NAZI

Mein Kampf Signed by Adolf Hitler Sells at Auction for $35k

A signed copy of Adolf Hitler's infamous manifesto "Mein Kampf" recently sold for £21,000, or about $35,000 in American funds. While the controversial book has been banned in Germany since the end of the Second World War, it remains in publication in other countries where the ban is not in place.

The copy in question was autographed by the notorious Nazi leader and was believed to have been given to a fellow inmate at the Bavarian jail where Hitler wrote the book while serving a four-year prison sentence in the mid-1920's. The pre-publication second edition was sold at auction by Mullock's Auctioneers.

Shown above is the signed first edition of "Mein Kampf" which sold for £23,800 at an auction in London in 2005.

[Source: Telegraph]

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Tags: adolf hitler, AdolfHitler, auction, book auction, BookAuction, hitler, mein kampf, MeinKampf, nazi, signed book, SignedBook

NAZI Art Agreement To Be Reviewed At Conference

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Over the next few days, delegates from 50 countries are meeting to discuss the commitments of governments around the world to track down and return items stolen by the NAZIs. On the agenda will be the extents to which specific nations have enacted a 1998 agreement called the Washington principles (non-binding). This year, the conference is considering a new declaration on stolen art.

An estimated 650,000 pieces of art were estimated to have been stolen under Adolf Hitler's 12-year reign. More than six decades later, 70,000 pieces remain missing and sought by their owners.

While the Washington principles are considered to be a great foundation, the current problem is that they have yet to be implemented. At the upcoming conference, the delegation will announce rankings of countries based on how fully they have implemented the Washington principles. Among those that have failed to deliver are Russia, Hungary, France, Italy and Spain. Austria and Netherlands are said to be most compliant with the principles.

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Tags: adolf hitler, AdolfHitler, art, artwork, hitler, nazi, nazis

Klimt Painting Sets Record

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Eclipsing the record set in 2004 by a Pablo Picasso painting, Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I has sold for $135 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting. It was purchased by billionaire Ronald S. Lauder, the heir to the Estee Lauder fortune, and it will be displayed in his small, New York museum, the Neue Galerie. The painting was taken from the Bloch-Bauer's home in 1938 by Nazis and was sold by her niece, Maria Altmann, who has only had it since the beginning of this year, after looted artwork was returned to relatives of the original owners.

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Tags: art, klimt, nazi, painting, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, record

Spy Auction Includes Prunes

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

Spink, the London-based auction house, has a few rather unusual items up for sale in one of the lots in its April 27th auction. The lot is described as "a unique and secret collection of material produced by the Free French in London during the Second World War" and includes many different pieces of spy memorabilia and counterfeiting equipment, including prisoner of war money, a faux Nazi stamp and propaganda booklets. The most unusual item in the lot is a pair of prunes that were to be used to smuggle secret messages and maps in to prisoners of war to aid in their escape. The prunes were pitted and stuffed with sealed notes before being dried and shipped out. These particular prunes, however, were souvenirs of the spy who owned them and were not actually used to carry messages. The lot is estimated to sell for £800-£1200.