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Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) - Three Lithographs, Copies of Frescoes from the Sistine Chapel, Recovered from the Bomb Damaged Berghof, April 25th 1945 by Richard Reiter of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Nephew of Maria (Mitzi) Reiter, Love Interest of Adolf Hitler from 1926 to 1928
Sixteen year old Richard joined the 1st SS Panzer Division just in time to ride a Tiger tank into the Battle of the Bulge as a junker or officer cadet. "We were full of piss and vinegar. We wanted to get in there". The offensive, the only battle in which Richard took part, failed. "After two weeks we blew our own tanks up. We had no more fuel".
The 1st SS Panzer, also known as the Adolf Hitler Division, was der Fuhrer's own guard. It contained two guard battalions, one of which was sent to protect Hitler in Berlin, the other - including Reiter - to the Nazi redoubt in southern Bavaria
On April 25, in the last days of the war, Richard was dispatched by motorcycle to Goering's house at Berchtesgaden to deliver an attache case to the Waffen SS battalion commander. No sooner had he delivered the pouch that morning than a nearby anti-aircraft battery opened fire. It was an air raid, British Lancaster bombers, hammering Obersalzberg. "I ran to this one-man pill-box and locked myself inside. "The pill-box was made beside Goering's swimming pool, which took a direct hit. Reiter had to be dug out of the rubble. The battalion commander fared worse. "The guy i gave the case to, he disintegrated. "Reiter believes the attache case contained Hitler's orders to execute Goering, whom the Nazi leader accused of treason. (Goering was arrested on Hitler's orders that day, but survived the war, only to take cyanide in 1946, the night before he was to be hung for war crimes.
'Reiter made his way to the Berghof, which had been damaged in the raid. The lawn was littered with fire-damaged items tossed from the windows. Among them a packing case, containing works of art, many of them charred. Reiter removed three pieces, lithographs of frescoes, copied for Hitler "These were the only three not scorched"
Art From Hitler's Lair
Richard Reiter used to enjoy milk and cookies on the terrace at Adolf Hitler's House. As a boy, he even called Hitler "Onkel Wolf' - Uncle Wolf - not as a term of endearment, but because Richard's aunt was Hitler's girlfriend, and Wolf was her pet name for the dictator. "I felt awkward around him. He felt awkward around us. He couldn't relate to children."
That was in the 1930's, in pre-war Berchtesgaden, where Reiter and his brother would go to Hitler's Bavarian home and play with the Nazi leader's cherished Alsatian, Prinz. "We loved playing with this dog. I guess that is why he let us in, says Reiter, sitting in the living room of his Oak Bay apartment. Hanging on the wall are three lithographs lifted from the German dictator's home after the air raid.
Reiter's story has never been told before. A former soldier of the Waffen SS and colonel in the Hitler Youth, he never hid his past, but didn't exactly shout about it either. Now, at the age of 77, he says it's time to talk.
From Times Colonist - Victoria, British Columbia - Sunday August 7 2005
Richard Frederick Reiter
Born 22.4.1928 in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany
Grammar school in Berchtesgaden,
At age six, my brother and I were introduced to A.Hitler at his home, Haus Wachenfeld, in Berchtesgaden. Our aunt Maria (Mitzi) Reiter and Hitler were close friends and he asked us to call him ONKEL WOLF. (The old German term for Alpha wolf became the new high German name Adolf.)
I started Gymnasium at age 10, also in Berchtesgaden ( G. for high school) I also Entered the Jungvolk (junior Hitler Youth) at age 10 and I became a drummer.
After Hitler annexed Austria in 1938, my brother Guenter and I commuted to attend high school in Salzburg., where my mother came from.
When my parents were divorced in 1939, the NSV (National Socialist People's Welfare ) took over our guardianship and my brother and I were sent to a NS boarding school in Salzburg, more like a military academy. Transferred several times to different locations, all within former Austria. I had jumped a year and my brother and I stayed in the same grade until we joined up. At age 14 Guenter and I were tested and then sent to Teachers College in Budweis, (Budejovice, Czech Republic now) former CSR, then a German "Protectorate".
At age 14 I entered the Hitler Youth and after excelling in various sports and academic contests I became a Hitler Youth Gefolgschaftsfuehrer, a captain, at age 15. Our days were filled with sports, semi-military activities and political preparation. I travelled extensively at no expense to various sport, military and political venues and when we were transferred to the Munich Pasing Teachers College, Hans Schemm Hochschule fuer Lehrerbildung, I was promoted to Stammfuehrer (colonel?) in the Hitler Youth.
The Munich TC was at the same time organized as an anti aircraft defence battalion. Both, Guenter and I were trained as loaders on the 88 mm Flak gun. In classes we wore the Hitler Youth uniforms and after classes we changed to the regular airforce blue-grey uniform of the Flak.
During the spring of 1944 the air raids became so numerous and intense that we remained dressed in our air force flack uniforms all the time. There often were as many as 3 or 4 air raids a day and our studies were constantly interrupted by the sirens: we dropped our work, ran across the field where our battery was located and fired when ordered. Then back to the test or reading etc.
During a weekend in April 44 my brother and I were give leave to spend three days with our mother, who had moved to Munich after her divorce and it was here that Guenter and I were buried under the rubble of the house where my mother lived. We had tried to rescue some things my mother had stored in the basement and we were downstairs when the burning house was hit by a large HE bomb. Fortunately, old houses in Europe had massive basements and as a precaution, all the rowhouses had small tunnels connecting each house. After several hours in the hot cellar we were rescued.
In May, my brother was drafted into the RAD, a mandatory labour service, which during the war was changed to infantry training. Hitler had dropped the age of draft from 18 to seventeen years in preparation for the Ardennes Offensive.
Just before summer Hitler dropped the age of draft to 16 and after I had just finished my third year TC, I entered the RAD. Two months later I volunteered to join the Waffen SS, just like my brother had done.
From basic training I was transferred to the Junker Schule in Bad Toelz, the academy which trained officers in the Waffen SS. Less than a month later, following a test in English language skills, I was transferred to a 'secret' ZBV (forerunners of Special Service) camp at Grafenwoehr, a place which I recognized because I had visited my uncle Georg Kubisch here, who was a Hauptsturmfuehrer (captain) in the Standarte Deutschland, the forerunners of the Waffen SS. My aunt Mitzi had married Kubisch after Hitler had told her that he was married to Germany. He was killed at Dunkerque in 40, and Hitler provided her with a suite at the Reichskanzlei in Berchtesgaden (Chancellery).
Fortunately, The CO of the ZBV camp mustered me out because of my age, I had just turned 16. Rather than being transferred back to Junker Schule, I requested placement in a frontline division. I was afraid that I would miss the war. I joined the 1.SS Panzer Div. of the 6. SS Army under Sepp Dietrich, whom I had met ten years earlier at Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden. Hitler was planning one last major offensive through the Ardennes. Ironically, the same route the Germans had taken in 1870, the von Schlieffen Plan, in 1914, the modified Luddendorf Plan and again in l940.
I had been given a crash course in commanding a tank and I looked forward to the encounter: This is what I had been trained for: to wage war. Fortunately, our Tiger tank was nearly indestructible, compared to the tanks the Allies had. Within two days Col. Peiper, who lead the spearhead of the 6. SS Panzer Army, had broken through the American Lines and had penetrated deeply. The entire attack had depended on two factors: surprise and the weather. The first factor was obvious, the Americans were completely surprised. The weather did change after four days and with the arrival of clear skies, the campaign was doomed. Peiper was caught behind enemy lines without fuel and ammunition and had to destroy nearly all the tanks he commanded.
The rest of the Division were split up and we were sent to join in the final attack on Bastoigne, which the Americans held fast. Since our movement was restricted due to constant air attacks, we were no longer a mobile Panzer force. By the end of December, we too had to blow up our Tiger tank due to having run out of fuel. The division was withdrawn from the battle and Wilhelm Mohnke, our division CO had all the newly joined young SS men transferred back to Panzergrenadier training including me. Several times we were on the way to the Eastern front, where the 6.SS Pz. Army was trying to hold, first Budapest and then Vienna, against the Russians. Every time our train was bombed by Allied planes and we were returned to base camp at Hallein, near Salzburg.
On May 5 45 I was riding my Zuendapp motor cycle when a US armoured vehicle shot and hit the front wheel of my cycle and that was the end of the war for me. Fortunately, this happened near my home in Berchtesgaden and since my family was well known here I was able to hide until late fall of 45. My mother had moved back to her home in Austria but the Austrians sent her back to Bavaria because of her marriage to my father who was a German citizen living in Berchtesgaden. I found her in Nov. 45 and on Dec. 6. American MPs broke the door to arrest me for alleged WEREWOLF activities. Hollywood wins again!
I was interrogated and then sent to a US POW camp near Berchtesgaden, from where, I was discharged on Jan. 6.1946. The camp commander gave me a letter of recommendation and from then until I immigrated to Canada I worked exclusively for US Army and related agencies until Feb 51. Translator, Interpreter, manager of clubs and hotels and guide.
I Arrived in Toronto May 23 51, landed a job at the Royal York Hotel that same day as front desk clerk. Six months later, I became a supervisor at Crown Life Ins. Co, night shift, which allowed me to sit in at U of T lectures. In 1952, after passing an oral examination, followed by a six weeks course of Ontario School Law and Practice I received a "Letter of Permit" to teach public school in Ontario, taught one year at St. Catherines, grade 6 and art.
I married Joan Marie Russell from St. Stephen NB on Boxing Day 1953 and we had five sons, one of whom was killed in an accident at age 3.
In 1954 I started at Saint John NB YMCA as Aquatic Director at more than double the pay I had received as a teacher, and the following year I was appointed Phys Ed Director.
1957-8 Became Zone Manager for International Harvester Trucks, NB north of Frederickton; Followed by three years of teaching history and geography at Saint John Voc. School.
I then was offered a History Headship in Huntingdon, Que. and I stayed one year. For the next 13 years I taught history and geography at Forest Hill Jr. High and in my second year was offered the headship of these two departments. While at F H I completed my BA (hon) degree at U of NB and was granted the highest Teaching Certificate in Ontario (Canada's leading province in education) a Type A Permanent Specialist Certificate in History.
When Forest Hill was integrated into Toronto, I taught law at West Tor. Sec. School and history for three years, then stopped teaching. I had acquired a summer resort which fitted in well with my teaching schedule. When my wife died I sold the business and then travelled. I was 60 years old.
I prepared this CV for Mr. Migs Turner, ret. Commander Canadian Navy, and ret. Rear Admiral Canadian Coast Guard in preparation for my functions as guest speaker at the annual meeting of Retired Canadian Naval Officers and guest speaker at the Remembrance Day Celebration at Selkirk Montessori School in Victoria BC.
Maria Reiter (23 December 1911 - 1992), known as "Mimi" or "Mitzi", was associated romantically with Adolf Hitler in the late 1920s. She told her story to the German periodical Stern in 1959.
Maria Reiter was the daughter of an official of the Social Democratic Party in Berchtesgaden.
Hitler first met Mitzi when she was working in the family-owned shop in Obersalzberg where Hitler brought his Bavarian clothes. According to Mitzi's own account, the 37-year-old Hitler became friendly with the 16-year-old girl, and asked her out. At the end of the evening he made a "coarse" sexual advance towards her which she rejected, but they finally kissed.
They had a number of other dates during which Hitler became increasingly passionate towards her. Her family was unhappy about the age difference, but that did not stop them. According to the Stern article, Hitler "told her that he wanted her to be his wife, to found a family with her, to have blonde children, but at the moment he had not the time to think of such things. Repeatedly Hitler spoke of his duty, his mission."He told her to wait for him and that they would live together. After this declaration Hitler ignored her for months, plunging her into depression. In despair, she attempted to hang herself, but her brother-in-law found her and cut her down before she died.
Following this incident, Mitzi gave up on Hitler and married a local hotelkeeper. The marriage was not a success, however, and in 1931, Mitzi left her husband. After a visit from Rudolf Hess convinced her of Hitler's continuing interest in her, she travelled to Munich to see Hitler once more. Mitzi claims that she spent the night with Hitler and that "I let everything happen. I had never been so happy as I was that night".
Hitler suggested that she remain in Munich as his lover, but Mitzi wanted marriage. Hitler was concerned that a relationship with a woman who had left her husband would be politically damaging to him, so the couple parted. Nevertheless, Hitler delegated his personal lawyer Hans Frank to handle her divorce. In 1934, after Hitler's rise to power, Mitzi met him once more and he again asked her to become his lover.
Again she refused. This led to an argument in which Hitler reiterated that he could not marry or have children because he had a "big mission" to fulfil. Eventually, she married Hauptsturmführer Georg Kubisch, an SS officer, in 1936. Hitler congratulated Kubisch on his marriage at an assembly of the SS in Munich. Their last meeting was in 1938, when, according to Reiter, Hitler expressed dissatisfaction with his relationship with Eva Braun. Kubisch was killed in 1940 during the Battle of Dunkirk, after which Hitler sent Mitzi one hundred red roses.
Sold with photocopies of Reiter's War Record 'Waffen SS', POW Certificate of Discharge.
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| Sale: The Military Sale: Medals, Orders, Decorations & Militaria, Dreweatts London, 05 June 2013 |
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