New pictures from a sinister photo album up for auction

Published on 28/11/2010 22:38

Hundreds of previously unpublished photographs of Adolf Hitler are set to go up for auction next year.

• A photograph of 'party day' in Nuremberg taken in 1934 by Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's personal photographer Picture: PA

The photographs, along with negatives, were taken by the Nazi leader's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann during his party's rise to power before the Second World War.

Believed to have been passed on by the photographer himself, they will go under the hammer at a sale in January.

Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert, of JP Humbert Auctioneers, said they were a previously unseen view of Hitler during his rise to power.

"We've got somewhere around 800 negatives and maybe 600 stills, some from these negatives and other stills that don't have a negative that they were developed from," he said.

He said the photos were all pre-Second World War, with images captured at "party days", including one at Nuremberg in 1934.

There are photographs of Paul von Hindenburg, president from 1925 until his death in 1934 when Hitler took over as head of state.

"There's also images of a meeting with Mussolini in Munich and the winter and summmer Olympics of 1936 and also more sinister images of Hitler attending an SS officers training school," Mr Humbert said.

• High-ranking officials during the Nazi party's rise to power

"It's all effectively the Nazi party plotting and gaining strength, and all the way Henrich Hoffmann is taking up-close and personal pictures.

"They have come direct from Heinrich Hoffmann.

"These are effectively views of Hitler that are unseen and unpublished.

"It really is a sinister but intriguing social history of the rise of the Nazi party, never before been seen."

The pictures are due to go under the hammer at a sale at the auction house's showroom in Towcester, Northamptonshire, on 18 January. They are expected to attract interest from across the world, with bids reaching six figures.