Letters to David Irving on this Website

Vicki Bradshaw has a folder of Hitler watercolour reproductions, and asks their worth, Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Hitler's water colour paintings

MY father spent 34 years as an Army officer, retiring as a full colonel in 1972. He served in WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. He was in the Class of 1944 at Texas A & M when the Army called the Corp of Cadets to serve in Europe.

A set of prints of Hitler watercolors was given to my father by Baldur Von Schirach's wife when he was an army officer stationed in Germany during the occupation.

He mailed them to my mother from Kachel, Germany on Sept. 30, 1945. My father's letter is handwritten and asks her to keep the prints in "safe keeping". The story goes that Hitler gave several of his aides the same set of prints.

The prints are in a folder that has Adolf Hitler printed across the top and the word Aquarelle in the center. The cover has a wood grain look. Inside the folder, folded inside a protecting piece of paper is a typed letter along with the prints.

The letter is in German and translates giving praises to Hitler and ends by saying Hitler is the "first leader and the first artist of our Reich". The letter is dated Christmas 1937. My father has possession of this set of prints. It is in perfect condition.

I am wanting to find out it's worth due to the fact that my father will soon die and it's worth, not only monetary, is important to his life. If you cannot give me any information on this piece of history, please forward this e-mail to someone who can help me.

Vicki Bradshaw

 Hitler's art

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David Irving responds:

YES, I also knew Henriette von Schirach, and she showed me another folder of those prints in the early 1970s; she must have had several of them. She loaned them to me for a while, then asked for them back and got them.

She did however give me other items, including a Hitler spoon stamped with AH and the eagle crest (my young daughter used to insist on having the "Birdie Spoon" for breakfast) and some copies of Das Reich and Völkischer Beobachter (right).

So what you have is genuine, no doubt; but its value? Good that it is in good condition, and that you have the provenance (history) of the item. The value is less of course than if they were original. Perhaps a few thousand dollars for the whole folder? I am not an assessor, so don't rely on me. Try contacting the auction house Hermann Historica in Munich. Hermann Historica OHG, Sandstraße 33, 80335 München.

They are a reliable auction house dealing in this kind of thing, and won't cheat you. Or get a table at a militaria show, like the one on the weekend of Nov 21, 2003 at The Drawbridge, Ft Mitchell, Kentucky. (I'll be there with a table).