Description:

ADOLF HITLER'S PERSONAL ACCOUNT BOOK , WITH ART PURCHASES, PRIVATE PAYMENTS...AND "BLOOD MONEY"
An extraordinary historic ledger book, 175pp. (66pp. bearing text), 8" x 12 3/4", recording Hitler's personally-ordered disbursements for the period between April 1, 1944 until April 16, 1945 - only 13 days before Hitler would kill himself in his bunker in the basement of the Reichstag. This never-before-seen journal bears hundreds of entries, all in the same hand, showing a plethora of cash disbursements that were clearly ordered by Hitler himself. Every page bears the date of the disbursement, explanation, and the amount spent broken down by category, with categories including: "Theater & Music...Education Facilities...Health Department...Paintings & Sculpture...Memorials...Buildings...Contributions for Emergencies...Donations..." and of course, "Miscellaneous" , which is where most of the expenses are categorized. Multiple entries make payments to Hitler's personal physicians, including the Dr. Theodor Morell and Dr. Karl Brandt, with the dsetail noting that their services were: "for the treatment of the Fuhrer". These payments were often for thousands of marks at a time. A related payment of 80,000 marks was made to industrialists Siemans for equipment noted as being ordered by Morell. Of course, the treatments given by Morell and Brandt (later hanged for war crimes) were generally pure quackery. One of the first payments listed is made to Hedwig Gustloff, Hitler's secretary whose husband headed the NSDAP in Switzerland and was murdered by a Jewish student. The widows of many other Nazi "martyrs" are also regularly compensated, including those of Julius Schreck, Paul Posse (Nazi administrator in charge of the depository of looted art), George Kranzlein (I. G Farben manager and rabid anti-semite), Hans von Tschammer und Osten, and many others unidentified by us. Hitler also ordered payments to other "deserving" candidates, including the divorced wife of Gen. Walther von Brauchitsch (whom Hilter had urged to divorce!), Ilse Hess, wife of Rudolf Hess, his ex-bodyguard and confidante Wilhelm Bruckner, Arno Schickendanz, Rosenberg's chief of distribution of anti-semitic propaganda, funds for the wounded and dead of the SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, and to various artists and artists' groups in Berlin and Munich. Some of the more obtuse entries include a payment to a Dutch art dealer for a painting given to Adm. Erich Raeder, Knights Cross awardee Max Wunsche, Mussolini's German doctor, Georg Zachariae, Hitler's favorite architect, Hermann Giesler, sculptor Hermann Hosaens, medieval architectural historian Ernst Gall, arms designers Heinrich Landweiler (inventor of the panzerfaust) and Hugo Schmeisser, and dozens of others we have not identified. Many of the Nazi hierarchy also received substantial payments, often as birthday presents, including 200,000 marks paid to Joachim von Ribbentrop, 764,000 marks paid to Wilhelm Keitel, 250,000 marks given to Fritz Sauckel on his 50th birthday, 100,000 marks to Otto Meissner and to Gauleiter Joachim Eggeling, 30,000 marks given Police General Kurt Goehrum, other payments to Hans Lammers and Kurt Daluege, and payments of 250,000 and 388,000 to Gen. Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, likely in exchange for his use by the Nazis' for propaganda purposes. Also appearing are regular payments of over 300,000 marks made "On order of the Fuhrer" to an unnamed payee, perhaps Eva Braun. Routine Chancellery expenses are also noted, including 270,000 marks given to his adjutant Julius Schaub, with other payments to his chauffeur Erich Kempka, a host of SS security officers from the Reichstandarte Adolf Hitler, huge sums for the maintenance of the Chancellery, support of the S.A. through a payment to Wilhelm Schepmann, and Hitler's railway expenses through a payment to Reichsbahn Minister Julius Dorpmuller. There are some most historic entries, including several million marks paid to the "Dankspendenstiftung", a special fund used by Hitler to purchase artwork smuggled out of Europe. This account would be periodically filled so that Hitler's buyers had funds in hand to purchase any items he might select. Also appearing is the enormous payout of 1,000,000 marks to Helene Schwaerzel. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, Mayor of Leipzig, was to assume the presidency of Germany upon the death of Hitler had the July 20, 1944 bomb plot had succeeded. When the plot unraveled, Goerdeler fled but was later recognized by family acquaintance Schwaerzel who collected her reward from Hitler himself. That payment is recorded on Sep. 29, 1944 and mentions Goerdeler by name. The final entries were made on April 16, 1945, as Berlin was besieged by the Russians at its gates. Hitler had always made monthly donations to friends and widows (as noted above), but in this entry, perhaps with the end in sight, Hitler orders payments be made: "...for May and June 1945..." to various widows, Ilse Hess, Bruckner, Bulgarian "Anastasoff-Rastoslanoff[?]" , and others, with the very last entry being 1,200 marks given to "Fraulein Fraass". Fraass, who had received a regular payment from Hitler before, does not appear to be one of his his secretaries, and our research shows only that she was an NSDAP member. Covers warped from damping, spine cover gone, contents are very good to fine. Research shows that this ledger could only have originated from the office of HANS LAMMERS (1879-1962) State Secretary and chief of the Reich Chancellery. In the latter role, he became the chief legal adviser for all government branches. In late April 1945, about the time the entries in this ledger end, he was arrested by German police in connection of Hitler's perception of a coup d'état by Göring. Believing that Lammers had already been executed, his wife committed suicide in early May 1945, and his daughter committed suicide two days later. This book was recovered either at Lammers' offices in the chancellery in Berlin, or in southern Germany, where Hitler's papres and those of the Nazi Party were transferred in the last days of the Third Reich. This journal requires full translation and extensive study, as we believe a great deal more information could be derived from its contents.

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December 8, 2011 11:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

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