WARTIME LOOT WAS RE-STOLEN

Hitler vase
surrendered to authorities

 

Nazi vase surrendered to authorities after public plea
Associated Press Thursday, 18 October 2007

SALT LAKE CITY — A vase that was a gift to Adolf Hitler was
turned over to investigators, who are rounding up a collection
of Nazi artifacts stolen from a Utah storage unit in 2005,
authorities said Friday.

The vase was one of five items stolen in that burglary. Three
other items were confiscated this week from an antiques dealer,
who had been approached by a man who wanted to sell them.

The items apparently were taken from Hitler's "Eagle's Nest"
mountain home in the Bavarian Alps by an American soldier
during World War II. The soldier's son found the collection after
his father died and put everything in storage.

The vase was recovered Thursday, a few hours after sheriff's
detectives unveiled other pieces. Still missing: a bronze bust
of Hitler.

Ringed with Swastikas

The green, ceramic vase is ringed with a band of Swastikas
and German accolades to Hitler, including "For the Chancellor."
The vase also has the date 1933, the year the Nazis were
elected and Hitler's reign began.

It was turned in by a man who said he had received it from
somebody else, now deceased. Detectives planned to interview
the man to see if he knew anything about the 2005 burglary,
Salt Lake County sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak said.

Sheriff's Detective Scott Van Wagoner said he received a call
Friday about the bronze bust and hoped to have it recovered
soon. A former prison inmate with white supremacist ties
supplied a possible location.

The collection also includes a scroll, an ornate parchment and
an handbound history of Henry the Lion, the 12th century duke
of Bavaria and Saxony. All are addressed to Hitler and were
apparently gifts given to him when he came to power.

A German history professor at the University of Utah doubts
the documents have much financial value.

"Priceless is a big exaggeration. ... He probably didn't even see
most of these," Ronald Smelser said. "They probably piled up
in a room."

'Sacred objects'

Smelser said some of the documents likely bestowed honorary
citizenship on Hitler, a common practice in German towns at
the time.

"There must have been hundreds of those. Germans tried to
curry favor," he said.

It's unclear whether the soldier's son will get the items back.
He declined to comment and asked that his name not be used.

Van Wagoner said he has contacted the FBI to learn how
to verify that the items were brought to the U.S. through
the proper military channels. If the family can prove that the
artifacts weren't smuggled in, they will be returned.

The sheriff's office would also like to find the person who stole
the items from the storage unit two years ago.

Smelser said it's important to keep the pieces away from white
supremacists who admire Hitler.

"They're almost sacred objects to them," he said.