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Nuremburg — Fourteen watercolour paintings and drawings allegedly by a young Adolf Hitler are set to be auctioned in the German city of Nuremburg this weekend, the Weidler auction house said yesterday. The works, which are set to bring in between $130,000 to $51,000 each and are dated between 1904 and 1922, include a watercolour of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria and several still lifes.
Hitler’s artistic endeavours are widely considered to be of limited merit, but their sale — though controversial — continues to fetch thousands of euros at auction houses each year.
In 2014, a Hitler watercolour depicting the town hall of Munich allegedly fetched €130 00 after the same auction house sold it to an anonymous buyer from the Middle East. Other interested parties were from Asia and the United States. The works are allowed to be sold in Germany as long as there are no Nazi symbols or swastikas depicted on them. However, their sale is highly controversial as 80 percent of the proceeds go to private sellers rather than a good cause.
The auction house, which said yesterday that any complaints about the planned auction should be addressed to the sellers, told Sueddeutsche newspaper several days ago that of the 20 percent commission it receives, a percentage will be given to charity.
Meanwhile, Austria’s government is looking at options that would allow it to expropriate the house where Hitler spent his early childhood.
The move is the latest in efforts by the government to ensure that the house is not turned to a use that makes it even more of a shrine for Hitler’s admirers. Municipal officials in Braunau, where the house stands, already complain that it draws neo-Nazi visitors to the town.
Interior ministry spokesperson Karl-Heinz Grundboeck said on Wednesday that his ministry expects expert opinions by the end of the month on expropriation and other legal options.
He says that won’t be necessary if the owner — a woman authorities refuse to identify — accepts a government offer to buy it.
She reportedly has turned down past offers, however. — AFP
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