Hitler under the hammer: speech cards auctioned in Munich

Munich, October 23

A sheaf of papers, scrawled with notes in a vigorous hand, right here and there a recognisable phrase: “the Jewish problem”, “work, sacrifice” — these are Adolf Hitler’s talking notes, which went below the hammer at a Munich public sale home on Friday.

The assortment of post-1919 historic artefacts at Munich’s Hermann Historica auctioneers has attracted consideration due to the presence of huge quantities of memorabilia linked to the Nazi chief, chargeable for a few of the worst crimes in historical past.

Apart from the notes to a number of speeches by the person who unleashed World War Two and the genocide of 6 million European Jews, the connection comprises initialled pots from his private tea service and presentation copies of his books.

But Bernhard Pacher, supervisor of the auctioneers, denied that the objects would find yourself within the arms of neo-Nazis or sympathisers, saying that solely well-heeled museums and “private collectors” might afford them.

“Almost none of the buyers are right-wing extremist neo-Nazis because they don’t need that stuff. They are happy with copies, cheap copies,” he mentioned. “No one would spend that kind of money to create a private altar with Hitler memorabilia.”

But sale costs clearly confirmed extra curiosity in relics carefully related to the wartime chief’s crimes.

The set of cue playing cards bearing the phrase “Jewish problem”, for a 1939 speech to graduating military officers, bought for 34,000 euros, whereas the notes for a 1935 speech to a winter support charity with phrases like “collections are annoying” went for simply 12,500 euros.

Other objects within the sale embody an instance of the German Enigma cipher machine which was famously cracked by Polish and British cryptographers early in World War Two, anticipated to fetch as much as 70,000 euros, and uniforms, army decorations and pins.

“Since the Wehrmacht had more than 6 million soldiers there isn’t really a supply problem,” mentioned Pacher. Reuters