Heinrich Hoffmann (1885 – 1957) served as Adolf Hitler’s official photographer from when Hitler took control of the Nazi party in 1921 until his death in 1945. Hoffmann estimates he took over half a million photographs of Hitler over the course of his career. His portraits were the most significant source of Nazi propaganda materials published over the course of close to 25 years, everything from postcards, posters, magazines, postage stamps and picture books. Click on eachtheme below to see a complete photo albumdevoted to that particular event or topic.
These photographs are all from one photo session that took place in early 1925 inside Adolf Hitler’s apartment at Thierschstraße 41 in Munich. A couple of these also include Hitler’s German Shepherd Prinz. It was easy to put these together as a complete set by noticing the tiny bit of white handkerchief peaking out of Hitler’s left breast pocket. I would imagine there are possibly more portraits to be discovered in this series, and hope to track them down and add them here in the near future. In fact most of these are from the 1270 images that archivist Richard Schneider of the US National Archives has digitized from Heinrich Hoffmann’s original glass negatives that were only first released to the public in 2019.
Adolf Hitler lived in this modest two room apartment on the first floor above the ground floor when he returned to Munich after WWI and being discharged from the army, He lived at Thierschstraße 41 almost the entire decade of the 1920’s – from 1 May 1920 until 5 October 1929. Adolf Hitler loved posing with his dog Prinz, a German Shepherd he had received as gift in 1921. Heinrich Hoffmann tried to show Hitler’s love for dogs on his photographs to enhance the appeal of the Nazi Party leader’s image to the public.
Below is one of 1270 images that archivist Richard Schneider of the US National Archives has restored and digitized from the original glass negatives created by Hitler’s personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, which were confiscated from him by US troops at the end of the war and first released for public viewing in 2019.
Adolf Hitler portrait with a piano and his dog Prinz. Hitler took several months of piano lessons in 1908 and even wrote an opera he titled Wieland der Schmied (Wieland the Smith) based on an unfinished work of the same name by German composer Richard Wagner. This is also the apartment and very piano where Ernst ‘Putzi’ Hanfstaengl greatly impressed Hitler with his piano playing talent in 1922. Putzi played the Harvard football fight song to which Hitler exclaimed “That’s it, Hanfstaengl, that is what we need for the movement, marvelous”.Adolf Hitler poses in front of a Bismarck portrait shortly after his release from Landsberg Prison.Adolf Hitler posing in front of a portrait of Otto von Bismarck, a significant political figure in shaping modern Germany. Bismarck served as Prussian minister president and imperial chancellor from 1862 to 1890.Portrait of Adolf Hitler inside his apartment at Thierschstraße 41 in Munich, standing next to his large collection of books. Hitler was actually a huge admirer of Shakespeare and had a copy of Georg Müller’s 1925 translation of Shakespeare’s collected works, from which he would quote certain lines throughout his life. A voracious reader, Hitler claimed to have read at least one book a night, and it is estimated that at his death he had over 16,000 books in his personal collection.Another photo reassembled from broken fragments showing Adolf Hitler and his Alsatian Prinz, a dog that was given to him in 1921, and who’s loyalty to him sparked his lifelong affection for the breed. Also note many more books that are stacked on top of the cabinet on the left. In his 1925 tax declaration Hitler listed his total personal assets at 1,000 marks and claimed “no property” other than “a writing table and two bookcases with books”.
I also believe that this pair of absolutely arresting Adolf Hitler portraits are from this same photo session, or at least from the same time period of early 1925.
Portrait of Adolf Hitler taken in Munich in 1925.Portrait of Adolf Hitler taken in Munich in 1925. Joseph Goebbels, in describing his first meeting with Hitler in his diary, wrote “He shakes my hand. Like an old friend. And those big blue eyes. Like stars. He is glad to see me. I am in heaven. That man has everything to be king.” This photograph truly captures Hitler’s stunning steel-blue eyes, which have been described by everyone who met him as blazing, bewitching, hypnotic, penetrating, dominating and unforgettable.
The portrait above was also featured in the first volume of “Mein Kampf,” which was published on 18 July 1925, with a circulation of 10,000 copies. A second edition followed in December. The second volume of “Mein Kampf” was published in December 1926.
I love history and have always been infatuated with the design and style of the 1920’s. Unfortunately I can’t time travel back to this era, so I live vicariously through books, movies and photos.
[…] jacket with black trousers. When he was wearing civilian clothes, he usually donned a simple black or dark blue suit (and I must admit I’ve always been quite biased towards Hitler in dark colored […]
Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Gallery 