Compilation and comments: Jaap van den Born & Bart FM Droog, december 2017

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het NIOD-onderzoek | NIOD press release and its global impact |
De experts | Signatuur | Authentieke werken | kranten 1930-1979

Samuel Morgenstern | Jacob Altenberg

De zegels | De vervalsers | August Priesack | Peter Jahn | Het boek van Price

Visueel vergelijkingsmateriaal | Florence
Brigitte Hamann | Frederic Spotts |

Conclusie | Eerste NIOD-reactie | International press reactions

On the authors of this online investigation

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