Hitler paintings sell for €106,000

RARE examples of Adolf Hitler’s early paintings during his time as a struggling artist sold for more than £95,000 (€106,000) yesterday.

The 13 pictures, dated from the early decades of the 20th century, were painted when the Nazi leader was in his 20s and hoping to become an artist.

A self-portrait, signed with the initials AH, was bought for £10,000 (€11,190).

It shows a man sitting on a stone bridge who appears to have Hitler’s trademark side-parting.

Several of the other paintings — mainly landscapes — are signed A. Hitler in the corner.

The collection went under the hammer at Ludlow Racecourse in Shropshire in a sale by specialist auctioneer Mullock’s. The auction house’s historical documents expert, Richard Westwood-Brookes, said the total price of £95,589 (€106,988), including buyer’s premium, was far greater than he had excepted.

The 13 works were left forgotten in a collector’s garage until now.

Mr Westwood-Brookes said the pieces were liberated in 1945 by a soldier from the Royal Manchester Regiment, which was stationed in Essen, Germany, at the time.

He said: “My vendor, who is a big collector of Second World War memorabilia, bought them from the guy who liberated them in 1945.

“He sold some of them years ago and at that time he had them valued by an expert. Believe it or not, he left the rest of them in his garage.”