April 14, 2021 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

to Hitler Forgery Industry index | 2021 | to Droog Magazine

 
Part 3 - the Goering cap | Part 1 | Part 2 | Press |

In Belgium more questions are raised about the authenticity of uniform gear allegedly once worn by high ranking Nazis, which was bought and displayed by the Royal Military Museum in Brussels. The museum bought these objects in the past 13 years at dubious auction houses in Germany.

In March a retired Belgian Army officer disclosed that the museum had bought in 2012 an alleged tunic of Eva Braun's brother in law and SS-general Hermann Fegelein for 32,000 euros at Hermann Historica, a Munich based auction house (see Part 1).

This week the officer filed another report at the Belgian judge who investigates the Fegelein jacket case, and at the Ethics Committee of the International Council of Museums as well.


Photo courtesy Wehrmacht Awards Forum

This second report is about a cap allegedly worn by Hermann Goering [= Göring], for years the number two in the Nazi hierarchy. This white “summer cap” was, according the the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, bought in 2008 for 17,000 euro at Andreas Thies.

Thies is yet another highly dubious German auction house – in 2020 it tried to sell over a hundred fake Hitler paintings via its American daughter company.

According to a historian from the University of Hannover, who advises German musea when these want to display material from the Nazi era, only the chin strap of the alleged Goering cap is authentic.

Shortly after the purchase the museum's textile specialist Ilse Albers-Bogaerts published a long article about the cap in the magazine of ICOMAM, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Arms and Military History:

"As a personal item this acquisition possesses consider-able historical value and might therefore interest our public. (...) Objects like this one do have an influence on the public, as they certainly lure muse and military enthusiasts” (p.55) An important criterion for the purchase is the authenticity of the peaked cap. It belonged to Göring in person. He probably had it made in 1938. (...) Under the manufacturer's label 'Stechbart, Tauentzinstr. 6 Berlin' one finds the owner's name in black ink on a cloth label: Gfm H. Göring. A third proof of authenticity is the hand written note on auction house stationery by Edda Göring, H. Göring's daughter. She testifies to the authenticity of the item, certifying that it belonged to her father and that he wore it between 1938 and 1940.” (page 56).

She then wrote that the authenticity was also confirmed by the age of the fabric – which seems to originate from the 1930s - and the shape of the cap, which fits Luftwaffe uniform rules.

Apparently Mrs Bogaerts didn't realize that Edda Göring (born in 1938, died ) couldn't possibly tell anything about any headgear worn by her father in 1938-1940. Furthermore, Edda Göring was one of the few children from the Nazi brass who was active in the circle of survivors of Hitler's inner circle - a circle not precisely known for its reliability - to put it mildly. She had also al long relationship with Gerd Heidemann, the German journalist who launched with Konrad Kujau the fake Hitler diaries.  All these factors make one not happy about any statement or certificate isued by her. 

Mrs. Bogaerts also seems to have been unaware of the facts that skilled forgers use period material to fabricate their products, and of course: a good forgery resemble an original product.

Experts as well as serious collectors agree that this article proves nothing, but the naivity of all museum employees involved in the purchase and authentication of the alleged Göring cap.

Photos courtesy Wehrmacht Awards Forum.

Even a layman can see that there's something wrong with the "Goering" cap bought by the museum - look at the way in which the eagles are attached to the caps - left on a cap on the head of an original Hermann Goering, right on the Royal Military Museum cap.

It is known that Mr. Goering was a very vane man. It's hard to imagine that he would have shown himself with such a amateurishly attached eagle on his cap.

Meanwhile, in Brussels...

Meanwhile, the management of the Royal Military Museum maintains that no piece in the collection has currently been proven to be false. It has changed though the explanation at the Fegelein jacket:

Photo Droog Magazine

It reads, in translation: "Uniform jacket of a SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS, possibly attributed to Hermann Fegelein, Germany,1944."

"Possibly attributed to"???

Insanity rules the waves.

Sources

Robert Harris. Selling Hitler. Faber & Faber, London, 1986. Pages 64, 67, 76.

Ilse Albers-Bogaerts. Hermann Göring's white summer peaked cap. ICOMAM Magazine. Basiliscoe Press, Leeds. Issue 4, April 2010, pages 55-60)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LwSw9AsGmagbDTWJBqbX-pNi7TJ2LJJd/view

Daniel E. Slotnik. Edda Goering, unrepentant daughter of Hermann, dies at 80. New York Times, New York, 13-03-2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/obituaries/edda-goering-dies.html

Heike B. Görtemaker. Hitlers Hofstaat. Der innere Kreis im Dritten Reich und danach. Beck, München, 2019. Edda Göring isn't named in this book; but it shows clearly the environment she grew up in. 

“Hermann Göring Cap”. Wehrmacht Awards Forum, 2021 [seen 14-04-2021]

https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forum/wehrmacht-uniforms-and-equipment/cloth-headgear-forum/12263486-herman-g%C3%B6ring-cap-hermann-historica-auction

Jeroen van Horenbeek. Is de kepie van nazi Hermann Göring in het Legermuseum vals? De Morgen, Antwerpen, 14-04-2021.(€)
https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/is-de-prestigieuze-pet-van-nazi-hermann-goring-in-het-legermuseum-vals~b1a4d257/

© Bart FM Droog/Droog Magazine, 2021.

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