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.
The photos below are from two different portrait sessions that took place in Adolf Hitler’s study at his mountain retreat the Berghof, located on a the 3,200-foot high mountain ridge northeast of Berchtesgaden. The first set was taken on 18 August 1936, very shortly after construction was completed to the expansion of Haus Wachenfeld, when this room and an entire wing was added on to the original chalet. The other set is from early 1938 around the time of his 49th birthday. Hitler spent more time in the Berghof than in his Berlin office. It was in this chalet that Hitler planned the invasions of Poland, France and Russia and the events that would change the lives of millions.
Adolf Hitler sitting at his desk in his newly constructed office at the Berghof on 18 August 1936. Note the large 1739 oil painting of his hero Frederick the Great by Antoine Pesne above the fireplace.This photo is cropped from the larger picture of Adolf Hitler taken in his study in 1936. These postcards were issued in January of 1938 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Hitler’s seizure of power on January 30, 1933. Captioned with the phrase “Der Befreier Deutschlands” (The Liberator of Germany).Photo taken on 18 August 1936 by Heinrich Hoffmann in the study of Adolf Hitler’s home on the Obersalzberg,Photo taken on 18 August 1936 by Heinrich Hoffmann in the study of Adolf Hitler’s home on the Obersalzberg, On 6 November 1936 the first issue of a brand new bi-monthly professional military services magazine called Die Wehrmacht (The Armed Forces) appeared in Germany featuring this striking photo from this portrait series.Adolf Hitler sitting on his desk in his recently constructed Berghof office in 1936.Photo of the sitting area and fireplace in Hitler’s study as it appeared in 1936.View of Hitler’s study as featured in the November 1938 ‘Homes and Gardens’ article “Hitler’s Home in the Bavarian Alps”.Early 1938 photograph when Adolf Hitler switched to a new uniform consisting of a double-breasted brown vest with black trousers.Early 1938 photograph when Adolf Hitler switched to a new NSDAP uniform consisting of a double-breasted brown vest.Adolf Hitler in his 1938 NSDAP uniform, standing in front of the sitting area of his study at the Berghof.Adolf Hitler in his 1938 NSDAP uniform, standing in front of the sitting area of his study at the Berghof.
Adolf Hitler owned thousands of paintings and frequently rotated them around the many rooms in the Berghof as well as between his apartment in Munich. It is well documented that he was an avid art collector and as his wealth grew his collection widened to include the work of a very diverse array of painters and sculptors. He also used his absolute power to loot hundreds of museums across Europe in order to assemble his massive collection of artwork. The paintings that he chose to display in his study featured prominent figures in German history.
Adolf 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 from a portrait of Frederick the Great by Antoine Pesne to the 1885 portrait of Helmuth von Moltke by Franz Seraph von Lenbach.
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.
Hi, I saw you followed my blog 😃 I’m very grateful, I’d love to get to know you more if you’re okay with that. I love to see more people interested in AH. You have great photos, where do you find them?
Absolutely and thank you so much for your interest in my blog as well! I’ve found all of these photos online mostly on auction sites, I’m so grateful for all the material posted out there especially of Hoffmann’s books on AH, as I’d certainly not be able to purchase any of these on my budget 😅 I also use Google reverse image search on each photo that I find and keep discovering more and more photos in each series, in fact I just found another one in this set and just added it last night – so keep checking back!!
That’s awesome! I also would love to get some photos at auction but i just can’t justify spending money like that lol. I’ll definitely check out those new sets 😊 is there anywhere I can contact you personally? Social media?
You can reach me at my verboten.love@gmail.com account, and I just set up a Pinterest account last week too since I found some really incredible AH photos on there 😍😍😍 that I haven’t added to my blog yet:
I have Pinterest too, it totally blew my mind how many photos they have that I hadn’t seen yet. I found an amazing one of August Kubizek (AH childhood friend) and a band he was apart of in his older life. I’ll send you an email and hopefully we can get to know each other🫶🏻
Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Gallery 