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.
This was Heinrich Hoffmann’s last formal portrait session with Adolf Hitler that occurred on the 20th of July in 1939. Hitler would invade Poland less than six weeks after this series of portraits was taken, plunging the world into the Second World War. These photos were therefore never officially published, and the white uniform was never worn again once the war commenced. All of these photos took place in Hitler’s study and on the terrace at the Berghof. I have also published another album of photographs of Hitler in his White Uniform that covers many official functions that occurred in the late 1930’s.
I’ve recently come to discover that the 4 portraits above were actually taken on 15 April 1939. This is an example of one of the photographs that had been retouched for publication.
More architectural drawings for Linz. Adolf Hitler planned to make Linz not just a major cultural center of the Third Reich, but the art capital of the entire world. The Führermuseum was the most important part of Hitler’s concept for his renovated hometown, even his bunker had a special room with a scale model of his redesigned city, where he continued regale people with all the minute details until his dying day.Hitler devoted a rather disproportionate amount of time and energy to his plans for Linz. He created a vast architectural scheme to turn Linz into a “German Budapest” and it was designated by him as one of his five Führer cities in 1937. Linz was to be “the new metropolis of the Danube,” so as to eclipse Vienna, a city which Hitler had a strong personal distaste. Adolf Hitler reviews his architectural plans for his Fuhrermuseum in Linz, a vast art museum and complex he conceived and designed himself to be constructed in the center of the city in which he planned to retire. Many more details about Hitler’s architectural designs can be found in my post titled “Hitler and Architecture”.Hitler Youth schoolgirls from Berchtesgaden School with the Führer. Max Wünsche stands to Hitler’s left. Wünsche was part of the Führerbegleitkommando (the SS bodyguard unit), who provided personal security for Hitler.Hitler shows construction plans for Linz to a group of BDM girls on their visit to the Berghof on July 20, 1939. Clearly visible on this blueprint is architect Roderich Fick’s design for the two buildings which flank the Nibelungen Bridge, the only parts of Hitler’s grand scheme for Linz that were actually completed.Hitler Youth schoolgirls from Berchtesgaden School with the Führer. Max Wünsche stands to Hitler’s left. Wünsche was part of the Führerbegleitkommando (the SS bodyguard unit), who provided personal security for Hitler.Visit of BDM members from Gut Hohenfried on 20 July 1939; Group picture (Adolf Hitler in white uniform jacket; looking at plans of Linz on a marble table in the Berghof Great Hall; BDM members in traditional costume; Max Wünsche in white uniform jacket.Besuch von Schülerinnen der Haushaltsschule Gut Hohenfried 20. Juli 1939Two of the visiting BDM girls join Hitler for a photo out on the terrace of the Berghof. This particular young lady seems quite smitten with Der Führer and his Austrian charm.Adolf Hitler gets serenaded by BDM girls at the Berghof in the summer of 1939.
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.
[…] Hitler in his study in July 1939 in his summer white uniform. Note that even in the 1938 portrait session the painting above the fireplace has been switched […]
[…] don’t even get me started when he threw on a trench coat or a cape, or broke out his summer white uniform. He generally preferred very understated uniforms and for decorations often wore nothing more than […]
la première photos d’Hitler en uniforme blanc à été prise Le 12 août 1939 à l’occasion de la visite du ministre italien affaires étrangères le comte Ciano…
[…] of the white uniform. Savor it, and be sure to enjoy Hoffmann’s formal portrait session of Hitler in his White Uniform taken at the Berghof in July 1939. […]
Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Gallery 