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Hitler got special jail treatment
Source: Agencies |
June 24, 2010, Thursday
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ADOLF Hitler enjoyed special treatment while jailed in 1924, being allowed hundreds of visitors - sometimes unsupervised - including 30 to 40 to celebrate his 35th birthday, according to a treasure trove of documents that have surfaced from the prison near Munich where he was held.
The 500 documents from the Landsberg prison were recently found by a Nuremberg man among the possessions of his late father, who had purchased them at a flea market in the 1970s, according to Werner Behringer, whose auction house in the Bavarian city of Fuerth will offer them for sale next month.
Behringer said they were packed among a bundle of books on World War I that the man had bought, and his 55-year-old son, who has requested anonymity, never knew of their existence.
"His father probably didn't know what he had there," Behringer said.
Robert Bierschneider, an archivist with the Bavarian State Archives in Munich, said he had examined images of the documents that Behringer sent to him, and that they had stamps and notations that matched others from the same prison at the time.
"The documents appear to be genuine, but to do a real examination we need to have the originals in our hands," he said. The documents are to be auctioned on July 2, with a starting price of 25,000 euros (US$30,677).
Though only one document is signed by Hitler and much of the information about his time in prison is otherwise available, they do provide an intriguing window into his early days as Nazi leader.
Hitler was imprisoned in Landsberg after the Nazi's abortive bid to seize power in 1923 in the notorious "beer hall putsch" in Munich. It wasn't until 1933 that the Nazis would eventually come to power through parliamentary elections.
Despite being sentenced to five years in prison, Hitler was granted early release and ended up only serving about nine months of his sentence.
His right-wing politics and German nationalism won him some high-placed friends among the German establishment.
Ludendorff visited Hitler several times during his imprisonment, and the Prussian general was allowed to see the former Austrian corporal unsupervised for as long as he wanted, the documents show.
The documents include 300 to 400 original cards listing Hitler's other visitors, including the 30 to 40 who were allowed in to celebrate his birthday with him on April 20, 1924 - only 19 days after he was put behind bars.
"His time in prison was more like a holiday," Behringer said.
Prison director Otto Leybold gushed about Hitler in a memo about the inmates on Sept. 18, 1924, saying he was always "sensible, modest, humble and polite to everyone - especially to the officers of the facility."
The 500 documents from the Landsberg prison were recently found by a Nuremberg man among the possessions of his late father, who had purchased them at a flea market in the 1970s, according to Werner Behringer, whose auction house in the Bavarian city of Fuerth will offer them for sale next month.
Behringer said they were packed among a bundle of books on World War I that the man had bought, and his 55-year-old son, who has requested anonymity, never knew of their existence.
"His father probably didn't know what he had there," Behringer said.
Robert Bierschneider, an archivist with the Bavarian State Archives in Munich, said he had examined images of the documents that Behringer sent to him, and that they had stamps and notations that matched others from the same prison at the time.
"The documents appear to be genuine, but to do a real examination we need to have the originals in our hands," he said. The documents are to be auctioned on July 2, with a starting price of 25,000 euros (US$30,677).
Though only one document is signed by Hitler and much of the information about his time in prison is otherwise available, they do provide an intriguing window into his early days as Nazi leader.
Hitler was imprisoned in Landsberg after the Nazi's abortive bid to seize power in 1923 in the notorious "beer hall putsch" in Munich. It wasn't until 1933 that the Nazis would eventually come to power through parliamentary elections.
Despite being sentenced to five years in prison, Hitler was granted early release and ended up only serving about nine months of his sentence.
His right-wing politics and German nationalism won him some high-placed friends among the German establishment.
Ludendorff visited Hitler several times during his imprisonment, and the Prussian general was allowed to see the former Austrian corporal unsupervised for as long as he wanted, the documents show.
The documents include 300 to 400 original cards listing Hitler's other visitors, including the 30 to 40 who were allowed in to celebrate his birthday with him on April 20, 1924 - only 19 days after he was put behind bars.
"His time in prison was more like a holiday," Behringer said.
Prison director Otto Leybold gushed about Hitler in a memo about the inmates on Sept. 18, 1924, saying he was always "sensible, modest, humble and polite to everyone - especially to the officers of the facility."
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