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versie: 28 december 2017 - NIOD | beginpagina Droog Prof. Dr. August Priesack
Nazi-archivaris
Ook maakte hij voor het Hauptarchiv foto's van nazi-bijeenkomsten. Zoals deze:
Bron: Bundesarchiv³ Professor? Betrokken in nazi-vervalsingencircuit 1981 en 1982
Dit waren vooral fotoboeken, die Priesack samengesteld had uit archiefmateriaal dat hij bij het Bundesarchiv in Koblenz en het Institut fur Zeitgeschichte in München gevonden had. 1983 - de Hitlerdagboeken en het boek van Billy F. Price
Priesack probeerde ook de omstreden Britse historicus David Irving voor zijn kar te spannen. Irving, die vele voormalige nazi-kopstukken persoonlijk kende, was de eerste die het bedrog doorzag. In december 2017 herinnerde hij zich dit:
Als bekend wordt dat de dagboeken inderdaad vervalsingen zijn, veinst Priesack onnozelheid - hij zou er in gestonken zijn. Zowel de Duitse justitie als contemporaine Duitse historici geloven hem - hij wordt dan ook niet vervolgd, terwijl Stern-redacteur Gerd Heidemann, die de dagboeken als 100% echt had verkocht aan Stern, en vervalser Konrad Kujau tot gevangenisstraffen van ruim vier jaar veroordeeld worden. Billy F. Price Adolf Hitler als Maler und Zeichner. Ein Werkkatalog der Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und
Architekturskizzen. Gallant Verlag, Zug 1983 (in 1984 verscheen de Engelstalige editie, getiteld: Adolf Hitler. The unknown artist (Billy F. Price Publishing House, Houston, 1984).
Er is - ten overvloede - geen enkel bewijs dat August Priesack voor of in de Tweede Wereldoorlog betrokken was bij het controleren van de echtheid van getraceerde Hitlerts: sterker nog: er is geen enkel bewijs dat het NSDAP-Hauptarchiv, het voornoemde 'Büro', getraceerde Hitleraquarellen op echtheid onderzocht - integendeel zelfs. 11 De berichtgeving uit 1983-1984 had geen enkele invloed op de reputatie van August Priesack als 'Hitler-expert'. Nog in datzelfde jaar werd zijn 'expertise' ingeroepen door twee Duitse historici, die de authenticiteit van twintig in Florence bewaarde 'Hitlers' onderzochten. Bij twijfelgevallen riepen ze de hulp van Priesack in, met als resultaat dat het het hele onderzoek gecorrumpeerd raakte.14 Priesack op Nederlandse televisie "His very presence is an alarm bell" English text
Already in 1978 he was involved in attempts to sell Konrad Kujau's forged Hitler's diaries. For unclear reasons he was never prosecuted for his activities in the forgery circuit. August Priesack, in full August Theodor Albert Priesack, was born in Munich in 1908. He studied German, History and Geography in Munich and Berlin. In 1929 he was promoted in Munich with the outspoken National Socialist professor Karl Alexander von Müller.¹ Priesack worked as a junior archivist in 1935-1939 at the NSDAP Hauptarchiv in Munich, at the department 'Historisches Archiv'.² In that capacity he wrote / worked on these two books: Albert Leo Schlageter. Sein Leben und Sterben. Buchners Verl., Bamberg, 1935. 34p. Vorkämpfer für deutsche Art, Freiheit und Größe; Reihe 3, B. Deutsche Schulausgaben; 127. F.W. v. Oertzen. Die Deutschen Freikorps 1918-1923. Der Bilderteil was v. August Priesack im Hauptarchiv d. NSDAP. Munich sammengestelltt. Bruckmann, Munich, 1936. XIV, 505p, 60 photo pages. 2nd edition 1937; 3rd edition 1938. 4th and 5th edition 1939.
Source: Bundesarchiv³ More than thirty years after the Second World War, he claimed to have been involved in the collection, registration and authentication of watercolors attributed to Hitler. That is why he called himself a Hitler expert after 1973. to begin English summary | back up Statements at Institut für Zeitgeschichte In 1951-1954 several former employees of the NSDAP Hauptarchiv made statements about their activities to the archivist of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ)3a, Dr. Ir. Anton Hoch. Striking is that Dr. August Priesack did not make any statements in the 1950s; first in 1987 he provided information to the IfZ.3b Amongst the papers he brought in there's also a very suspicious piece: 'Arbeitsunterlagen dr. Priesack aus seiner Tätigkeit im Hauparchiv, 1923-1943, ca. 30 bl. '' - an overview of the activities which Priesack would have carried out in the NSDAP Hauptarchiv for the first time in 1923 - yet this Archive was founded in 1934. Professor? Priesack worked as a teacher at a gymnasium in Bavaria after 1945, which allowed him to call himself a 'Gymnasial Professor'. He has never been a professor on a university or anything like that. Until his retirement in 1973, Priesack stays out of the limelight. After his retirement, his name will be publicized for the first time if he makes corrections to Hitler's Briefe und Notizen, Sein Weltbild in handschriftlichen Dokumenten [Hitler's letters and notes. His world view in handwritten documents]. from the controversial Hitler biographer Werner Maser.4 to begin English summary | back up Involved in Nazi counterfeiting circuit Had studying Masers' work, in which falsified Hitler material was presented as genuine, triggered Priesack to become active in the falsification circuit, or was it something else? We just don't know. The fact is however that Priesack was involved in attempts to sell the forged Hitler diaries in 1978 - five years before the Hitler's diary scandal erupted, in 1983 . Fact is also that around 1980 Priesack wrote a stream of certificates of authenticity that authenticated of clearly falsified 'Hitlers' and other nazi artefacts. 1981 and 1982 In the early eighties August Priesack published under the pseudonym Rolf Nederling / R. Nederling7 two books, Die Reichsparteitage der NSDAP: 1923 - 1939 and Rudolf Hess: Sein Schicksal in Bildern (Rudolf Hess. His Fate in pictures). For reasons unknown to us, the German judiciary did not enforce the prosecution. to begin English summary | back up 1983 - The Hitler diaries and Billy F. Price's book In 1982/1983, Priesack appears to be over his ears involved in the Hitler's diaries scandal. These diaries were fabricated by the Konrad Kujau. Priesack hands to experts who have to compare the diaries with original Hitler documents Hitler material that is falsified by Kujau. As a result, they think the Hitler diaries are authentic. "Almost everything that Priesack had delivered was fake: poems from the First World War by Corporal Hitler, post-war reports, Hitler's letters to the party leadership in 1921, a copy of the verdict against Hitler's judgment after the failed November 1923 putsch - nothing was right."9 "I met him twice I think: in 1982 when he came to England and hinted at the existence of the Diaries, and in 1983 when I flew to Munich and obtained from him about 200 pages of photocopies of items from the collection (Kujau), which he claimed to take seriously. On that occasion he made certain gestures (put his hand on my knee, etc) which identified him as homosexual, which I am not, and I left soon after. I telephoned him a few days later about the collection with dubious or hostile questions, e.g. pointing out that the Hermann Göring letter was on fake headed notepaper ("Oh" he said, "you noticed that too?!" "– Too?"). In consequence I discount his expertise, and I am inclined to doubt that he was an expert."10 If it becomes known that the diaries are indeed forgeries, Priesack feigns naivety. Both the German justice and contemporary German historians believed him - he is not prosecuted, while Stern editor Gerd Heidemann, who had sold the diaries as 100% real to Stern, and forger Konrad Kujau are sentenced to prison sentences of more than four years. More about the diaries scandal: The Hitler Diaries. Hoaxes.org, [ca. 2012]. to begin English summary | back up
In 1983 this book is published: Adolf Hitler as Maler und Zeichner. Ein Werkkatalog der Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und Architekturskizzen. Gallant Verlag, Zug 1983 (in 1984 the English edition was published, titled: Adolf Hitler, The unknown artist (Billy F. Price Publishing House, Houston, 1984). This book is financed by the American entrepreneur and Hitler collector Billy F. Price. It contains descriptions and illustrations of 725 'Hitler' artworks. Co authors of this book are Peter Jahn (an Austrian self-proclaimed Hitler expert and con artist) and August Priesack. A quote from this book: In 1984 it became known that Billy F. Price's book contains at least 170 Kujau counterfeits.12 In 2002, the American historian Frederic Spotts reported that even two thirds of this book consists of forgeries.13 In our opinion, the Spotts estimate is on the low side. The coverage from 1983-1984 had no influence on the reputation of August Priesack as 'Hitler expert'. In the same year his 'expertise' was invoked by two German historians, who examined the authenticity of twenty 'Hitlers' preserved in Florence. In case of doubt they called in the help of Priesack, with the result that the entire investigation became corrupted.14 Not the end... to begin English summary | back up Bronnen en noten / Sources and notes
In Gangelmeyers onderzoek wordt - buiten de noten - August Priesack eenmaal genoemd, als 'ein Dr. August Priesack', werkzaam bij het Hauptarchiv. 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.
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