|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
versie: 20 december 2017 - NIOD | beginpagina Droog NIOD Persbericht, 25-11-2017 Persbericht van het NIOD, 25 november 2017 Te zien is een eenvoudig straatbeeld van – wat later bleek – de Neutor in Wenen. Tussen 1909 en 1913 voorzag Hitler zich in Wenen in zijn levensonderhoud door het verkopen van nageschilderde en nagetekende ansichtkaarten. Naar schatting maakte hij er zo’n twee- tot drieduizend; daarvan zijn er tussen de zevenhonderd en achthonderd bekend. Van Hitler’s schilderijen bestaan veel vervalsingen. Voor NIOD-medewerker Acquisitie Gertjan Dikken die de schenking in ontvangst nam, reden de aquarel aan een systematisch onderzoek te onderwerpen. Het onderzoek richtte zich onder meer op het onderwerp van de aquarel en twee zegels (van een kunsthandel en de Oostenrijkse justitie) aan de achterzijde. Gevoegd bij de resultaten van het materiaalonderzoek door papierrestauratoren van de afdeling Conservering en Restauratie van de Universiteit van Amsterdam kunnen de volgende conclusies getrokken worden: De herkomst en de manier waarop het schilderij is aangeboden aan het NIOD wekken geen enkel vermoeden dat hier sprake is van misleiding of te behalen voordeel; Het onderwerp van het schilderij en de gevolgde werkwijze van de maker passen naadloos bij die van Hitler in die jaren; Met name de originele zegels aan de achterzijde van de verlijmde aquarel – van Morgenstern en het Exekutionsgericht – vormen een sterk indirect bewijs van authenticiteit; De materiaalanalyse bewijst dat het om een origineel geschilderd en gesigneerd werk gaat, vervaardigd met materiaal uit het begin van de twintigste eeuw. ,,Er maakte zich een historische sensatie van mij meester toen ik het werk in handen kreeg”, vertelt Dikken. ,,Voor zover wij weten zijn we de enige erfgoedinstelling in Nederland die een schilderij van Hitler in het bezit heeft.” Er wordt nog bekeken of nader onderzoek nodig is. In ieder geval neemt het NIOD de aquarel op in de collectie. Het werk kan gebruikt worden voor educatieve doelstellingen en onderzoek. Hierdoor komt het schilderij ook niet op de markt. NIOD-directeur Frank van Vree stuurde ons op 27 november 2017 een verslag van het NIOD-onderzoek naar de vermeende Hitler-aquarel, in de vorm van een document getiteld 'NIOD onderzoekt authenticiteit aquarel van Adolf Hitler'. Het NIOD-onderzoek - becommentarieerde versie Alarmbel 1. Bij veel zogenaamde 'Hitlers' die na 1945 opduiken is de herkomstgeschiedenis onduidelijk en niet te checken. Zo ook in dit geval. 2. Vaststellen authenticiteit
Wat hier gebeurde, is exact hetzelfde wat geschiedde bij de authenticatie van Hitlers dagboeken, in 1983. Ook toen schoof Dr. August Priesack onderzoekers vervalst materiaal toe, om de echtheid van de eveneens vervalst dagboeken te bewijzen. 3. Het onderwerp
De Amerikaanse historicus Frederic Spotts (1930) stelde in zijn werk Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics (2002) dat het boek van Price, Jahn en Priesack hoofdzakelijk uit vervalsingen bestaat; hij noemt 'voor tweederde'. Al eerder signaleerde een andere Hitler-kenner, de Duits-Oostenrijkse historica Brigitte Hamann (1940-2016), in haar boek Hitlers Wien (1996; Engelse titel Hitler's Vienna) dat Price's boek ook veel vervalsingen gemaakt door Reinhold Hanisch bevat. 4. Zegel kunsthandel Morgenstern
Wat wel bekend is, is dat beide zegels van een type zijn dat vooral als sluitzegel voor brieven werd gebruikt, in zwang ca. 1845-1950. Op de vele duizenden soortgelijke Weense zegels staan echter geen telefoonnummers vermeld .* Het telefoonnummer op het rode zegel (letter plus vijf cijfers, A 17447) stamt uit 1928 of later .** Het aquarel met het rode zegel werd in 2013 geveild voor $ 11.000,- *** NIOD: "Aanvankelijk werkte Hitler samen met Rheinold Hanish, met wie hij samen in een daklozenopvang - Männerwohnheim - aan de Meldemannstraße verbleef. Terwijl Hitler schilderde, verkocht Hanisch zijn werk, en ze deelden de opbrengst. Daarover kregen de mannen evenwel een conflict, en in de zomer van 1910 spatte de vriendschap uiteen. Hitlers belangrijkste afnemers waren de kunst- en lijstenmakerijen van twee (joodse) zakenlieden, Jacob Altenberg en Samuel Morgenstern. Deze aquarel komt uit de winkel van Morgenstern, zoals blijkt uit het zegel aan de achterzijde van de in het paspartout verlijmde aquarel." 5. Stempel [= zegel] Weense Justitie
NIOD: "Naast het zegel van Morgenstern draagt de achterzijde een tweede zegel, van het Exekutiongericht Wien. Twee Oostenrijkse onderzoekers, dr Florian Wenninger en prof. dr Bertrand Perz, historici aan het Institut für Zeitgeschichte, verklaren onafhankelijk van elkaar dat dit zegel werd gebruikt van mei 1919 tot april 1934, wanneer Dollfuss de macht krijgt en de afbeelding wordt vervangen door een "Doppeladler" (adelaar met twee koppen). Het zou kunnen dat het zegel, die vaak in grotere oplagen werden gedrukt, nog iets langer is gebruikt, maar dan niet langer dan een paar maanden. Na de oorlog zou het oude zegel niet meer worden gebruikt. 6. Materiaal onderzoek NIOD: "Een definitiever antwoord is mogelijk wanneer een sample van de aquarel zelf wordt gemaakt, om het pigment in de verf te dateren, en wanneer het werk los zou worden gemaakt van de - volledig vastgelijmde - paspartout." 7. Conclusie Commentaar: Het is verontrustend dat niemand van de aanwezige EHRI-partners bij de presentatie in het United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washingon D.C., USA), de zeepbel van de NIOD-claim heeft doorgeprikt. English text Watercolor of Adolf Hitler delivered at NIOD Authenticity research proofs that painting is almost certainly an original Journals, letters and photographs are still offered daily at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. But last spring a visitor brought something completely different: a dark brown wooden frame with a watercolor signed A. Hitler. After months of authentication research, the preliminary conclusion is: an original painting by Adolf Hitler. It shows a simple street scene of what turned out to be the Neutor (New Gate) in Vienna. Between 1909 and 1913, Hitler earned a living in Vienna by selling self painted postcards. It is estimated that he made about two to three thousand; between seven hundred and eight hundred are known. Many forgeries of Hitler's paintings exist. That's why NIOD employee Gertjan Dikken undertook a systematic investigation of the watercolor. The research focused on the subject of the watercolor and two seals (from an art trade and the Austrian justice) on the back. The following conclusions can be drawn from the results of the material research by paper conservators from the Conservation and Restoration Department of the University of Amsterdam: The origin and the way in which the painting is presented to the NIOD do not raise any suspicion that this is a forgery or that someone wil profit from it. The subject of the painting and the method of working of the maker are almost exactly the same as other subjects painted by Hitler and how he worked. In particular, the original seals on the back of the glued watercolor - of Morgenstern and the Exekutionsgericht - form a strong indirect proof of authenticity; The material analysis proves that it is an original painted and signed work, made with material from the beginning of the twentieth century. "A historical sensation took hold of me when I received the piece," says Dikken. "As far as we know we are the only heritage institution in the Netherlands that owns a painting made by Hitler." It is still being examined whether further research is needed. In any case, the NIOD incorporates the watercolor into the collection. The work can be used for educational purposes and research. As a result, nobody will be able to buy it. to begin English text | to top of page On 27 November 2017, NIOD director Frank van Vree sent us a copy of the NIOD investigation into the alleged Hitler watercolor, a document entitled 'NIOD examines the authenticity of watercolor by Adolf Hitler'. We focus on the most remarkable points from this document and comment those. to begin English text | to top of page The NIOD investigation - commented version 1. The provenance of the NIOD watercolor NIOD: "Last winter a woman, who wants to remain anonymous, brought a watercolor, signed with the name A. Hitler, in a wooden, dark-brown frame. Her father had bought the work in the seventies, solely because of the framet, on a flea market near Utrecht, for the mere amount of 75 cents. When he came home and saw the name of the painter, he realized what he had bought. He put the painting directly in the cellar and never wanted to look at it again. So his daughter said." Alarm bell 1. A with many alleged Hitler painings that emerged after 1945, the provenance history is unclear and can not be checked. As in this case. NIOD: "The woman had tried to sell the work, but no auction house (Peerdeman and Christie's) was interested She. was aware that Hitler's other artworks have yielded tens of thousands of euros in recent years - or even more than one hundred thousand, but she did not want it in her house anymore, which is why she turned to the NIOD. " Alarm bell 2. So the woman had tried to sell it first, and when she didn't succeed in selling it, she turned to the NIOD. Strange. Alarm bell 3. Two auction houses refused. Why? Did the auction houses think it was a forgery? Or because of something else? The NIOD report does not mention it. When we noticed this, we shared our concerns with Volkskrant editor Rik Kuiper. He called the auction houses and was told that both did not trade in Nazi artifacts, and that they had therefore not carried out an authenticity investigation. We asked NIOD director Frank van Vree why the NIOD had not checked this. He informed us that the NIOD had ask questions to these auction houses. He did not explain why this was not included in the research report. Incidentally, that two Dutch auction houses do not want to trade Nazi artifacts, does not necessarily mean that they take a principled position. It can just as well be a pragmatic position: experience shows that on auctions of Nazi artefacts many forgeries are offered. The auctioning of forged material - regardless of the further story behind it - is of course not good for the reputation of an auction house. But this aside. NIOD: "On the basis of the historical significance, the NIOD decided to accept the painting - at least for further research, with the option to include it in the collection. (...) Additional consideration is that the work is not on the market." Authentic or not - is it NIOD's mission to determine what will or will not be on the market? NIOD: "Over the past few months, attempts have been made to establish the authenticity of the work in various ways, and based on the results, the institute concludes that all signs indicate that this is indeed an original work by Hitler." On the contrary, almost everything indicates that this watercolor is a forgery. 2. Determination of authenticityNIOD: "It is known that there is quite a few of falsified or unauthentic works by Hitler in circulation." Alarm bell 4: 'Quite a few' - fascinating euphemism for: 'just'. As far as we know, only five authentic Hitlers have been preserved, all of which are kept in museums. NIOD: "Sometimes these are very faithful facsimiles, made in 1935 by order of the archive of the NSDAP, which secretly carried out research into Hitler's past and his works of art in particular." This 'secret investigation in 1935' is based on fabrications of two post-war art swindlers, the Austrian Peter Jahn and the German August Priesack. NIOD: "The researchers, WH Dammann and Dr August Priesack (who later, in 1983, would still play a role in the international riot around the forged Hitler diaries), had to determine the authenticity of the many works attributed to Hitler. they could not only fall back on the best experts, but also on the memory of the führer himself. " Alarm bell 5: Dr. August Priesack, also called 'Prof. Dr. ' August Priesack, a Nazi who was after the war a history teacher at a German gymnasium (and therefore could call himself 'Professor'), got his Doctor title in 1929 by a Nazi professor in Munich. Priesack played an important role in 'authenticating' the falsified Hitler diariess in 1983. The fact that he was involved in the authentication of Hitler's works before the war is a concoction of Priesack. In the 1980s he slipped his falsified cv into the NSDAP-Hauptarchiv files at the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich. Priesack's scam consisted mainly of authenticating forged Hitler and other Nazi artefacts, through issuing fraudulous certificates of authenticity, from at least 1978 until the nineties. In the Volkskrant of November 25, 2017, NIOD researcher Gertjan Dikken explicitly states that he checked the signature on the NIOD watercolor in afore mentioned book, that's also known as Price's book:
What happened here is exactly the same as what happened with the authentication of Hitler's diaries, in 1983. Then too, Dr. August Priesack handed researchers falsified material to prove the authenticity of the also forged diaries. It is - excusez le mot - insane that the NIOD anno 2017 is swindled in the same way as German and English researchers were in 1983. to begin English text | to top of page NIOD: "The watercolor is painted on a postcard of the Neutor, or Neu Thor, a tower in Vienna, built in 1558 and demolished in 1860. That was exactly how Hitler worked in Vienna: after being twice rejected for the art academy - he made between 1909 and 1913 a living by selling post-painted and postcards. It is estimated that he made two to three thousand, between 700 and 800 are known. (...) " Alarmbel 6: the numbers that the NIOD mentions here come from one source: Adolf Hitler as Maler und Zeichner. Ein Werkkatalog der Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und Architekturskizzen. Gallant Verlag, Zug 1983 (English title: Adolf Hitler. The unknown artist, Billy F. Price Publishing House, Houston, 1984). This book, financed by the American multimillionaire and Nazi artefacts collector Billy F. Price, had Peter Jahn and Prof. dr. Dr. August Priesack as co-authors. They state in this book, which contains more than seven hundred so-called Hitlers, the number of two to three thousand drawings and watercolors produced by Hitler. In reality, Hitler's production was significantly lower: he 'only' made several hundred watercolors. According to sources shortly after the war, he would have produced around three hundred. This alone shows that Price's book contains mainly forgeries. A fact confirmed by Konrad Kujau, the best-known Hitler paintings, - poems and diary forger, who, after his arrest, confessed that around a hundred and seventy 'Hitlers' included in Price's book were made by him, Kujau. This was all known in 1984. In that year Hermann Weiss (1932-2015), researcher of the Institüt für Zeitgeschichte (the German counterpart of the NIOD) wrote about the book of Price:
The American historian Frederic Spotts (1930) stated in his work Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics (2002) that the book by Price, Jahn and Priesack consists mainly of forgeries; he mentions 'for two thirds'. Earlier, another Hitler expert, the German-Austrian historian Brigitte Hamann (1940-2016), noted in her book Hitlers Wien (1996, in English: Hitler's Vienna, 1999) that Price's book also contains many forgeries made by Reinhold Hanisch. All this extremely important information was unknown by the NIOD. In fact, the NIOD used an image of a 'Hitler' signature from Price's book as proof of the authenticity of the 'examined' watercolor in 2017. By the way: after studying the entire matter thoroughly, we believe that the estimate of Spotts is on the low side. At least 90% of the paintings depicted in the book are forgeries. to begin English text | to top of page 4. Seal 'art dealer' Morgenstern
On the left the seal on the NIOD canvas, on the right another Morgenstern seal, found on the work attributed to Hitler 'Interior of the Franciscan Church, dated 1912. Are both seals forgeries, are both genuine, is either a forgery? Who knows may say. What is known hower is that both seals are of a type that was mainly used as an advertorial stamp and as a seal for letters, in vogue about 1845-1950. However, there are no telephone numbers on the many thousands other similar Vienna stamps.* The telephone number on the red seal (letter plus five digits, A 17447) dates from 1928 or later.** The watercolor with the red seal was auctioned in 2013 for $ 11,000.*** NIOD: "Initially, Hitler worked with Rheinold Hanish, with whom he lived together in a homeless shelter - Männerwohnheim - on the Meldemannstraße. Hanisch sold the works that Hitler had painted, and they shared the profit, but the men got a conflict about that, and in the summer of 1910 their friendship ended. , Hitler's main customers were the art and frame workshops [?] of two (Jewish) businessmen, Jacob Altenberg and Samuel Morgenstern. This watercolor [i.e. the NIOD-painting], originates from the Morgenstern store, as shown by the seal gluedon the back of the paspartout on which the watercolor is glued." - The seal does not mention Morgenstern's main activity See also: Seals and stamps with a scent. Notes on 4. to begin English text | to top of page
NIOD: "In addition to the seal of Morgenstern, the reverse carries a second seal, from the Exekutiongericht Wien. Two Austrian researchers, Dr. Florian Wenninger and Prof. Bertrand Perz, historians at the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, independently state that this seal was used from May 1919 until April 1934, when Dollfuss gets the power and the image is replaced by a " Doppeladler "(eagle with two heads). It could be that the seals, which were often printed in larger print runs, were used a little longer, but not longer than a few months. After the war the old seal was no longer in use. Relying on this seal, the watercolor should have been confiscated by the judiciary before April 1934. It can not be ruled out that this happened between June 1933 and April 1934: in June 1933 the NSDAP became banned, because of its violent political actions and undermining activities in Austria. Which means that the watercolor was confiscated before Priesack and his colleagues (who were appointed in 1935) made facsimiles." The Viennese researchers have done a good job. Nothing indicates that this seal is a forgery. At the same time there is no evidence for the theory of the NIOD, that the Austrian authorities in 1933-1934 seized paintings made by Hitler. Why would they? The watercolors of Hitler from 1910-1917 are completely apolitical in character. to begin English text | to top of page 6. Research of the material NIOD: "A more definitive answer is possible when a sample is made of the watercolor itself, to date the pigment in the paint, and when the work would be detached from the - fully glued - passe-partout." to begin English text | to top of page 7. Conclusion It is worrying that none of the EHRI partners present at the presentation in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington D.C., USA), protested against the NIOD claim. to begin English text | to top of page CONTENT DROOG- tijdschrift voor diepgravende onderzoeks-journalistiek. Droog, onafhankelijk en ter zake. Over zaken uit heden en verleden die er toe doen of deden. Zaken die meer aandacht vragen dan in een artikel van een of twee papieren pagina’s gegeven kan worden.
Steun ons op Facebook: Droog - Slow jounalism
|
||||||||||||||||||||
