March 9, 2020 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

A real Konrad Kujau

Fake Göring contraption

to Hitler Forgery Industry main page - to Droog Magazine

The strange business of selling fakes, forgeries and other concoctions attributed to Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and other Nazi criminals.

2020 |

© Bart FM Droog

 

On Friday March 6, 2020, this Iron Cross, First Class, from the First World War, allegedly once owned by Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring, was offered for auction by the German auctionhouse Bene Merenti, with a start price of 1000 euro.



It was mounted in a wooden frame, with multiple wax seals and a letter of authenticity, allegedly written by Göring himself, and dated September 2, 1940.

Was it authentic? Yes and no. The Iron Cross First Class was in 1914-1918 issued to 218,000 German military personnel. It is not a rare item and collectors pay at the most a few hundred euro for it. But if such a medal can be coupled to an important Nazi personality, collectors may pay considerably more.

Forgers know this, and therefore they produce material that seems to establish the provenance of a so called very rare item as Göring's own Iron Cross. But when this material is studied carefully, it usually betrays the fake provenance, as forgers almost always make silly mistakes.

As in this case.

When Göring was arrested in May 1945, he wore this specific Iron Cross. So, he didn't have it framed with a letter of authenticity dated September 2, 1940. The signature on this letter is totally different from the real signature of Göring.



The text of the letter is very strange too. 'Göring' compares himself with previous carriers of the Iron Class, but, as this was not a very special decoration, it's is weird that 'he' did so. The real Göring would have boasted about his 'Pour le Mérite',  which was awarded only 687 times. Goering was awarded it in 1918.



The abundantly places wax seals (two on front, three on the reverse side) reveal the true nature of this contraption: the only other object on which such a seal was seen before, was on a forgery made by Konrad Kujau, who became in the 1980's world famous as producer of the alleged Hitler diaries. Kujau forged all kind of objects, including fake Göring stuff.

Marc Oliver Boger, owner of the Kujau Kabinett, a museum near Stuttgart dedicated to Kujau and his forgeries, recognized these wax seals weeks before the auction. He warned the auctioneer that he was committing fraud, for trying to sell a forgery as an authentic Göring related object. The auctioneer did not respond.

After consulting Nazi medals and decorations specialist Jo Rivett, who provided the details on the medal, Boger informed Sven Felix Kellerhoff of Welt, one of the leading German newspapers. Kellerhoff, historian and journalist, has been following the disturbing trade in Nazi militaria and Hitleriana for more than ten years now, and is one of the few journalists who constantly points out that the trade in these objects is not only morally highly questionable, but in many cases amounts to plain fraud.

His article on this case resulted in lot # 244, the 'Göring medal', being withdrawn from the auction, during the auction itself.



According to one source however, the item was sold to an unknown person after the auction, for 1600 euro.

The main question remains however unanswered: why do the German authorities allow this trade at all? Given the high number of forgeries, every object allegedly related to a former top Nazi or his family members or acquaintances  must be considered to be a forgery, until the authenticity has been established for 100 percent. 

This means that every auction at which such objects are sold as being authentic, must be considered to be a fraud case, in which the German Justice department can and should intervene, on its own initiative.

 

 

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